Interview for conditional GC in New York yesterday

[wil 0]

We had our interview yesterday Apr 26th in New York City. There were at least 100 couples when we just got there at 2p.m. A lot of them brought their lawyers. We were waiting for almost 2 hours to be interviewed. At that time we were the last second couple. The interview last only about 15 minutes. The officer was a lady. She was nice from the beginning to the end, smiling and smiling, which made us think that was her really 'smiling'?

Here are all the questions she asked:

1. May i have your passports and birth certificates? We showed her. When she saw my old/damaged birth cert, she said 'wow, you don't look so old as this looks'. It's just kind of joke, i think.

2. Is your wife the only child from her family'? 'Yes, because now china controls its population and just allow one family has one kid.' I answered. 'So you stole the only kid from her parents'? 'Yes, i have to'. I replied with smiling.

3. Do you have a joint bank letter? We showed her and she said she has to keep the original one.

4. Do you have 2005's tax paper? We showed her the original one. She said she needs to have a copy of our 2005 join-tax. We did prepare a copy for her.

5. Do you have any pictures? We gave her to albums. One of them has pictures that were taken after my wife came to NY and were taken before when i went to China. The other album has our engagement wedding pictures taken in China. It seems she was very interested in our pictures. She looked at them one by one. She said 'oh i saw this picture before'. We realized she had looked at the pictures that we submitted with our I-129 file (k-1).

6. Have you had your wedding in NY? 'Not yet, we would like to save some money now. But we will have it eventually.' Did your family go to China for your engagement wedding? 'No, they didn't make it at that time'. I didn't say the reason just because it's private reason. But i had that feeling she was thinking why my family didn't go. I don't know if that will impact her approval for our case.

7. May i have a look at your lease letter? She checked the original one and kept the copy in her file.

8. Do you have any bills with your name? - (That is the bad part). I said we don't have any because our rent includes gas, light, heat & water. My mother lives with us and she paid the phone bills. The officer said 'oh, okay'. But we really don't know if this matters. What we had told her was all the truth. We really don't have any bills. But she could have doubts.

9. You live with your mother but do you support her financially? 'No, i didn't'.

9. What does your wife do currently? 'She works for a trading company'. Damn, I got stuck on the word 'trading'! I was not nervous but just that happens to me sometimes! I explained to the officer and she said 'it's fine. don't worry'. I just hope she won't think it in a wrong way.

10. Routine questions to my wife such as 'have you ever been arrested?', etc.

That's all the questions. We talked to each other in a pretty friendly way. Like i said this officer smiled to us from the beginning to the end.

We were waiting for her to tell us the result... She finally said 'You don't have problems but we need to review the documents. We will mail you the result within 1-2 months. I have written my name down on your (my wife's) passport.' That is really unexpected!!! We thought they would let us know the answer right in front of them!! But we have to wait for another 1-2 month just to get the result!! We tried to stay calm but i know my wife and i really felt bad. We smiled and said 'okay, thank you for your time'. We gave her our employment letters although she didn't ask. She kept them and said 'you could give me anything you want'.

Before we left, she said 'Wish you have a great wedding soon!'

My wife said she didn't have a good mood after the interview. Yeah, we didn't know the answer and have to wait for 1-2 months. It's hard to tell what that officer was thinking. Will she think it matters because we didn't have bills with our name? That's the only concern but it could be the deadly factor.

I read the others' interview stories from different states and most of them did have the results right at the interveiw. Maybe New York is different? The results will not be annouced at the interview and will be mailed to you in 1-2 months? Can anyone who has had the interview in New York tell me that? Really appreciated if you could.

[raymaga 25]

Sorry that you didn't get your approval at your interview, but at least you didn't get a denial. I think it's just a matter of waiting, and you will hear good news soon.

Best wishes to you both.

[krysia 0]

Hi

there is a small group here already form NY

I had interview on March 23 in Garden City. Have you been there too or in Manhattan?

It is standard in Garden City that they do not make decision, because they still have to do FBI check, and that takes around 5 weeks. So do not worry!

I am still waiting for news and it is already over 2 months.

But there was a VJ - NigerLA - that had interview on March 13 and just got welcome letter.

Do not worry

Be patient

Krystyna

[wil 0]

Krystyna, thank you so much for your information!

Yes, we did go to Manhattan to have to interview. I don't have the address with me now but i remember it is 26 Federal Plaza, in uptown Manhattan. Is it the same place that you went? - Let me know.

We feel better after you told me this. We will be patient but were worried earlier. It seems the processing in NY is slower than the other state. We have to wait for another 1-2 months to know the answer.

Congratulations to VJ - NigerLA who has just got their welcome letter! Wish you will have yours soon too! Let us know your good news!

[NigerLA 1]

Congratulations on your interview.

I know how frustrating it is to leave without a stamp in your passport or statement saying you are approved.

New York does not stamp passports anymore, it took me about six weeks to get a welcome letter and I just got an email today that they mailed the green card.

It is hard waiting, but it really does take about six weeks. Once you get the welcome letter, it is smooth sailing from there on.

Congratulations once again and the hardest part is waiting.

[nyc 0]

A friend of mine had her interview in Manhattan and they didn't tell her the result either.

She had the interview end June and got her green card beginning of September.

Good luck!!!

[wil 0]

NigerLA & NYC,

Thanks for your information.

The feeling was not too good when you left the interview without an answer. We could still be worried if they would approve it or not. Hopefully we will get the welcome letter and green card soon...

[planeobsessed 0]

NigerLA & NYC,

Thanks for your information.

The feeling was not too good when you left the interview without an answer. We could still be worried if they would approve it or not. Hopefully we will get the welcome letter and green card soon...

wil,

IMHO I dont think there is anything to be worried about... lately there have been a LOT of cases where the decision is not given right on the spot... I was just talking to one of my friends over lunch today who was saying this very same thing that lately the interviewing officers even at our local office have stopped giving a decision or stamping the passport on the spot... he himself was told the same exact thingthat you were told at his AOS interview not too long ago at our local office -and if you read the interview stories on here you will notice a lot of people dont get a decision right on the spot...

From all you have wrote, it sounds like the interview went well and you should be receiving your "welcome" letter shortly.

[wil 0]

Planeobsessed,

Thank you for letting me know your friend's situation. Yeah, it seems lots of places won't give you the answer. All the couples like us will be worried without the answers, i believe. I just saw someone had a second interview request. They must be nervous. We won't feel at ease until we get the decision letter, either. God bless us. Hopefully everything goes well...

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Don't worry about it, we had the same thing happening to us and we heard from them after a couple of days that we were officially approved then it would take so x days to get the green card. once we got the letter we waited for the

[pri 0]

congrats for the successful interview and relax I think i hv read a couple of posts on Vj garden city does not tell u their descision the same day..

[wil 0]

Nikita2Charles & Pri,

Wish the decision letter could arrive soon...

Will let you know once we receive it

[tomica52 0]

That is frustrating... But it doesn sound like the interview went well so nothing to worry about. I guess one good thing for the rest of us waiting on NYC interview is that they seem to be up to speed...

[SimonnOlivia 0]

We had our interview at beginning of April in Manhattan, and we didn't get decision on the spot. The interviewer didn't even tell us if it looked "good. We were told to wait because of fingerprint issue. After 3 weeks, we got the AOS approval letter. The interview didn't even tell us if there had been any problems, so don't worry.

Our AOS Interview in New York City 04/05/2006 - Told to wait for decsion 1- 3 months

Our AOS Approval Notice 04/20/2006 --

[wil 0]

Hey!!

We got update info from USCIS online case status. It says a welcome letter has been mailed to us on May 1st, 2006! We can't believe it. We just had the interview on Apr 26th! As most of people here said they received their welcome letter in about 4-6 weeks...