Hi everyone! This is mi first post, I've been reading this forum and following your stories for months now, I really wish you all receive your approval letter soon!
I writing here now because I had my Asylum Interview last Thursday, and I would like to share my experience and if possible get a feedback from you.
First of all I'd like to talk a little about myself. I'm Venezuelan, and I had to get out of the country because I was being persecuted, threatened and even beaten several times for political reasons. I have several proofs for my case and everything is well documented, I included all that in my application papers with help from my lawyer.
Anyway, as I told you before, last Thursday was my Interview in the Miami Asylum Office, and I have to say, it was one of the most frustrating things I've had to do in my life.
The AO was the rudest, loudest, unpleasant, obnoxious woman I've ever meet, she even yelled at me, a couple of times.
The interview last three hours long, she was angry even before we entered on her office, she told my translator in a rude way that nobody told her that we were waiting downstairs, and now she has lost a half an hour of her precious time (go figure). During the interview she tried to confuse me, she asked several times all the dates of the events in my case in different order, she asked me to tell her every date I've had entered the US before, every date I began working in different jobs back in Venezuela, every date I began studying in elementary, college, university, and all from memory. She shook her head several times with a "NO" gesture and a stubborn face while I was answering her questions and she was typing on her computer. She interrupted my answers a lot of times in a rude way just to ask me the same question again or some detail she omitted when she interrupted me before. She made ridiculous questions about every single detail in my story, she told me I had her confused several times, she ask me in a loud voice if my papers were real because she doubted about them, she questioned every seal or stamp, every signature in my proofs. Of course all my paper were real, and fortunately I was able to gave her right answers to every question she ask, even when she asked me in a rude way.
I felt so wasted, so abused and frustrated by the end of the three hour long interview, that by that time I was sure I was gonna be rejected when I receive the letter, because of this woman's attitude. After we got out of the building, I asked my translator how did she think I did it on my interview, and she told me with a smile (God bless her) that I was perfect. I didn't quite understood that in the moment. She told me that she had several interviews with that same AO as a translator before, and that all the time she was pretending to be mad at me, just to got me nervous, stressed and doubtful of my answers. She told me that I was very sure of my answers, and I always gave her the correct dates and straight answers to every detail she asked me, and that was just the way to have a successful interview with her. She told me that this AO always had some excuse to "be angry" with the applicants, and she always was rude, loud and obnoxious, she even made a couple of people cry before during their interviews and asked them in a sarcastic way "you're crying because you're lying, right?". She told me that this AO was a very intelligent woman, and that was just her "character" to break people down, and when she can't find any inconsistencies between the interview, the testimony and the papers, she always approve the applications. I couldn't be more shocked and relieve when she told me all this, and gave me a lot of hope for my case.
Now I understand her "character", but I think there are different ways to get there. I had to leave all behind in my country because I was being persecuted, and I came here all alone, to try to build a new and better future for myself, and the last thing I needed was someone to yelled at me and talk to me as I was not worth anything, or if I was asking her for her charity.
I know I'm not the only one that has been treated like this. I would like you to share your experiences with me, to see if someone have a similar interview story, and I hope that my experience helps other people preparing for their interviews.
The waiting is hard after that kind of interview, but thanks God the process has been fast so far since I sent the application (as you can see in my signature), but now I just have to wait for the mail response to my case.
Thank you for reading this, and I'll pray for all of you, so you can get your approval letter soon.
Take care people!
