AOS Interview List

[July09Bride 1]

Okay, so Duncan and I have the AOS interview on Monday, October 19. Here's what we're bringing. If the item is "required" according the the NOA, then I've noted accordingly.

For Starters

~ bring the USC (as required, since he entered on a K1 which is marriage based - so I HAVE to go this time)

~ his passport - required

~ USC passport (to prove citizenship) - required

~ his original birth certificate - required

~ USC original birth certificate - required

~ copy of EVERYTHING submitted when initially filing for I-485 (AOS) - required

~ All NOAs and APs and EADs (and copies) - required

~ original certified version of our marriage license (and copies) - required

~ original and copies of his US SS Card

~ original and copies of USC SS Card (since I changed my name to his)

~ copies from his passport of his K1 Visa and I-94

~ copy of the check submitted to pay for EAD/AP/AOS

~ additional paystubs for USC (already submitted letter of employment, taxes, affidavit of support, etc.)

additionally...

Proof of Relationship/Establishing Eligibility for Lawful Permanent Residence status

~ pictures from wedding (extras for them to keep)

~ pictures from honeymoon (extras for them to keep)

~ pictures from a recent concert we went to (extras for them to keep)

~ USC health insurance form where he has been added

~ Flight ticket info from honeymoon with both of our names on it

~ Statement from HRDC with his adress as a US address

~ Statement from my financial insurance company, stating he is the beneficiary for my Life Insurance/Retirement Investment, should something happen to me

~ Statement from bank that he is my beneficiary for my bank accounts

~ Statement from bank that I am his beneficiary for his bank accounts

~ Statement from bank that he is applying for credit cards in US (mailed to his US address)

~ copy of the paper that came with one of credit cards showing I changed my name on my account to his last name

~ Auto insurance documents for both of our vehicles with both of our names on the insurance cards

~ Print out from cell phone compnay that has both of our names and our cell phones are part of the same account... eventhough T-Mobile won't add his name (they say it isn't necessary - UGH!!!)

~ Statement from the Office of Retirement Services from the State of Michigan stating that he is 100% sole beneficiary of my pension and also for a refund should anything happen to me

Beyond that, I'm not sure what else I could provide??!! Suggestions?

Anyone else from Canada go through AOS interviews after a K1? Is the sort of "stuff" we should bring? By the way, I have an original and 2 copies of everything listed above (except pictures).

Thank you SOOOOOOO much for your input!

[July09Bride 1]

Oh yeah... forgot... we're also bringing the SEALED I-693 transcription as well as a couple of copies. :0

[chadlaure 2]

Nice july!!

WE have pretty much the same things, except the health insurance and retirement pension stuff.

I'm also bringing

Car title (we just bought a car so it has both of our names)

Car insurance

Apartment insurance

Michigan DLs with same address (even if it is our former address, we didn't change the address yet, but at least we have the same and it shows I changed my last name)

SSN card with new name

Letter bank stating we have a joint account + voided check with both of our names

Phone stuff

I have to print our pictures and got get a new certified marriage license.

The latest paystubs from co-sponsor are coming at the end of the week.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Sounds like a good list July! The only thing I can think of that you may not even have, is evidence of joint utility bills or a lease/mortgage. I think I remember you saying you own your own house, so he likely isn't on the mortgage (at least not yet), but do you have any bills aside from the cell phone? Just a thought. I don't know that you would need it either way.

Since we just got our letter yesterday we haven't really put much thought into what to bring. Off the top of my head I have:

- A statement from his life insurance company noting me as the beneficiary

- A couple bank statements with both ours names on it+ a void check with our names and address

- A couple cell phone bills from Verizon with our names on it

- Wedding pictures+honeymoon pictures+random pictures of our trips to the mountains, baseball games, concert etc.

We also have joint health insurance, I'll need to look into how to get documentation of that. We're also thinking of opening me a life insurance policy (since I don't have one) and name him as the beneficiary. He owns his own car, so we are going to look into possibly adding me to the title if that can happen anytime in the next month... And I'm hoping to be able to get a CO DL sometime in the next few weeks which can serve as prof of a joint address. I also will show up on the car insurance policy then... right now with my Ontario DL I'm just temporarily insured and it isn't documented anywhere as far as I can tell.

Things I'm thinking about but aren't sure will prove anything...

- I'm thinking about is asking his mom to write up a mock lease contract stating we live here together? Think that would be effective or just a waste of time?

- How about statements from friends or family members? Or even taking a copy of the entries in our wedding guest book showing support for our marriage?

- Plane tickets/itineraries from our honeymoon and/or our recent trip to Phoenix?

[Carlawarla 1]

That's an incredible list, and you're well prepared. K-1 visa AOS'ers that get appointments are just random, and not many actually have them. I had one, and provided much like you did. I only brought a few pictures. I brought a few utility statements with both our names on them. Don't bother with affadavits or statements from friends or relatives. You'll need that for ROC, but not now, and is just added stuff that they don't want, or need.

Someone commented on the mortgage. I'm not on ours. We're actually almost done with our mortgage, but when Gene looked into changing the names on that, it was actually going to cost hundreds of dollars to make the change, something we didn't want to do. We still haven't, and aren't going to, until the mortgage is paid off, then we'll add my name on the title.

It's kind of like the K-1 interview, you bring tons of stuff, and then they don't look at or even want three quarters of what you bring. Our interview was about 5 min. Just basically reviewing what happened since I was granted the visa. Some chitchat about travelling down, the wedding, was I working, a list of items they'll ask you and then check off on a piece of paper...such as, are you a prostitute, drug user, terrorist. It seems like this interview is more a formality than anything.

You might want to ask if they have an I-551 stamp. A lot of offices don't have the stamp anymore, or don't give them, but it doesn't hurt to ask. That's basically a stamp saying your AOS has been approved, with an expiry date of a year, from the date of the interview, and that allows you to leave the country until you get your greencard. It's actually just the same as the GC.

[Jenni and Bo 0]

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday when I said I would! July, your list looks very good, so I'll just let you know what I took aside from the 'required' things on the letter:

any ID that you have gotten while in the US - which I know July has already listed but the more, the happier they are lol - DL, SSN, library card etc.

Copy of Car Insurance

Copy of Power bill

Copy of Apartment lease

Copy of bank statement with both our names

Copy of Health Insurance card

All the above things he KEPT at the interview, so make sure it's not the original

Also, bring all communications between you and USCIS - NOA1, NOA2, interview letter (obviously)

I had taken pictures, he looked at 10 of them, but he did look at the invitation, the paper clipping of the wedding annoucement (kept a copy of that as well I think) and some of our wedding cards.

We had copies of Bo's W2's and paystubs, but he really only asked Bo for verbal confirmation of where he worked, what his position was and how long he had been there.

They asked when, where we met, he was surprised as he hadn't had a "WoW" couple yet and asked if there were many couples that had met this way. We laughed and told him about all the couples here on VJ that are WoWers He did have a D&D couple a few months back (said he pegged them as D&D'ers as soon as they came in his office - something about their clothing I think)

Like I have said before, and Carla as well, the interview is fairly quick. They will ask you questions to make sure the information on your paperwork was correct (they make it up with a red pen), ask your SO some questions pertaining to how you met, work stuff and thats about it. I was just the silly one that forgot to get the I693 and had to wait the extra month

Hope this helps a bit, lemme know if there's anything else

[July09Bride 1]

That's an incredible list, and you're well prepared. K-1 visa AOS'ers that get appointments are just random, and not many actually have them. I had one, and provided much like you did. I only brought a few pictures. I brought a few utility statements with both our names on them. Don't bother with affadavits or statements from friends or relatives. You'll need that for ROC, but not now, and is just added stuff that they don't want, or need.

Someone commented on the mortgage. I'm not on ours. We're actually almost done with our mortgage, but when Gene looked into changing the names on that, it was actually going to cost hundreds of dollars to make the change, something we didn't want to do. We still haven't, and aren't going to, until the mortgage is paid off, then we'll add my name on the title.

It's kind of like the K-1 interview, you bring tons of stuff, and then they don't look at or even want three quarters of what you bring. Our interview was about 5 min. Just basically reviewing what happened since I was granted the visa. Some chitchat about travelling down, the wedding, was I working, a list of items they'll ask you and then check off on a piece of paper...such as, are you a prostitute, drug user, terrorist. It seems like this interview is more a formality than anything.

You might want to ask if they have an I-551 stamp. A lot of offices don't have the stamp anymore, or don't give them, but it doesn't hurt to ask. That's basically a stamp saying your AOS has been approved, with an expiry date of a year, from the date of the interview, and that allows you to leave the country until you get your greencard. It's actually just the same as the GC.

Carla, thank you for the information! We had decided to ask for the stamp, but we were calling it a "Green Card" stamp. Oops! Good to know the official name! It has been a nightmare trying to get name changes done and adding him to the utility bills, etc.

[July09Bride 1]

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday when I said I would! July, your list looks very good, so I'll just let you know what I took aside from the 'required' things on the letter:

any ID that you have gotten while in the US - which I know July has already listed but the more, the happier they are lol - DL, SSN, library card etc.

Copy of Car Insurance

Copy of Power bill

Copy of Apartment lease

Copy of bank statement with both our names

Copy of Health Insurance card

All the above things he KEPT at the interview, so make sure it's not the original

Also, bring all communications between you and USCIS - NOA1, NOA2, interview letter (obviously)

I had taken pictures, he looked at 10 of them, but he did look at the invitation, the paper clipping of the wedding annoucement (kept a copy of that as well I think) and some of our wedding cards.

We had copies of Bo's W2's and paystubs, but he really only asked Bo for verbal confirmation of where he worked, what his position was and how long he had been there.

They asked when, where we met, he was surprised as he hadn't had a "WoW" couple yet and asked if there were many couples that had met this way. We laughed and told him about all the couples here on VJ that are WoWers He did have a D&D couple a few months back (said he pegged them as D&D'ers as soon as they came in his office - something about their clothing I think)

Like I have said before, and Carla as well, the interview is fairly quick. They will ask you questions to make sure the information on your paperwork was correct (they make it up with a red pen), ask your SO some questions pertaining to how you met, work stuff and thats about it. I was just the silly one that forgot to get the I693 and had to wait the extra month

Hope this helps a bit, lemme know if there's anything else

Jenni, thank you for the idea of bringing the guest book from our wedding and also wedding cards. We have enough of those to fill a barn! LOL I had briefly thought about bringing an invitation, but that's as far as I got. Guess I'll put another one together and bring it with us!

[July09Bride 1]

We also added a pre-printed napkin, invitation, wedding program.. and a printed card we had at the reception. Hope we've got what they're looking for!!!

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Oh the AOS stage for us seems so long ago and so many years ago....(sometime in 2006)

But if it helps, here is a list of what we enclosed for that first stage of the immigration game for us (AntandD):

G-325A Biographical Information (1 form for Ant, 1 form for D) (free)

I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (1 form for D) ($190)

-D's USC Birth Certificate copy

-D's 2 passport-sized photographs ($10)

-Ant and D's Marriage Certificate copy

I-485 Permanent Residence Application (1 form for Ant) ($325 + $70 Biometrics)

-Ant's foreign Birth Certificate copy

-Ant's Canadian Passport and Citizenship Card copy

-Ant's Canadian Passport pages copy, with B-2 Visitor's Visa Stamp and I-94 ($5) in it

-Ant's 2 passport-sized photographs ($10)

-Ant and D's Marriage Certificate copy

I-693 Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment of Status (1 form for Ant) ($200 Medical Fees)

-Ant's completed immunization worksheet form (in a sealed envelope) by the Civil Surgeon Doctor

I-864 Affidavit of Support (1 form for D as a Sponsor, 1 form for Co-Sponsor) (free)

-D's Extra Note/Letter explaining our financial situation and our need for a co-sponsor

-Co-Sponsor - copies of - Tax Form (1040), W2 Form, Work Contract, USC Birth Certificate

Note:

I did not file for the EAD ($180) or AP ($170), as I did not feel that it was necessary at that time for such. Lol..I felt no need to work and/or to go back to Canada right away, and I wanted to save on costs by not filing these. I was also told that these forms were "optional", so I didn't bother filing them either.

As well, I filed all my paperwork in my "married last name", as that is the name that I planned to use (and am stil using), and I wanted all my immigration paperwork (green card, etc.) and other paperwork to reflect such. Also, I did not have my SSN at that time (I needed my green card first in order to get such), so I couldn't be added to any financial information and/or bills yet, so I didn't have that for the aos interview.

Total costs for our (AntandD) AOS process (to the USCIS for its forms and fees, in 2006): $810 (plus very low minimum sliding-scale lawyer costs)

During the interview I also brought along:

- the documentation and forms listed above,

- photos (taken during our relationship, marriage/wedding, and honeymoon, and afterwards, lol...they really liked those),

- correspondences (letters, e-mails, cards, etc. over the years, lol..they didn't really want to see those though, as we had too much stuff already),

- original copies of all documentation, etc (as suggested in the interview letter for me what else to bring).

As well, the lawyer that we hired before, went with us during the interview too, which in our case we found to be helpful. The AOS interview was in Buffalo, NY and only took about 15-20 minutes. Quick and simple, as the Immigration Officer only asked Ant and D a few questions and they showed them the forms and required listed evidence.

Needless to say we were approved and got my 2yr green card ...3 months/84 days later....

See my detailed VJ timeline below (the link is in my signature) for more information....

Hope this helps. Good luck with the rest of your immigration journey too.

Ant (AOS..So long ago....)

Edited October 19, 2009 by Ant+D+A