Documents for AOS interview

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

Alla was called in and went for the interview herself. The officer came out and asked her to come into the office and "bring your evidence" I handed her the "AOS" file and in she went. This was evidence we are married. She said the officer looked at the file, basically glanced at it, and had no questions. So....in the file I had included:

1. Statements of joint bank account, one month before she arrived in my name only, and every month since she arrived in both our names.

2. A voided check in both our names

3. Copy of marriage license (they already have this with the I-485)

4. Christmas cards addressed to both of us

5. Copy of my company's insurance forms showing her and the children added as dependents and beneficiary of life insurance.

6. Letters from the youngest son's school addressed to both of us. (NO, he wasn't a "bad boy" just usual school correspondence)

7. copy of enrollment record from the school showing both our names as "parents"

8. copies of my check stubs since the time I filed the I-864 until last week to show I continue to have income

9. copies of Moneygram receipts, most with my name as "sender", of money sent to our other son in college in Moscow

10. Copies of medical insurance cards for Alla and the boys which show me as "insured" and their names as "dependents"

11. photos of us together at my family's Thanksgiving celebration

That is about it. Alla was approved after a 9 minute interview with no questions asked about our "evidence". I say this because we specifically did NOT have a joint lease/mortgage and/or utility bills in both names and there were no questions asked. I have not yet had Alla added to my mortgage and she prefers NOT to be added to the utility accounts, for whatever reason. She does have a cell phone and now has contracted for satelite TV in her name ONLY, mostly to get her established with credit, but I am not on those accounts. So...the obligation is to show you are legitimately married...we are. There is no particular requirement to share mortgages, utilities, etc., just as is there is no particular requirement for ANY married couple to do that. Also, Alla has not changed her name and does not intend to. She has had the same name since birth and prefers to keep it that way. No problem. They DID make a copy of her SS card and driver's license.

For the I-864 I included my last 6 months check stubs, up to the date of the I-864, and a copy of the bank letter and employment letter I had for the I-134 for the visa interview. Both letters were about 4 months old when I submitted them with the I-485. Of course a copy of 2007 tax return. That is all. I did not list ANY assets, etc. on the I-864 as my "current income" easily exceeded the 125% limit.

I know that each office/officer is different, but if it helps, that was our experience.

[Canadianmade 1]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

Alla was called in and went for the interview herself. The officer came out and asked her to come into the office and "bring your evidence" I handed her the "AOS" file and in she went. This was evidence we are married. She said the officer looked at the file, basically glanced at it, and had no questions. So....in the file I had included:

1. Statements of joint bank account, one month before she arrived in my name only, and every month since she arrived in both our names.

2. A voided check in both our names

3. Copy of marriage license (they already have this with the I-485)

4. Christmas cards addressed to both of us

5. Copy of my company's insurance forms showing her and the children added as dependents and beneficiary of life insurance.

6. Letters from the youngest son's school addressed to both of us. (NO, he wasn't a "bad boy" just usual school correspondence)

7. copy of enrollment record from the school showing both our names as "parents"

8. copies of my check stubs since the time I filed the I-864 until last week to show I continue to have income

9. copies of Moneygram receipts, most with my name as "sender", of money sent to our other son in college in Moscow

10. Copies of medical insurance cards for Alla and the boys which show me as "insured" and their names as "dependents"

11. photos of us together at my family's Thanksgiving celebration

That is about it. Alla was approved after a 9 minute interview with no questions asked about our "evidence". I say this because we specifically did NOT have a joint lease/mortgage and/or utility bills in both names and there were no questions asked. I have not yet had Alla added to my mortgage and she prefers NOT to be added to the utility accounts, for whatever reason. She does have a cell phone and now has contracted for satelite TV in her name ONLY, mostly to get her established with credit, but I am not on those accounts. So...the obligation is to show you are legitimately married...we are. There is no particular requirement to share mortgages, utilities, etc., just as is there is no particular requirement for ANY married couple to do that. Also, Alla has not changed her name and does not intend to. She has had the same name since birth and prefers to keep it that way. No problem. They DID make a copy of her SS card and driver's license.

For the I-864 I included my last 6 months check stubs, up to the date of the I-864, and a copy of the bank letter and employment letter I had for the I-134 for the visa interview. Both letters were about 4 months old when I submitted them with the I-485. Of course a copy of 2007 tax return. That is all. I did not list ANY assets, etc. on the I-864 as my "current income" easily exceeded the 125% limit.

I know that each office/officer is different, but if it helps, that was our experience.

Hi Gary and Alla thank you so much for sharing what kind of evidence you guys presented at the interview and this info is tremendously helpful for me and many others who have interviews coming up or will very soon. My wife and I have that same type of evidence you guys listed and our interview is on Feb 3 2009 so we are preparing our evidence. What did you put your evidence in, like a folder what? Thank you once again.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

Alla was called in and went for the interview herself. The officer came out and asked her to come into the office and "bring your evidence" I handed her the "AOS" file and in she went. This was evidence we are married. She said the officer looked at the file, basically glanced at it, and had no questions. So....in the file I had included:

1. Statements of joint bank account, one month before she arrived in my name only, and every month since she arrived in both our names.

2. A voided check in both our names

3. Copy of marriage license (they already have this with the I-485)

4. Christmas cards addressed to both of us

5. Copy of my company's insurance forms showing her and the children added as dependents and beneficiary of life insurance.

6. Letters from the youngest son's school addressed to both of us. (NO, he wasn't a "bad boy" just usual school correspondence)

7. copy of enrollment record from the school showing both our names as "parents"

8. copies of my check stubs since the time I filed the I-864 until last week to show I continue to have income

9. copies of Moneygram receipts, most with my name as "sender", of money sent to our other son in college in Moscow

10. Copies of medical insurance cards for Alla and the boys which show me as "insured" and their names as "dependents"

11. photos of us together at my family's Thanksgiving celebration

That is about it. Alla was approved after a 9 minute interview with no questions asked about our "evidence". I say this because we specifically did NOT have a joint lease/mortgage and/or utility bills in both names and there were no questions asked. I have not yet had Alla added to my mortgage and she prefers NOT to be added to the utility accounts, for whatever reason. She does have a cell phone and now has contracted for satelite TV in her name ONLY, mostly to get her established with credit, but I am not on those accounts. So...the obligation is to show you are legitimately married...we are. There is no particular requirement to share mortgages, utilities, etc., just as is there is no particular requirement for ANY married couple to do that. Also, Alla has not changed her name and does not intend to. She has had the same name since birth and prefers to keep it that way. No problem. They DID make a copy of her SS card and driver's license.

For the I-864 I included my last 6 months check stubs, up to the date of the I-864, and a copy of the bank letter and employment letter I had for the I-134 for the visa interview. Both letters were about 4 months old when I submitted them with the I-485. Of course a copy of 2007 tax return. That is all. I did not list ANY assets, etc. on the I-864 as my "current income" easily exceeded the 125% limit.

I know that each office/officer is different, but if it helps, that was our experience.

Hi Gary and Alla thank you so much for sharing what kind of evidence you guys presented at the interview and this info is tremendously helpful for me and many others who have interviews coming up or will very soon. My wife and I have that same type of evidence you guys listed and our interview is on Feb 3 2009 so we are preparing our evidence. What did you put your evidence in, like a folder what? Thank you once again.

The I-129f and K-1 visa interview "evidence", (which we never used at the AOS interview) are in binders with "two hole" top punches and tabs for different documents. The AOS interview documents were neatly arranged in a stack, paper clips to divide the information and a big binder clip to hold it all together. Now that we are finished I will put it in another binder, like the others. My experience is, whatever you "bind" it in, they will just take it apart, so I didn't bother this time. Just keep it neat so you (or they) can find things easily and make copies if they want. Alla actually had no idea what was in that stack. I had been putting it all together and assumed I would be in the interview. As it was, she handed them the stack and they looked at it and had no questions. Had he shown her anything, she would have known what it was, but she did not know what was in the stack I handed her.

[Canadianmade 1]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

Alla was called in and went for the interview herself. The officer came out and asked her to come into the office and "bring your evidence" I handed her the "AOS" file and in she went. This was evidence we are married. She said the officer looked at the file, basically glanced at it, and had no questions. So....in the file I had included:

1. Statements of joint bank account, one month before she arrived in my name only, and every month since she arrived in both our names.

2. A voided check in both our names

3. Copy of marriage license (they already have this with the I-485)

4. Christmas cards addressed to both of us

5. Copy of my company's insurance forms showing her and the children added as dependents and beneficiary of life insurance.

6. Letters from the youngest son's school addressed to both of us. (NO, he wasn't a "bad boy" just usual school correspondence)

7. copy of enrollment record from the school showing both our names as "parents"

8. copies of my check stubs since the time I filed the I-864 until last week to show I continue to have income

9. copies of Moneygram receipts, most with my name as "sender", of money sent to our other son in college in Moscow

10. Copies of medical insurance cards for Alla and the boys which show me as "insured" and their names as "dependents"

11. photos of us together at my family's Thanksgiving celebration

That is about it. Alla was approved after a 9 minute interview with no questions asked about our "evidence". I say this because we specifically did NOT have a joint lease/mortgage and/or utility bills in both names and there were no questions asked. I have not yet had Alla added to my mortgage and she prefers NOT to be added to the utility accounts, for whatever reason. She does have a cell phone and now has contracted for satelite TV in her name ONLY, mostly to get her established with credit, but I am not on those accounts. So...the obligation is to show you are legitimately married...we are. There is no particular requirement to share mortgages, utilities, etc., just as is there is no particular requirement for ANY married couple to do that. Also, Alla has not changed her name and does not intend to. She has had the same name since birth and prefers to keep it that way. No problem. They DID make a copy of her SS card and driver's license.

For the I-864 I included my last 6 months check stubs, up to the date of the I-864, and a copy of the bank letter and employment letter I had for the I-134 for the visa interview. Both letters were about 4 months old when I submitted them with the I-485. Of course a copy of 2007 tax return. That is all. I did not list ANY assets, etc. on the I-864 as my "current income" easily exceeded the 125% limit.

I know that each office/officer is different, but if it helps, that was our experience.

Hi Gary and Alla thank you so much for sharing what kind of evidence you guys presented at the interview and this info is tremendously helpful for me and many others who have interviews coming up or will very soon. My wife and I have that same type of evidence you guys listed and our interview is on Feb 3 2009 so we are preparing our evidence. What did you put your evidence in, like a folder what? Thank you once again.

The I-129f and K-1 visa interview "evidence", (which we never used at the AOS interview) are in binders with "two hole" top punches and tabs for different documents. The AOS interview documents were neatly arranged in a stack, paper clips to divide the information and a big binder clip to hold it all together. Now that we are finished I will put it in another binder, like the others. My experience is, whatever you "bind" it in, they will just take it apart, so I didn't bother this time. Just keep it neat so you (or they) can find things easily and make copies if they want. Alla actually had no idea what was in that stack. I had been putting it all together and assumed I would be in the interview. As it was, she handed them the stack and they looked at it and had no questions. Had he shown her anything, she would have known what it was, but she did not know what was in the stack I handed her.

Thank you so much for sharing this wealth of information, and I am going to take your advice on how to prepare for the interview it sounds real good to me. Glad to hear you had a good experience and hope I have a good experience as well.

[TBoneTX 45,292]

Thanks very much for this information, and congratulations, si man!

[alexpapa 4]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

your letter said nothing about I-864, I-693, evidence of bonafide marriage, forms of identification? Your interview letter should have on it a long checklist

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

From the "for what it is worth" department...

We received our AOS appointment letter and the documents listed "to bring" were, EXACTLY, my wife's passport and I-94 card. That is ALL, nothing else. I asked some questions here on this site and got many answers of other things to bring and finally decided just to bring the whole damn organized, tabulated box of any and all documents ever sent to USCIS plus every type of document I could imagine to show we are married.

your letter said nothing about I-864, I-693, evidence of bonafide marriage, forms of identification? Your interview letter should have on it a long checklist

It had no "long list" The "list" was, in its entirety..."Please bring with you...

1. this letter

2. valid government issued ID

3. Foreign passport (which could also meet the needs of #2)

4. I-94 card

That is ALL. The I-864 and I-693 had been included with the I-485 package along with a certified copy of our marriage license so they already had that. I have listed what I chose to bring for "evidence" and Alla said the officer "glanced through it" but had no questions relating to anything in the "evidence". Her entire interview took exactly 9 minutes including giving the "oath" and running through the standard "are you a fugitive?" type questions.

In fact I took it upon myself to bring the things I did based on advice from the members here, and I am glad I did, but it really didn't amount to anything. By the time I was called in 9 minutes after Alla, the "interview" was over and I was just there to be informed of the next step and what papers to file and when (for lifting conditions) His first words to me were "I am approving the green cards today.."