AOS approval in Kansas City, MO

[dani_christine 0]

yesterday was a GREAT day for us! we FINALLY had our interview at USCIS for AOS. it's been nearly a year since we filed that stupid form, as our receipt date was August 9th!

we only live about 45 minutes from the office, but since our appointment was at 9:30 am and we'd be driving in rush hour traffic, we allowed PLENTY of time and actually left home around 7:30. when we got through downtown and were nearly there, we stopped in at McDonald's for some quick breakfast, as we still had plenty of time to wait.

we entered the building right at 9:00. we went through security, and were told to place our appointment letter in a little black box hanging on the back wall, and that we'd be called by name. we did so, and took a seat...and waited....and waited....and waited... we didn't have a chance to visit with too many people in the lobby, because, unfortunately, most of them were only speaking spanish. we did meet one nice english speaking couple....he had immigrated here last year on a k-1 from australia. interestingly, their receipt date was the same as ours...so i guess my fears that our application had been lost under someone's desk for months were really unfounded.

we watched as MANY folks who had arrived that morning well after we did were called in for their interview. i guess in interviews as well as in application approvals...they don't exactly operate on a FIFO basis. however, at about 10:35, we were finally called back to the offices. our officer was very nice....he was extremely relaxed and joking with us, and really put us at ease.

the interview itself didn't last more than 10 minutes.

we were sworn in, and then anthony answered some simple questions: do you engage in prostitution? illegal gambling? illegal drug use? have you ever been arrested? have you ever helped someone enter the US illegally? etc. then the interviewer asked us how we met, had i been to ireland, how did i like it? he asked for copies of our 2005 tax return, a letter from my employer, and some evidence for documentary proof of our life together. (i had copious amounts of evidence for this one...and all he took was copies of insurance documents, a copy of our truck title in both names, and our most recent bank statement).

i was really a nervous wreck when i was preparing for our interview. i don't know why, except that there was so much riding on it. but, as always...i was *way* over-prepared, and we really had no reason to worry at all. the interviewer did comment on the fact that he liked my neatly prepared application packets (thanks, VJ! ), and that it makes his job much easier.

he told us that everything was in order, and that based on our application and interview, he would approve anthony as a legal permanent resident for two years. he advised us on the types of things that they would like to see with that application in two years, and congratulated us on completing AOS. we asked him about FBI name check, as we were told during biometrics that his application was still pending because of that. of course, he was unable to answer that question for me ...but he assured us that as soon as the name check is complete (if it's not already complete), the green card will be in the mail.

he removed anthony's I-94 from his passport, but he did allow him to keep his advance parole so we can travel if we'd like before the green card arrives. this is good, because now we can buy our tickets to fly home to ireland in august!!

all in all...it was pretty easy. the worst part was the waiting...but the folks in the KC office were extremely friendly and the interview went off without a hitch!

thank you to all my friends here on VJ. you guys have been of immeasurable help and support during the previous year and a half! what a wonderful website, and what a wonderful community here!

[designermedusa 0]

Yay, congrats on the approval!

[Cygnet 0]

Congratulations!

[ingjohanna 0]

congratulations....

[camaleon 0]

[rebeccajo 14]

Dani, I wonder why he could not say if the name check is done or not?

Your name came up in a thread in this forum the other day. We still do not have Wes' greencard (even though we are approved) because the name check is not done. In that thread I had wondered aloud if men from the North are getting close scrutiny because of the Troubles. It was mentioned that Anthony's interview was Tuesday and perhaps we could all glean something from it.

Our officer was clearly able to tell that the namecheck was not complete. Your officer could not say?

[Gatorfan 0]

Congratulations.

[dani_christine 0]

yeah, i've wondered about that, too rebecca. i guess it's possible that because of the troubles, these poor blokes are under a microscope...but gosh! i asked our interviewer if he could check if it was back yet, and he said that he *could* but it's on another system and it takes a while to log in and he was running behind schedule...blah blah blah. basically, he could have looked, but didn't want to.

i think we'll try and call the customer no-service mis-information line and ask them what they know.

good to see you, by the way!

[SanDan 0]

Congratulations

[alexil74 0]

congratulations

[rebeccajo 14]

yeah, i've wondered about that, too rebecca. i guess it's possible that because of the troubles, these poor blokes are under a microscope...but gosh! i asked our interviewer if he could check if it was back yet, and he said that he *could* but it's on another system and it takes a while to log in and he was running behind schedule...blah blah blah. basically, he could have looked, but didn't want to.

i think we'll try and call the customer no-service mis-information line and ask them what they know.

good to see you, by the way!

Gosh, good to see you too! I guess it would have been nice if I had said hi! Where's my manners...*embarrassed*

I see you added Anthony to the name-check/blackhole thread? Did you find out for sure that Anthony is still in name check?

[jelti 0]

Congratulations!!

[Peter Miami 0]

Congrats!

Peter Miami

[CanGal 1]

Congrats