Just wanted to share my experience:
The day started badly – we overslept. I woke up exactly when we were supposed to depart for NYC to avoid traffic and such. So after running around like crazy making sure everything’s in place, we left 40 minutes behind our schedule.
Much to my surprise there was no traffic whatsoever. We got downtown Manhattan at 6:30 AM and found a parking lot on Warren Street. $16 early bird special will have you parked for the entire day. Later though I saw two parking garages right across the street from 26 Federal Plaza, so if any of you decide to drive, you are better off parking in one of the garages on Worth Street.
We walked a couple of blocks to Federal Plaza and I saw a small line in front of the USCIS building’s Broadway entrance. There were maybe 15-20 people all together which made me think that getting in with an interview notice will be easy. We had breakfast at McDonald’s across the street and at 7 AM we decided to walk to Worth Street entrance and be the first ones to get into the building. Boy, what a shock. We saw a huge line, maybe 50-70 people lined up in front of the entrance. And all of them had interview letters and I Ds ready. We got in line. Luckily a guard directed everyone starting with us to form a new line at the rear entrance. So we did. They let us in, walked us through security gates and in a matter of minutes we were in the elevator going to 8th floor.
Room 800 was full of people but very quiet. The guard checked my interview notice and said we had arrived very early and he couldn’t let us in. He suggested we go to the 6th floor where their cafeteria is and come back in 20-25 minutes. We left and returned half-hour later. At 8:10 we walked into room 800. Speakerphone system worked very well and you could easily hear names being called. I gave my and my son’s interview letters to a clerk at the window.
Exactly at the time my interview was scheduled for, at 8:30 AM my name was called. Officer Williams waived at me to approach the window. We walked up to her. She asked to see divorce decrees for all previous marriages. She didn’t even invite us to her office. My heart sunk. But she just looked at the papers and said “”All right, go to the door, I’ll meet you there”. She then escorted us to her office and in the hallway there were piles of cases, gazillions of them. I could see why they are so backlogged.
She swore us and allowed to be seated. She wanted to see my passport and my husband’s driver’s license. Ms. Williams asked my husband what my birthday was and after he answered correctly, she winked at me and said that was something a lot of husbands get in trouble for. She was polite but a little standoffish. She asked for the most resent tax return. She asked for two utility bills with both names on it. She asked me standard questions about prostitution and terrorism. She asked for two pictures of both of us. Then she told us to go back to the waiting room and she’ll get us in 5 minutes.
20 minutes later there was still no sign of her coming back. I started thinking that there was a problem and we were going to be denied. After all, my husband is much older than me. However after another 10 minutes she showed up, handed me my passport and said “Congratulations, I have approved your case”. She showed me two stamps in my passport and advised the actual cards will arrive in a couple of months. DAO Williams shook our hands and wished us a great day.
Since she didn’t mention anything about removal of conditions, I presume we’ll get 10-year cards. I was surprised that much of what we brought was of no interest to her: she didn’t take my old and current EADs, didn’t ask for vaccination supplement or an updated Affidavit of Support.
The interview was by far the easiest part of the entire process. And I am so glad that I didn’t shell out thousands of dollars for an immigration attorney, this process is a no-brainer if things are straightforward like in our case.
After 33 months of waiting my son and I are now lawful permanent residents of the USA.
God bless!
The day started badly – we overslept. I woke up exactly when we were supposed to depart for NYC to avoid traffic and such. So after running around like crazy making sure everything’s in place, we left 40 minutes behind our schedule.
Much to my surprise there was no traffic whatsoever. We got downtown Manhattan at 6:30 AM and found a parking lot on Warren Street. $16 early bird special will have you parked for the entire day. Later though I saw two parking garages right across the street from 26 Federal Plaza, so if any of you decide to drive, you are better off parking in one of the garages on Worth Street.
We walked a couple of blocks to Federal Plaza and I saw a small line in front of the USCIS building’s Broadway entrance. There were maybe 15-20 people all together which made me think that getting in with an interview notice will be easy. We had breakfast at McDonald’s across the street and at 7 AM we decided to walk to Worth Street entrance and be the first ones to get into the building. Boy, what a shock. We saw a huge line, maybe 50-70 people lined up in front of the entrance. And all of them had interview letters and I Ds ready. We got in line. Luckily a guard directed everyone starting with us to form a new line at the rear entrance. So we did. They let us in, walked us through security gates and in a matter of minutes we were in the elevator going to 8th floor.
Room 800 was full of people but very quiet. The guard checked my interview notice and said we had arrived very early and he couldn’t let us in. He suggested we go to the 6th floor where their cafeteria is and come back in 20-25 minutes. We left and returned half-hour later. At 8:10 we walked into room 800. Speakerphone system worked very well and you could easily hear names being called. I gave my and my son’s interview letters to a clerk at the window.
Exactly at the time my interview was scheduled for, at 8:30 AM my name was called. Officer Williams waived at me to approach the window. We walked up to her. She asked to see divorce decrees for all previous marriages. She didn’t even invite us to her office. My heart sunk. But she just looked at the papers and said “”All right, go to the door, I’ll meet you there”. She then escorted us to her office and in the hallway there were piles of cases, gazillions of them. I could see why they are so backlogged.
She swore us and allowed to be seated. She wanted to see my passport and my husband’s driver’s license. Ms. Williams asked my husband what my birthday was and after he answered correctly, she winked at me and said that was something a lot of husbands get in trouble for. She was polite but a little standoffish. She asked for the most resent tax return. She asked for two utility bills with both names on it. She asked me standard questions about prostitution and terrorism. She asked for two pictures of both of us. Then she told us to go back to the waiting room and she’ll get us in 5 minutes.
20 minutes later there was still no sign of her coming back. I started thinking that there was a problem and we were going to be denied. After all, my husband is much older than me. However after another 10 minutes she showed up, handed me my passport and said “Congratulations, I have approved your case”. She showed me two stamps in my passport and advised the actual cards will arrive in a couple of months. DAO Williams shook our hands and wished us a great day.
Since she didn’t mention anything about removal of conditions, I presume we’ll get 10-year cards. I was surprised that much of what we brought was of no interest to her: she didn’t take my old and current EADs, didn’t ask for vaccination supplement or an updated Affidavit of Support.
The interview was by far the easiest part of the entire process. And I am so glad that I didn’t shell out thousands of dollars for an immigration attorney, this process is a no-brainer if things are straightforward like in our case.
After 33 months of waiting my son and I are now lawful permanent residents of the USA.
God bless!
