SakshiSrivastav
Registered Users (C)
First of all, thanks to the forum and the invaluable information people have posted.
Our interview went like a breeze. We were scheduled for 10:45 am and reached there by 10:15. Gave the appointment letter at the desk and the lady asked us to wait till our name is called.
Close to us were others waiting too, at least 2 other people with appointments at 9:15 and 10:15 so I thought my number will come in another 2 hours or something. (Given that 9:15 am person was still waiting). But hey when luck is with you..My name was called before them.
The officer was very courteous and introduced himself. Took us to a room and asked for our passports. Then sworn us in. Asked all the "NO" questions. Asked if we have proof of joint living and we have plenty. Asked about last years tax returns and kept them. Asked about original marriage certificate and original naturalization certificate.
Asked us how we met, where and when. Asked both of us our address, date and place of birth. Asked when was our marriage held and where. We said July 7th and we made sure to mention that we had our "2 year anniversary" yesterday. So obviously a followup question where we celebrated. (My objective here was to make sure I tell him we have been married over 2 years)
Then he started looking at pictures and out of about 50 he kept 15 in the file and returned the rest. We were about 5 mins into the interview which is when he said "I am satisfies, I don't need to look at more pictures".
Thats the point I knew we were approved. Then he completed the formalities - he had to make sure my file was complete. He said we did a very very excellent job in preparation of our file. Everything was well organized. Couldn't have been better. He said most people are confused and do a crappy job and also that the whole process is confusing and complicated. I told him we were debating on getting a lawyer to do it but then we decided to do it ourselves. He said I must have spent lot of time in preparation and I said at least 2 weeks.
Then he said we are approved and asked if we knew anything about conditional green card. I said that i know that a conditional green card is issues if one is married less than 2 years.
He said you guys are very lucky. We said absolutely. Then i couldn't keep the whole story to myself. I told the officer how I have been in forums and know that DC is the slowest DO. (I was almost gonna say DC is a fu**ed up DO). But it worked out excellent for us saving us the hassale of renewing the green card. Also I told him how I was waiting for her to be a US citizen and the fee was going to increase by July 31st. At that time they were doing naturalization interviews every Thursdays. So that interview was done on July 26th and we send over the green card application the same night. So we saved the huge fee increase by 2 days and at the same time were late enough to have completed 2 years for green card interview date. By this time the officer was almost getting jealous of our luck. But he was a nice guy and said we are just crusing on this.
He stamped my passport and said I will be getting a 10 year green card in the mail. Meanwhile the stamp on the passport will allow me all tbe benefits of the green card.
My driving license was recently renewed. So even though he did not ask for it, I gave him the latest photo copy of our driving licenses together. He thanked me for that. It was almost as if the file wounldn't have been complete without that.
So thats how my immigration journey ended. No more USCIS for another 2 and a half years until its time to apply for naturalization. But that one is a piece of cake compared to this.
Our interview went like a breeze. We were scheduled for 10:45 am and reached there by 10:15. Gave the appointment letter at the desk and the lady asked us to wait till our name is called.
Close to us were others waiting too, at least 2 other people with appointments at 9:15 and 10:15 so I thought my number will come in another 2 hours or something. (Given that 9:15 am person was still waiting). But hey when luck is with you..My name was called before them.
The officer was very courteous and introduced himself. Took us to a room and asked for our passports. Then sworn us in. Asked all the "NO" questions. Asked if we have proof of joint living and we have plenty. Asked about last years tax returns and kept them. Asked about original marriage certificate and original naturalization certificate.
Asked us how we met, where and when. Asked both of us our address, date and place of birth. Asked when was our marriage held and where. We said July 7th and we made sure to mention that we had our "2 year anniversary" yesterday. So obviously a followup question where we celebrated. (My objective here was to make sure I tell him we have been married over 2 years)
Then he started looking at pictures and out of about 50 he kept 15 in the file and returned the rest. We were about 5 mins into the interview which is when he said "I am satisfies, I don't need to look at more pictures".
Thats the point I knew we were approved. Then he completed the formalities - he had to make sure my file was complete. He said we did a very very excellent job in preparation of our file. Everything was well organized. Couldn't have been better. He said most people are confused and do a crappy job and also that the whole process is confusing and complicated. I told him we were debating on getting a lawyer to do it but then we decided to do it ourselves. He said I must have spent lot of time in preparation and I said at least 2 weeks.
Then he said we are approved and asked if we knew anything about conditional green card. I said that i know that a conditional green card is issues if one is married less than 2 years.
He said you guys are very lucky. We said absolutely. Then i couldn't keep the whole story to myself. I told the officer how I have been in forums and know that DC is the slowest DO. (I was almost gonna say DC is a fu**ed up DO). But it worked out excellent for us saving us the hassale of renewing the green card. Also I told him how I was waiting for her to be a US citizen and the fee was going to increase by July 31st. At that time they were doing naturalization interviews every Thursdays. So that interview was done on July 26th and we send over the green card application the same night. So we saved the huge fee increase by 2 days and at the same time were late enough to have completed 2 years for green card interview date. By this time the officer was almost getting jealous of our luck. But he was a nice guy and said we are just crusing on this.
He stamped my passport and said I will be getting a 10 year green card in the mail. Meanwhile the stamp on the passport will allow me all tbe benefits of the green card.
My driving license was recently renewed. So even though he did not ask for it, I gave him the latest photo copy of our driving licenses together. He thanked me for that. It was almost as if the file wounldn't have been complete without that.
So thats how my immigration journey ended. No more USCIS for another 2 and a half years until its time to apply for naturalization. But that one is a piece of cake compared to this.
