Mother's AOS interview Yesterday - Successful

T

tabaliya

Registered Users (C)
:D

All,

My mother had her AOS (I-485) interview yesterday (St Paul DO, Office is in Bloomington, MN). We applied for her in early Dec (12/14 is the PD). She came as a visitor in late July and we applied for her after 4 months + of her being in the US.

We're surprised to receive the interview call (most parents' applications seem to sail through seamlessly via mail) for my mother. But it went off successfully - only minor verifications of stuff on the application. I wasn't even asked to open any original documents - had loads of it, just in case. To our great relief, it was all over and done with in about 12 minutes after being called in.

With this, another milestone in our immigration journey is reached. Now I have to prepare for my wife's removal of conditions (I-751) next June (2011).

Thanks all for all the help here.

Warm regards,

AP
 
tabaliya said:
:D

All,

My mother had her AOS (I-485) interview yesterday (St Paul DO, Office is in Bloomington, MN). We applied for her in early Dec (12/14 is the PD). She came as a visitor in late July and we applied for her after 4 months + of her being in the US.

We're surprised to receive the interview call (most parents' applications seem to sail through seamlessly via mail) for my mother. But it went off successfully - only minor verifications of stuff on the application. I wasn't even asked to open any original documents - had loads of it, just in case. To our great relief, it was all over and done with in about 12 minutes after being called in.

With this, another milestone in our immigration journey is reached. Now I have to prepare for my wife's removal of conditions (I-751) next June (2011).

Thanks all for all the help here.

Warm regards,

AP
Click to expand...

Also wanted to mention, there were no RFEs, or FP issues in the process. The whole thing took a few days over 3 months from start to finish.

We procured the NABC (Non-Availaility or Birth Certificate) using he service of Your Man in India (google them). They charged me $100 or so (might be a tad more if you need it couriered to a US address). We had it sent to an address in Bangalore where where we got some other papers. In addition to the NABC we had two affidavits from elderly relatives and a high school leaving certificate. That seemed to have worked well. It is important that the NABC contain the mother's maiden name. We also submitted two marriage affidavits from close relatives (wasn't needed but did on lawyer's advice).

Since we planned this well after my mother's arrival in the US it was necessary to use the Your Man in India service - we couldn't find anyone to help us with this. Your situation may vary but we were very happy with the servie they provided. The NABC came through in less than 10 days in Bangalore.

Cheers everyone,

AP
 
MasterArcht said:
Is it really the case that most parents are NOT called for the interview? Or is it just anectodal?
Click to expand...

The more I look all around, the more parents are being called for interviews. Previously it was supposed to be a random event (and sometimes, when the application had some issues like missing NABC, non-response to RFE). These days, inspite of having everything impeccably in place (like in our case) parents are increasingly being called for the interview. My lawyer tells me she herself has attended dozens of parent interviews for her clients in the past two years or so.

I do know, also, that many parents sail right through, without an interview. Your luck of the draw I guess.

In our case, all the IO did was review a checklist of documents he had - which could have been done without our physical presence. So who knows what (if any) the logic behind this is.

AP
 
tabaliya said:
The more I look all around, the more parents are being called for interviews. Previously it was supposed to be a random event (and sometimes, when the application had some issues like missing NABC, non-response to RFE). These days, inspite of having everything impeccably in place (like in our case) parents are increasingly being called for the interview. My lawyer tells me she herself has attended dozens of parent interviews for her clients in the past two years or so.

I do know, also, that many parents sail right through, without an interview. Your luck of the draw I guess.

In our case, all the IO did was review a checklist of documents he had - which could have been done without our physical presence. So who knows what (if any) the logic behind this is.

AP
Click to expand...

Thank you for your note. I wonder if the probability of an interview depends on one's location, I mean one's state of residence..

I'm hoping that it will be a lucky draw in our case. Enjoy your GC.
 
AP,
my mothers green card interview is tomorrow,
what questions did they ask and any special docs they wanted?
thanks,
 
I also received an AOS interview notice in Garden City, NY for April 13th for my parents.
I initially thought something was wrong with my application, but just from looking around, I'm also noticing more people getting interviews. Perhaps, USCIS is doing more interviews now?
 
stockrex said:
AP,
my mothers green card interview is tomorrow,
what questions did they ask and any special docs they wanted?
thanks,
Click to expand...

If all the application materials are in place, there is no reason to be worried. Most issues with documents seem to concenr the Birth Certificate since that is clearly the one document they want to see to establish relationship (in case of mother) and in case of father, the marriage certifcate in addition.

I would only be prepared to answer any questions that might come up regarding:
- Birth Certifcate and related issues (incomplete or missing names as is often the case in India)
- NABC - my IO spent some time looking at it and verifying that the words written in Kannada were the same as the words underneath in English (it is a dual-language form)

Do go over the G-325A forms - we were asked to verify the info in there

The only other thing (according to my attorney) they could ask your Mom would be whether or not she had entered the US with the intent to adjust status. She has to be able to articulate her response to this clearly. This is something randomly asked of applicants per my attorney.

Take all possible documentation with you - if you have mother's high school leaving certificate etc do take them. We filed it in our application.

Other than that nothing really - all the IO did was check off a checklist he had attached to the application. Once he reached the end of it he approved. All of it took about 12 minutes or so in our case. He was also nice enough to stamp my mother's passport with a one-year proof of permanent residency so she can travel if she needs to (I guess he did this since we told him we need to apply for my mother's SS card real soon).

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention - I served as a translator for my mother. She spoke in Kannada all the way through.

AP
 
152insights said:
I also received an AOS interview notice in Garden City, NY for April 13th for my parents.
I initially thought something was wrong with my application, but just from looking around, I'm also noticing more people getting interviews. Perhaps, USCIS is doing more interviews now?
Click to expand...

This is becoming more common. My attornye tells me she has attended dozens of parent interviews lately. So I'm not really sure how high the percentage of parents' AOS apps that sail right through w/out an interview is.

Anyway, nothing to worry really - see my response above. There were a few other parents who had come for the interview the other day and all of them sailed through w/o any glitch.

AP
 
OP, thanks,
We waited for nearly an hour and finally we were called in, the officer wanted to see the original BC for both. Also and reviewed my proof of citizenship and asked the questions on 485 again,
do you plan to take over the US gov.... to which my mother could not help but laugh ;-)
all good, she said her GC will be in the mail.
all took less than 15 min.
 
stockrex said:
OP, thanks,
We waited for nearly an hour and finally we were called in, the officer wanted to see the original BC for both. Also and reviewed my proof of citizenship and asked the questions on 485 again,
do you plan to take over the US gov.... to which my mother could not help but laugh ;-)
all good, she said her GC will be in the mail.
all took less than 15 min.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it went well. Congratulations to all!

The Birth Certificate seems to be the only thing closely scrutinized.

My mother's Green Card was received in the mail yesterday (on the 11th day after interview) so we're very happy about it.

AP
 
Hi Tabaliya,

Congratulations on passing yet another mile-stone in the immigration journey :)

I have a couple of questions regarding the affidavits, would appreciate if you can answer them.

- Did you take them on a stamp paper -or- a plain paper as we do in USA?
- Did you get it notarized with a notary, or were you able to get a first class magistrate (district judge?)

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
rkiladi said:
Hi Tabaliya,

Congratulations on passing yet another mile-stone in the immigration journey :)

I have a couple of questions regarding the affidavits, would appreciate if you can answer them.

- Did you take them on a stamp paper -or- a plain paper as we do in USA?
- Did you get it notarized with a notary, or were you able to get a first class magistrate (district judge?)

Thanks in advance for your help.
Click to expand...

In India, the common practice is to get them typed on stamp paper. I used Rs 20 stamp paper (I think the smallest denomination). This would be better I think, if it is from India you are getting these affidavits. Just follow whatever the practice is in your home country for such official documents.

I did get the documents notarized, yes. All of them, in India. The first set of documents which I got for myself during my naturalization process - these were for confirmation of full name on Birth Certificate (as my BC had only the first initial as is the practice in India). These were signed by a Magistrate. But then I learnt that Magistrate signature is not really necessary so the next set I got for my mother's AOS application (Birth and Marriage Affidavits) I just got them signed by a Notary - they can be found all over.

In summary, whatever is easy for you.

Just make sure the following things (per my attorney):

- make sure you use one sided paper only - my affadavits ran into three pages so I had to use three stamp papers. USCIS prefers to see every thing one-sided only.

- make sure mother's maiden name appears in the NABC as well as the Birth and Marriage Affidavits.

- make sure the Birth Affadavit is from older relatives (the relatives don't have to be super close ones - anyone who had the knowledge of your mother's birth)

I think that about covers it. You can find many samples of these affadavits on this forum and elsewhere on the web. If you like I can send you the samples too. PM me with your email ID.

AP
 
Thank you very much for the quick information.

One follow up question: did you use the Rs20 stamp paper for the 2nd page also or used the stock stamp paper (without any denomination - this is what my notary in India is suggesting as the norm)?
I have PM'ed you my email id - would be great to see a sample that worked for you.
 
Hello tabaliya,

Were the birth affidavits obtained AFTER your mother spent sufficient time in the US? (like 2-3 months) If not, were the dates on affidavits cause any issue with intent to immigrate?
 
nkm-oct23 said:
Hello tabaliya,

Were the birth affidavits obtained AFTER your mother spent sufficient time in the US? (like 2-3 months) If not, were the dates on affidavits cause any issue with intent to immigrate?
Click to expand...

Yes, we got them only AFTER she was here for a few months. She entered in July and we moved on the application only in mid November. Therefore I had to seek help from people in India to facilitate the affidavits. I also sought help from Your Man in India service for the NABC since my mother didn't have a Birth Certificate nor a registration of Birth. Also, we tried to get her high school to correct a spelling error on her high school certificate but we couldn't get it done - in the end it didn't matter as the NABC + Affidavits + High School Cert seems to have done it for us.

I don't know if the timing of all this (other than the application itself) should really matter. What matters (per the general consensus on this forum) is that you apply after a sufficient gap of time from the arrival of the applicant.

Good luck with your application. If all documents are in order it should be farily event free. Lucklily for us we didn't get an RFE nor had any problems with the fingerprinting (as some elderly folks seem to have). We did get called for the interview but that was a breeze.

Thank goodness, it is all behind us now.

Cheers.

AP
 
my RFE said "affidavits are not acceptable", hence I had to go through the process of getting a BC issues based on other evidence,
I explained the same when asked during our interview.
 
stockrex said:
my RFE said "affidavits are not acceptable", hence I had to go through the process of getting a BC issues based on other evidence,
I explained the same when asked during our interview.
Click to expand...

The affidavits are considered as "secondary evidence" only. They are considered after some primary evidence is considered like the NABC or the BC with incomplete information. Of course if the BC with complete and accurate information is present then no other evidence is required. When they say affidavits are not accepted they mean to say as "primary evidence".

In our case I had BC with incomplete information (first initial for my name was not expanded). Therefore we got affidavits showing full name.

My mother did not have the BC but had high school leaving certificate. So we had to get a NABC (for primary evidence) and the affidavits (secondary evidence), supplemented by the high school leaving certificate (even though some information there was misspelled etc.).

Anyway, glad your journey reached its logical and physical completion. Congratulations to all parties.

AP
 
tabaliya said:
The only other thing (according to my attorney) they could ask your Mom would be whether or not she had entered the US with the intent to adjust status. She has to be able to articulate her response to this clearly. This is something randomly asked of applicants per my attorney.
Click to expand...

What should be the right answer to this question, which can satisfy IO:)?

Thanks
 
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