Interview tomorrow/Will they take or invalidate passport?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

One quick note...your fiancee must wait until she receives her green card before leaving the U.S. Otherwise she forfeits her AOS petition and can not re-enter the U.S.

She already HAS a greencard so she can leave whenever she wants.

The naturalisation ceremony is for American CITIZENSHIP. The AOS process is for LPR (legal permanent residence) which is the greencard.

[NickD 202]

The rule for the interview is quite simple, you walk out with EVERYTHING you brought in! That includes all of your original evidence, if they want it, they will make copies of it, your green card, and passport.

In dealing with your own country, best to do that in person at your nearest consulate, eye to eye to get the straight information.

[mugs 0]

My wife's interview went very well. We waited for about 1 &1/2 hours so it got her a little wound up, but then she was called and the IO was really nice. We had brought tons of documents based on the checklist and many supporting documents to show our union, plus copies of everything (so two 3-ring binders one with originals and the other with copies) but he didn't want to see any of it.

He had her huge file (which was I guess every app we ever submitted) and the application in front of him. He went over the application, asked for her birth certificate (she pointed it out in the pile he had in front of him), asked about where she lived now and whether it was a house or apartment (we have an apartment but the address makes it seem like a house). He asked her how many trips she had taken out of the country and where she went. He didn't look at the passport to match dates. She got hung up on a couple of questions he asked from the app like "are you behind on your taxes?", to which she answered "Yes" a couple of times (!) but he kept asking with a wry grin until she got it right because he could see all of our tax returns there. We were worried because we didn't have the original of the divorce certificate from her previous marriage but she saw the original there in the pile that he had. We figured she must of submitted that to the embassy in Guangzhou when we were doing the K-1 app.

So it was pretty casual and she got 10 out of 10 on the questions. He then asked her to write, "George Washington is the Father of our country" which she did no problem. That was it and then he had her sign some paperwork, gave her the congratualtion letter, and told her to watch for the oath letter in the mail.

We are resting today!

Edited February 4, 2010 by mugs

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations and well done!

[Sand 5]

Congratulations!

[NickD 202]

My wife's interview went very well. We waited for about 1 &1/2 hours so it got her a little wound up, but then she was called and the IO was really nice. We had brought tons of documents based on the checklist and many supporting documents to show our union, plus copies of everything (so two 3-ring binders one with originals and the other with copies) but he didn't want to see any of it.

He had her huge file (which was I guess every app we ever submitted) and the application in front of him. He went over the application, asked for her birth certificate (she pointed it out in the pile he had in front of him), asked about where she lived now and whether it was a house or apartment (we have an apartment but the address makes it seem like a house). He asked her how many trips she had taken out of the country and where she went. He didn't look at the passport to match dates. She got hung up on a couple of questions he asked from the app like "are you behind on your taxes?", to which she answered "Yes" a couple of times (!) but he kept asking with a wry grin until she got it right because he could see all of our tax returns there. We were worried because we didn't have the original of the divorce certificate from her previous marriage but she saw the original there in the pile that he had. We figured she must of submitted that to the embassy in Guangzhou when we were doing the K-1 app.

So it was pretty casual and she got 10 out of 10 on the questions. He then asked her to write, "George Washington is the Father of our country" which she did no problem. That was it and then he had her sign some paperwork, gave her the congratualtion letter, and told her to watch for the oath letter in the mail.

We are resting today!

Ten out of ten questions? Most stop when you hit six, even my wife's IO that checked every line on our evidence only asked her six questions that she answered all correctly, then stopped.

[mugs 0]

Ten out of ten questions? Most stop when you hit six, even my wife's IO that checked every line on our evidence only asked her six questions that she answered all correctly, then stopped.

My mistake! I checked with her and it was just six questions.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

My mistake! I checked with her and it was just six questions.

This reminds me, i was reading on another post in regards to country on the passport. I can't help but wonder when your wife gets her US passport and tries to leave China on it that they'll see country of birth as China and wonder what they'll do then... obviously they'll let her out but I wonder if that's their way of "flagging" chinese people who have US citizenship (no ACTUAL idea about this, I was just curious)

Did you tell her that china will take her passport? How did she react? Honestly I don't know HOW they'll take it but I assume somewhere along the lines they'll find out. have you found out what penalties there are if you don't tell them? (I tried googling but couldn't find anything, I think a phone call will be needed)

Edited February 7, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[NickD 202]

One quick note...your fiancee must wait until she receives her green card before leaving the U.S. Otherwise she forfeits her AOS petition and can not re-enter the U.S.

During the AOS process can pay extra for an EAD and a travel document. The I-765 for the EAD so you can get an SS card and start work, I-131 for the travel document prior to getting a green card. It's only a question of spending extra money to get this privilege and your time out of the country does not count as you are NOT a LPR yet.

Speaking about money, Request for Premium Processing Service I-907 is only available to employers, if they had that for the AOS, I-751, or the N-400, would have been more than happy to send them a thousand bucks to relief that stress.

Was premium processing available in Venezuela, but was more accurately described as a bribe. If you didn't pay that, could wait years for even a minor thing such as correcting their mistakes on a birth certificate. But let's call that premium processing as well. Nothing illegal was done, just paying extra so your case would be heard in a reasonable time period.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

During the AOS process can pay extra for an EAD and a travel document. The I-765 for the EAD so you can get an SS card and start work, I-131 for the travel document prior to getting a green card. It's only a question of spending extra money to get this privilege and your time out of the country does not count as you are NOT a LPR yet.

sorry nick but WRONG. Oh so very very WRONG!

The new AOS process means that if you apply for EAD and AP at the same time as AOS (or while AOS is processing) they are FREE... but this is completely irrelevant to the OP because SHE HAS A GREENCARD!

[NickD 202]

sorry nick but WRONG. Oh so very very WRONG!

The new AOS process means that if you apply for EAD and AP at the same time as AOS (or while AOS is processing) they are FREE... but this is completely irrelevant to the OP because SHE HAS A GREENCARD!

Caught that about the OP having a green card, been a long time since our AOS, but wonder why the USCIS is still listing the I-765 and I-131 forms, both with an over 300 buck price tag, each if it's free now.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Caught that about the OP having a green card, been a long time since our AOS, but wonder why the USCIS is still listing the I-765 and I-131 forms, both with an over 300 buck price tag, each if it's free now.

because the forms themselves aren't free, the fee is waived if apply for AOS at the same time. If they sent the AP and EAD docs first they would be charged the fee. You can apply for an EAD while still a K1 and before getting your GC and the fee applies then.

It's stated on each forms instruction that if filed with AOS then the fee is waived. Sorry, i keep forgetting to write "waived" instead of free. My bad.

[freetv 7]

This reminds me, i was reading on another post in regards to country on the passport. I can't help but wonder when your wife gets her US passport and tries to leave China on it that they'll see country of birth as China and wonder what they'll do then... obviously they'll let her out but I wonder if that's their way of "flagging" chinese people who have US citizenship (no ACTUAL idea about this, I was just curious)

Did you tell her that china will take her passport? How did she react? Honestly I don't know HOW they'll take it but I assume somewhere along the lines they'll find out. have you found out what penalties there are if you don't tell them? (I tried googling but couldn't find anything, I think a phone call will be needed)

Seems like we are always posting in the same topics haha. I also thought about that after I read the country of birth. Maybe using your U.S. passport would work for a few times but at some point they are going to really look at it and see "China" and cause trouble for you. From what I have been able to find in the past, they fine you and simply take your Chinese passport. So although I said it would be better to use your u.s. passport to enter China... I retract that now. It would be better to do what some other Russians on this board do (search on the Russian forum) and only show your Chinese passport to Chinese and U.S. passport to Americans and both to the airlines... (make sure they are the same name) and I don't think you will have a problem.