November filers

[IstanBulls 1]

Good news

Welcome Letter received today

:dancing:

Good Luck!!!

Congrats! That's awesome

[laurelmike 0]

Marie.... Wishing you the very best in your interview tomorrow

[marie09 5]

Marie.... Wishing you the very best in your interview tomorrow

Thank you so much! and congratulations again on your approval.

[Mestis 1]

Good luck guys that have your interview tomorrow.

Marie, thanks for the warm wishes :-)

Got our interview this morning. I'll post a review later. It went pretty well. I got a email tonight telling us that my green card has been ordered!!!! I'm so excited. Thank you all for your wishes and support.

[Laura & Kyle 16]

Got our interview this morning. I'll post a review later. It went pretty well. I got a email tonight telling us that my green card has been ordered!!!! I'm so excited. Thank you all for your wishes and support.

Congrats, Mestis! That is wonderful news!

[IstanBulls 1]

Good luck guys that have your interview tomorrow.

Marie, thanks for the warm wishes :-)

Got our interview this morning. I'll post a review later. It went pretty well. I got a email tonight telling us that my green card has been ordered!!!! I'm so excited. Thank you all for your wishes and support.

Congrats! That's great.

[marie09 5]

Good luck guys that have your interview tomorrow.

Marie, thanks for the warm wishes :-)

Got our interview this morning. I'll post a review later. It went pretty well. I got a email tonight telling us that my green card has been ordered!!!! I'm so excited. Thank you all for your wishes and support.

Wow Congrats! That's amazing so fast! Wow must feel so good to be done! :dance:

We're leaving in the next hour craziness! Fingers crossed

[MaddyCruise 2]

Goodluck to all that having an interview tomorrow..

[mochimasala 0]

Congrats Mestis!!! You don't have to deal with the USCIS for another 2 years !!

Looking forward to reading your interview review.

And good luck to marie09 on your interview!!

[Mestis 1]

So, as promise, here is my review.

We booked a room downtown close to the office for Tuesday night. Considering Chicago weather and traffic, we did not wanted to take any chances. And since the day after was my husband's birthday, we went out and had a really nice diner for the occasion. Made sure we would wake up.. I had my phone alarm set up at 8:00, the "TV" alarm set up at 8:15, and a wake-up call set up for 8:30... lol

We took a cab to downtown Chicago office around 9:45. Appointment was at 10:28.

First, we went through airport security (metal detector), took the escalator and when to the reception. Talking briefly with the reception lady, she told us to wait for our lawyer and he would give her the letter.

The waiting room had about 50 people waiting in it, which kind of made me nervous and worried about how long we would stay there...

Our lawyer got there at 10:10, gave the letter, and we got one of those "restaurant" beeper.

Around 10:30, we got "beeped" in. A nice lady met us at the door and asked us to join her in her office. She introduced herself and told us she would be our officer for the interview.

First we stood, and were placed under oath. Asked to see our identification, my husband drivers license, and my passport and I-94. I also showed her my Illinois drivers license.

Then she verified the information in our files, asked the YES/NO questions again. I was asked if I was registered to vote or already voted in the USA (which I answered No).

Got some issue with my middle name. I wanted to use a middle name my maiden name, but they said it could not be done, so I decided to forget the middle name for now (I can figure what to do when it's time to renew the 10 year GC).

Then she asked for our proof of common life. We had our lease (she already had it on file), our common insurance (car, renters, health), one join saving account, one credit card account. She asked to see my original birth certificate, the translation, our original wedding license. She asked for pictures. We showed her our shower/rehearsal diner/Wedding album. She commented how nice it was, and asked questions about the location. She asked if we had any copies. We did had a bunch of loose pictures we gave her.

We had a new affidavit of support, with my husband paystub for the last 2 months. I offered to give her that, but she mentioned we were already cleared for that.

Then she said that she would review our file and we should have a letter about the decision in about 1-3 months, and that if we did not have any news by then to do an InfoPass appointment. Her and our lawyer mentioned about the condition and that everything should be explained with our green card at reception.

As we were leaving, our lawyer asked if we cleared FBI already, and she said yes.

We were out of there by 11:00. Went out to Frontera Grill (excellent Mexican restaurant by the way...) to celebrate being through the interview and my husband birthday :-)

I must say the experience (other than the airport security) was rather pleasant (considering what we were doing). Everybody (reception, security guards, officer) was friendly and helpful. I was really nervous considering reviews I've read, but I must say it went pretty smoothly and painless....

And at 5 o'clock, I got a text message saying our case status had changed:

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

:-) :-)

[IstanBulls 1]

So, as promise, here is my review.

We booked a room downtown close to the office for Tuesday night. Considering Chicago weather and traffic, we did not wanted to take any chances. And since the day after was my husband's birthday, we went out and had a really nice diner for the occasion. Made sure we would wake up.. I had my phone alarm set up at 8:00, the "TV" alarm set up at 8:15, and a wake-up call set up for 8:30... lol

We took a cab to downtown Chicago office around 9:45. Appointment was at 10:28.

First, we went through airport security (metal detector), took the escalator and when to the reception. Talking briefly with the reception lady, she told us to wait for our lawyer and he would give her the letter.

The waiting room had about 50 people waiting in it, which kind of made me nervous and worried about how long we would stay there...

Our lawyer got there at 10:10, gave the letter, and we got one of those "restaurant" beeper.

Around 10:30, we got "beeped" in. A nice lady met us at the door and asked us to join her in her office. She introduced herself and told us she would be our officer for the interview.

First we stood, and were placed under oath. Asked to see our identification, my husband drivers license, and my passport and I-94. I also showed her my Illinois drivers license.

Then she verified the information in our files, asked the YES/NO questions again. I was asked if I was registered to vote or already voted in the USA (which I answered No).

Got some issue with my middle name. I wanted to use a middle name my maiden name, but they said it could not be done, so I decided to forget the middle name for now (I can figure what to do when it's time to renew the 10 year GC).

Then she asked for our proof of common life. We had our lease (she already had it on file), our common insurance (car, renters, health), one join saving account, one credit card account. She asked to see my original birth certificate, the translation, our original wedding license. She asked for pictures. We showed her our shower/rehearsal diner/Wedding album. She commented how nice it was, and asked questions about the location. She asked if we had any copies. We did had a bunch of loose pictures we gave her.

We had a new affidavit of support, with my husband paystub for the last 2 months. I offered to give her that, but she mentioned we were already cleared for that.

Then she said that she would review our file and we should have a letter about the decision in about 1-3 months, and that if we did not have any news by then to do an InfoPass appointment. Her and our lawyer mentioned about the condition and that everything should be explained with our green card at reception.

As we were leaving, our lawyer asked if we cleared FBI already, and she said yes.

We were out of there by 11:00. Went out to Frontera Grill (excellent Mexican restaurant by the way...) to celebrate being through the interview and my husband birthday :-)

I must say the experience (other than the airport security) was rather pleasant (considering what we were doing). Everybody (reception, security guards, officer) was friendly and helpful. I was really nervous considering reviews I've read, but I must say it went pretty smoothly and painless....

And at 5 o'clock, I got a text message saying our case status had changed:

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

:-) :-)

This is awesome congratulations.

[yokomist 0]

Hello all,

We are all done, appointment was for 9am and thats about when we were taken in for the interview. The lady was vey nice, didnt need to see photos. Only asked the "how did you meet question" and the "are you a terrorist? do you want to over throw the government" questions. Asked to see financial co-mingling and the said your approved and said to make sure I reapply for ROC before the certain date. She took my 1-94 and the stamped my passport with a 1 year temp green card and said I would receive the plastic one in 2 weeks.

Was pretty fast, we were done in less than 10 mins. It was super relaxed and nice and I was nervous for nothing

Good luck to everyone, especially Marie and her Husband who are having their big day today!

~Bevan~

[IstanBulls 1]

Hello all,

We are all done, appointment was for 9am and thats about when we were taken in for the interview. The lady was vey nice, didnt need to see photos. Only asked the "how did you meet question" and the "are you a terrorist? do you want to over throw the government" questions. Asked to see financial co-mingling and the said your approved and said to make sure I reapply for ROC before the certain date. She took my 1-94 and the stamped my passport with a 1 year temp green card and said I would receive the plastic one in 2 weeks.

Was pretty fast, we were done in less than 10 mins. It was super relaxed and nice and I was nervous for nothing

Good luck to everyone, especially Marie and her Husband who are having their big day today!

~Bevan~

Congrats Bevan! That's great, It must be a huge relief knowing that you are approved when you leave the office.

[marie09 5]

Wow congrats Mestis & Bevan!

We just got back and all went great for us too. We got to sacramento last night - went for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe like the tourists that we are! Checked where the USCIS building was & figured the best place to park was the mall (a tip from one of the Visajourney reviewers - thank you ) so we didn't have to worry about meters.

We got up super early this morning also a zillion alarms set - like mestis! Went over to the federal building - went through security, they just checked ids, - the officers were nice - smiled at us - professional. Asked us if we'd brought our cell phones - they were sending people back to their cars who had - told them no we hadn't... we knew better - again thank you visa journey! We went up to the USCIS floor headed to the waiting room and put our interview letter under the window as it instructed. I noticed that the other letters i could see were for citizenship. The room was busy - lots of people - families etc... Again I think most were citizenship applicants as most people had next to no documents - thin envelopes/folders etc... I did see one couple that I think were AOS the girl was wearing a bright pink nylon cocktail dress and looked like she was going to a night club - strange!

We sat and waited - figuring we were in for a long wait since by this point there was still 30 mins to go... But no after about 10 mins an IO came out carrying 2 sheets of paper and called a name several times... Noone responded... So then she moved onto the next sheet and called us - yay! Thank you to whoever didn't show up/was late...

The IO was really polite, very pleasant & professional immediately put us at ease. Confirmed my husband's name first asking him if he goes by middle or first - he goes by middle name. She asked each of us if this was our first and only marriage - yes. Asked for our ids & my passport. Asked me if i'd had a difficult time changing my name on my driver license - no... Asked if i'd change my name at SS - I said yes and showed her the new card. She confirmed my visa type - I offered to show the extensions but she smiled and said no we have the copies in your file. She was like and your last extension expired.... But she said it like she was making an observation. Us applying a few weeks before my visa expiration didn't seem to be an issue.

She had me confirm my Birthday - it's next week and my hubby joked about how he keeps getting reminded...

She asked how we met and lots of questions related to it... We met at a trivia night at a local bar... we explained how we lived down the street from each other when we first met. She wanted to know if we'd just randomly met in the bar. My hubby said `no' and explained how he was friends with my manager from work. She asked if we'd played on separate teams at the trivia night - my hubby said no and joked that noone wants to play against him. She laughed...

She then asked my husband if he'd been to England and if he'd met my family. He told her he doesn't like to fly/ the hassle of flying, would rather go on trips where he can drive, but has recently got his passport and wants to go to England & after a few drinks he'll be fine. He said that he's talked to my family on the phone & that my mum is coming to visit soon and we're both hoping to save and go to england next year. I told her there's a direct flight from San Francisco to London talked a bit about our planned trip...

Then she asked me if i'd spent time with my husband's family. Talked about our family Christmas in Az, trips to his home town - Napa, family trip to San Francisco, my hubby talked about how we meet them for dinner around once a month... etc... I said we have photos of some of the family trips (my hubby literally had 4 photo albums in a bag next to him - but she didn't look at any of them.)

She then asked if we have joint bank accounts/lease. I give her a big stack of joint papers. Explained that my husband's company own the house and that we have a letter from them. She said that's ok- didn't need to see it... She started looking at the stack - she looked at our bank statements, then car insurance. My husband told her that i'm scared to drive his car as it's huge and it's stick shift... So he mainly drives, but i'm on for emergencies and we're planning on getting me a car soon. She flipped past my life insurance. Read my husband's pretty closely - checking the beneficiary page. The whole time she was writing notes also all our answers too were written down.

By this point she was maybe a quarter of the way through our joint documents, but she didn't look at any more - just handed all the stack back and said we'd done a great job at preparing the documents. She confirmed some stuff in the file - like my husband was born in CA, still has the same employer, asked where I am working, if i'd applied for permanent residency before - no, if we'd ever had any kids - no, again asked my husband to verify it was his first marriage, that he will be using his new US passport...etc... Confirmed all the I-485 questions with me, saying that she doesn't know why she always asks all these I-485 questions.

:dance: She then told us she would approve the case and would be updating it electronically today. She said we will have the green card in a month. :dance: She said the welcome letter will come separately and then explained ROC to us and the form we'd need and that they'd be checking our marriage status again then too... Then she started typing in her computer and talked a little with us - small talk mostly like if my husband skis... If his car needs chains for snow (no its a big suv with snow tyres etc...) I then saw her stamp approved on our folder. She told me that as of today I am now a permanent resident, she took my I94. Then she asked if I had the I-131. I gave her the advance parole. She asked if I had any trips planned in the next month - no. She said that now my status has changed to permanent resident she said she thinks she has to take AP back but she'd check. She walks us out tells us it was nice to have met us and just to wait a minute. She checks on the AP and said that yeah I won't need it anymore.

It all went as good as we could ever hoped it to have gone - not a big deal at all. So we didn't need about 95% of the stuff we took - but I guess better to be prepared! They didn't ask to see birth certs or the marriage cert. I think we're really lucky to have been told a decision right away... My hubby got the impression like some others on here that they'd almost made a decision before we went in. We're very happy that hopefully we're now done for a year and 9 months... Now can't wait to get those e-mail updates - it doesn't seem real yet!

Edited February 4, 2010 by marie09

[mochimasala 0]

So, as promise, here is my review.

We booked a room downtown close to the office for Tuesday night. Considering Chicago weather and traffic, we did not wanted to take any chances. And since the day after was my husband's birthday, we went out and had a really nice diner for the occasion. Made sure we would wake up.. I had my phone alarm set up at 8:00, the "TV" alarm set up at 8:15, and a wake-up call set up for 8:30... lol

We took a cab to downtown Chicago office around 9:45. Appointment was at 10:28.

First, we went through airport security (metal detector), took the escalator and when to the reception. Talking briefly with the reception lady, she told us to wait for our lawyer and he would give her the letter.

The waiting room had about 50 people waiting in it, which kind of made me nervous and worried about how long we would stay there...

Our lawyer got there at 10:10, gave the letter, and we got one of those "restaurant" beeper.

Around 10:30, we got "beeped" in. A nice lady met us at the door and asked us to join her in her office. She introduced herself and told us she would be our officer for the interview.

First we stood, and were placed under oath. Asked to see our identification, my husband drivers license, and my passport and I-94. I also showed her my Illinois drivers license.

Then she verified the information in our files, asked the YES/NO questions again. I was asked if I was registered to vote or already voted in the USA (which I answered No).

Got some issue with my middle name. I wanted to use a middle name my maiden name, but they said it could not be done, so I decided to forget the middle name for now (I can figure what to do when it's time to renew the 10 year GC).

Then she asked for our proof of common life. We had our lease (she already had it on file), our common insurance (car, renters, health), one join saving account, one credit card account. She asked to see my original birth certificate, the translation, our original wedding license. She asked for pictures. We showed her our shower/rehearsal diner/Wedding album. She commented how nice it was, and asked questions about the location. She asked if we had any copies. We did had a bunch of loose pictures we gave her.

We had a new affidavit of support, with my husband paystub for the last 2 months. I offered to give her that, but she mentioned we were already cleared for that.

Then she said that she would review our file and we should have a letter about the decision in about 1-3 months, and that if we did not have any news by then to do an InfoPass appointment. Her and our lawyer mentioned about the condition and that everything should be explained with our green card at reception.

As we were leaving, our lawyer asked if we cleared FBI already, and she said yes.

We were out of there by 11:00. Went out to Frontera Grill (excellent Mexican restaurant by the way...) to celebrate being through the interview and my husband birthday :-)

I must say the experience (other than the airport security) was rather pleasant (considering what we were doing). Everybody (reception, security guards, officer) was friendly and helpful. I was really nervous considering reviews I've read, but I must say it went pretty smoothly and painless....

And at 5 o'clock, I got a text message saying our case status had changed:

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

:-) :-)

Congrats Mestis!!

Glad to hear that your interview went well!! And I'm sure you're glad to receive news of the decision that quickly!! I hope we're as lucky!!

Hello all,

We are all done, appointment was for 9am and thats about when we were taken in for the interview. The lady was vey nice, didnt need to see photos. Only asked the "how did you meet question" and the "are you a terrorist? do you want to over throw the government" questions. Asked to see financial co-mingling and the said your approved and said to make sure I reapply for ROC before the certain date. She took my 1-94 and the stamped my passport with a 1 year temp green card and said I would receive the plastic one in 2 weeks.

Was pretty fast, we were done in less than 10 mins. It was super relaxed and nice and I was nervous for nothing

Good luck to everyone, especially Marie and her Husband who are having their big day today!

~Bevan~

Congrats Bevan!!

That's gotta be the easiest and most smoothest interview anyone has ever had!!