Interview at Garden City New York

loveintheair · November 9, 2008

We entered the building about 7am. Our appointment was 730am. Security was nice and was making jokes with everyone. We then entered a large room on the first floor where we gave the appointment letter to a lady behind the window. She asked if we had a lawyer we said no and then she stamped the letter and asked us to sit and the back of the room close the exit.

About 20 to 25 minutes later another lady came with a sit of letters in her hand and began to call names. We heard ours and stood up. We were then ask to form a line to we can be escorted upstairs. We were taken to another waiting area which was much smaller than the one we just came from. They where already our couples there waiting. We took a seat and waited. My husband was a little nerves, but overall we where ok. They began calling names.

After about 1hr an IO came and called my husbands name. We then when into her office, our first impression is that she seem to be very serious. She asked us for state IDs and passports. She then asked us to stand and she swore us in. The interview was painless. She asks my husband when he met me, how long we have been dating before we got married. She also asked him my date of birth and he made a mistake with the year. I corrected him, but it was not a big deal for the IO. She asks me his date of birth and if I knew his kids and there ages. She looked thru our album and asked us for 2 pictures, 1 from our wedding and 1 from anytime. She also asks for joint credit card statements and utility bills. She then asked my husband some yes and no questions from the I-485 form and then told us he was approved. She said if we want we can wait downstairs for about an hour to get a stamp in his passport or wait to get the green card in the mail in about 6 to 8 weeks. We said we will wait for the stamp. She kept his passport and told us to go back downstairs in the first waiting room and wait for my husbands name to be called. We waited about 25 minutes then was called a very nice lady explained that we would have to file removal conditions 90 days before the conditional card expires and gave us a letter explaining everything and the passport stamped with the I-1551. Over all it took lees then 3 hrs from the time we arrived to the time we left. The interview in self took about 15 to 20 minutes.

The must important thing is to be prepared. We had about 12 files with different things. We had a notarized letter from our landlady stating that we live together and the IO did not ask about a lease our anything. We also made sure to have copies of all the forms we submitted. My husband was worried about me not having my naturalization certificate, but my US passport was enough.

Thank you all at visajourney.com for all your help and advice. Because of this site we saved the $1500.00 lawyer fees. :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: