aos interview experience - san francisco

[ram^analise 0]

My husband and I went for our aos interview today, 26 Sept 2008, at USCIS San Francisco. We got approved, thank God. The whole process was took us about 45mins to 1 hr. As others have stressed out, no cellphone or camera is allowed inside the USCIS office.

After going thru two security checks on the ground floor, one outside the building and one metal screening after entering the building, we were told to go to the 6th floor. Upon exiting the elevator, we saw the waiting area, with a small sign in front. The check in desk is to the right.

After giving the appointment letter at the reception area, we were asked to take a seat and wait for our name to be called. After about 10mins I got called to have my index fingers scanned and my picture taken. We were then asked to take a seat again and wait for our name to be called. After about 30mins or so, a lady officer called our name and directed us to her office. She started the interview by introducing herself and sworn both of us.

She asked for the following documents:

from my husband (USC): driver's license and employment letter

from me (NON-USC/applicant): passport, ead card, ssn card, 2007 federal income tax return of my husband, any document with both our names on it (we gave employment benefits letter, health cards, bank statement, and letter from a family friend addressed to us).

When she got all the documents, she began asking me questions from the entries in form I-485 which I submitted -- from page 1 to the yes/no questions. At some point she went thru our marriage document and asked me when we got married. She was impressed that we were married by a state senator. She also asked us where we were married (in Sacramento) and asked her how was the weather? I told her that my husband's aunt is the chief-of-staff of that state senator, that's why. She then asked me to sign at the last page of the form I-485.

Other questions that she asked: how and when we met? When and where did we meet in person for the first time? Did we go to any islands in the Philippines? at what point did we know that 'this is it'? how did my family feel when they knew that my husband, then fiance, is coming to visit me? have we been to anywhere in the US? We told her that we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. She asked which islands did we go and which one is our favorite. After we related to her our Hawaii experience, she then shared her insights about the different islands and recommended places we may want to visit the next time we go there. She then told us that we got approved and that we can expect the green card in the mail in 2 weeks to 1 month. She gave us a sheet of paper outlining what to do in case we would not receive the green card in 45 days. She took my ead card saying that with the green card I won't need it anymore. She told us that the green card is good for 2 years and we need to renew it before it expiration. The interview took us about 10-15mins.

Overall, our experience with USCIS San Francisco was awesome! We had prepared and brought a lot of documents, proof of relationship, pictures, etc and looking back, was a little disappointed that we didn't have the chance to share them with her.

Just a nickel worth of free advice, if you decide to take public transportation to an interview that you don't want to miss or be late to, plan on getting there early, just in case something happens. We took BART and left first thing in the morning and we, along with hundreds of other morning commuters, were victims of track problems. We sat in one station for about 20 minutes and then another for about 15 as they made repairs. This delay gave my husband some stress as we were put into a situation out of our control. We had planned to arrive about 45 minutes early, we got there just in time.

[richo 0]

HI there Congrats to you And ty for sharing your experience

[ram^analise 0]

HI there Congrats to you And ty for sharing your experience

hello there!

thank you and you're welcome. this site has been a great help in our journey. now that we have gone this far, we wanna share our experience to others hoping it would be of help to them as well.

thank you fellow VJers!

[Shakil 4]

Hey.. Congratulations... I hope your removal of conditions would go as smoothly as this.

[happyinlove012408 0]

Congrats on your interview.

[chris39 0]

Congrats!!!!!!

[Heliosphan 1]

Congratulations!!

That was a great interview experience!

[envy_me 18]

congrats!

[ellla 0]

Congrats and thank you for sharing!!!

[Mina76 0]

Congratulations on getting your GC approval!!!