My timeline

[w98 0]

Hi all, been a long time since I've posted.

I've been in the United States for a little over 6 years, fully legally, on a TN-1 from Canada. I got married in September 2005. I used a great immigration law group here in Los Angeles, and we mailed out my application on January 12th 2006, for the i485, i131 and i765, and my wife's i130 application to "bring" me into the US when I was already here. We got our notice on January 21st that everything was received. In February, we got a notice that my wife's i130 didn't provide enough information about the required salary income (she just graduated with her master's degree a year ago, and didn't make enough money alone to 'support' me). We filed our taxes right away, and mailed an ammendment to her i130 showing our combined income.

My i131 (advanced parole) was approved on March 13 and arrived in the mail on March 17 about a month earlier than expected. My TN-1 was expiring on March 25, so my employer filed an extension for me by mail since we didn't know how much long we'd be waiting for my i785 (EAD).

My EAD was approved and arrived in mid-April, right at the 90-day processing timeline.

We got our interview notice in May, with our interview date set as June 17th, the 9 month anniversary of our wedding date. Our lawyer recommended that we take a whole stack of information - with a photocopy of everything too. We had a copy of our taxes, photos from our wedding and over the 2.5 years we dated, our apartment lease, our passports, utility bills, our birth certificates, paystubs, cards and letters to both of us, etc.

Our appointment was at 7:50am, and we were called at 8:15. He asked us up front for our photo ID and passports (my wife's passport was expired but it was still a legal passport). Over the course of the half-hour interview he asked each of us each other's birthdates, tried to trip me up asking me to confirm I was born in a different city in Canada. He asked to see our taxes, a bill of some kind with our names (I gave him a copy of our car insurance policy showing both of our cars), and asked to see something proving we had shared health benefits. That was it. I brought like 10" of paperwork and 150 photos, and he barely asked for anything. He took my EAD, took the TN-1 out of my passport, welcomed me to the US of A, and started talking about the ridiculous housing prices in Southern California for an extra 5 minutes before dismissing us.

So right about 6 months from mailing our information and 9 months exactly from our wedding, I was approved for my green card. I was told it would arrive in 2-3 weeks, and this is the best part: it arrived in the mail on July 1st (Canada Day). How ironic is that...

Anyhow, some helpful hints for everyone:

1. BRING IDENTIFICATION. While we waited to be called, we sat near a couple talking to their lawyer who met them for the interview, and overheard the lawyer say "What do you mean you didn't bring any i.d.?" Heheh.

2. BE PREPARED. Bring originals of paperwork like I've listed above, and bring a photocopy to leave with the interviewer. You'll never know what they'll ask you for.

3. MOST IMPORTANTLY: it's okay to be nervous. I've read the rumors, I've read the horror stories of couples getting split up and asked the ridiculous questions. These guys interview a LOT of people, they'll recognize nervousness as easily as they'll recognize people who aren't legit. If you aren't legit, don't bother trying.

Good luck to everyone else out there. If you want to ask any questions about the process, feel free to message me here or reply to this write-up, I'm happy to do what I can to help others through this.