Hi! It's me again,
Sorry for the delay in replying your posts, the past few days since my approval have gone by pretty fast, and I've been busy all over the place doing stuffs, as you can imagine, but here I am again, and I'm gonna take the time to reply you one by one.
Thanks awaitasylum, LadyLee, asyleek, hjjez, asylee2011 and sagipisces for your kind words, I really appreciated. I feel really lucky that I found this forum while I was waiting my decision, and it gave me the chance to share my story with you, and to read all your moving, sometimes sad, sometimes happy stories. I get happy when I read that one of you got the approval letter, and get moved when I read some of your stories. I really really hope you all get your approval letter soon, at the end what we all want is the chance to begin a new life and have a better future, please keep your faith intact, in the end it's all worth it.
awaitasylum, God bless you man, you've been a great help to me and a lot of people in this forum, congratulations on joining the law school and keep up the good work!
asyleek, congratulations for your wedding! I hope to hear some good news about you and your husband very soon.
asylee2011, congratulations for your approval letter!! now BREATHE and enjoy! I got my EAD the same day as my approval letter, in a different envelope. You don't need to take another picture, they use the same one they took you on the fingerprints day. Good luck in your future projects
sagipisces, we had very similar experiences with our interviews, but now I can guarantee you that is all intimidation, they're trained to do so, be confident in your answers, everything is gonna be alright. You can apply for your Husband EAD too after the 150 days, but I hope you get your approval letter sooner than that. Good Luck!
hjjez, thank you for your words, it's nice to have another Venezuelan brother on board. I didn't do it through the church at Biscayne Blvd, I live in Orlando and I did it through my attorney, but my interview was in Miami as everybody living in Florida applying for asylum. Send me a private message and I'll give you mi info to stay in touch! Gracias por todo hermano, un abrazo y pa' alante que ahora es que viene lo bueno!
And I wanted to keep my last words for LadyLee. First of all CONGRATULATIONS, you and Mr. Bird were the reason I joined this forum, your posts were so inspiring and touching, I'm sure you give everyone here some hope in their personal struggle to have a better and brighter future. You made my day with your approval notice, I'm so HAPPY for you. I hope you have a wonderful live and get the best from this experience. Once again congratulations!
Finally I wanted to give you bits of information about some questions I've read.
I read the same status everytime I checked on the USCIS website "your receipt number is invalid" or something like that, but I persisted almost every day. The day I receive the approval letter, I first checked on the website and the message changed to "On August 12, 2011, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this APPLICATION FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM...", then I ran to my mail box and there I found the two envelopes (approval and EAD), so yes, they update your case status on their website after they send you the letter.
And second, you don't need an attorney to be with you during the interview. I did my interview only with a Spanish/English translator (just to be more comfortable and to think better my answers), but my attorney wasn't there. In fact, my "attorney" was a paralegal, so I when the AO asked my if I had an attorney I said "No". That doesn't mean you don't need one, this paralegal was an expert in political asylum cases and I certainly couldn't do it without her. So please have a good and prepared person by your side to help you through the process. But you don't have to do your interview with your attorney by your side, just be prepare yourself.
Well, that's it, sorry for the long post, please ask me any questions you have and I'll try to be helpful as much as I can. I'm still praying for all of you.
Take care!