November filers

[IstanBulls 1]

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!

That's great Marie. A huge relief I bet. I am very happy to hear things went smoothly.

[marie09 5]

That's great Marie. A huge relief I bet. I am very happy to hear things went smoothly.

Thank you... I have my fingers crossed for you that your good news comes soon. I can only begin to imagine what it must feel like to still be waiting. Hopefully some nice e-mails coming your way soon...

[yokomist 0]

Sweet Deal! Congrats Marie, that sounded like a pretty relaxed interview also.

Now I read your review It makes me laugh about how relaxed Florida is, No one even mentioned cell phones, not even at security. I placed it on the tray to be scanned and then switched it to "silent" just before we went in.

I think the fact we have a 15 month old daughter and she was with us for the interview definatley sped things up Also my wife is in a wheelchair and I think they realized that there must be more to it than a green card! ah sweet love.

Well Congrats again to everyone, and just relax all the rest that have to go through the interview yet.

~Bevan~

[Mestis 1]

Wooo! Gratz Bevan & Marie!!!!

Nice to see our group is getting good news!

Good luck to everybody else. :-)

[FortLaudy 10]

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!

Congrats Congrats Congrats Marie!! that's so awesome! what a relief huh? I'm gonna run to the mailbox and see if we got mail, just got back from my very first JOB, promo job for a superbowl preparty, awesomeness all around

[marie09 5]

Sweet Deal! Congrats Marie, that sounded like a pretty relaxed interview also.

Now I read your review It makes me laugh about how relaxed Florida is, No one even mentioned cell phones, not even at security. I placed it on the tray to be scanned and then switched it to "silent" just before we went in.

I think the fact we have a 15 month old daughter and she was with us for the interview definatley sped things up Also my wife is in a wheelchair and I think they realized that there must be more to it than a green card! ah sweet love.

Well Congrats again to everyone, and just relax all the rest that have to go through the interview yet.

~Bevan~

Lol! Yeah Sacramento was this huge federal building. It's lucky we read the reviews on here or we'd totally have had to turn round and take phones back to the car. Can't be fun if you're running late!

Congrats to you & your wife again on the approval - so happy for all of us, feels good huh!

Wooo! Gratz Bevan & Marie!!!!

Nice to see our group is getting good news!

Good luck to everybody else. :-)

Thank you & Congrats again - can't believe we're almost done, hopefully just another few weeks left of checking the mail box constantly!

Congrats Congrats Congrats Marie!! that's so awesome! what a relief huh? I'm gonna run to the mailbox and see if we got mail, just got back from my very first JOB, promo job for a superbowl preparty, awesomeness all around

Thnak you so much! Yeah we're so happy and so glad that we're almost done! Such a relief, now we can focus on other stuff like getting me a car and us a dog

Congrats on your first day of work - yay to no more waiting at home :dance:

[lovelyalex 99]

So many great interview reviews... Well done and congratulations guys and girls!

[m_ru 0]

Hi Marie

that's great news:-)))

now have to wait for green card:-)))

[mochimasala 0]

Congrats on the successful interview Marie!! I'm sure you're glad to be done with the USCIS. For now.

My wife commented on how funny it was that you mentioned someone with the cocktail dress. We have been wondering what we want to wear when we attend our interview since we want to present a professional, more mature impression than one of the jeans and t-shirts that we normally wear!! Not that there's anything wrong with a nice pair of jeans and a cool t-shirt, mind you. But how often is it that one attends an immigration interview?

[marie09 5]

Congrats on the successful interview Marie!! I'm sure you're glad to be done with the USCIS. For now.

My wife commented on how funny it was that you mentioned someone with the cocktail dress. We have been wondering what we want to wear when we attend our interview since we want to present a professional, more mature impression than one of the jeans and t-shirts that we normally wear!! Not that there's anything wrong with a nice pair of jeans and a cool t-shirt, mind you. But how often is it that one attends an immigration interview?

Thank you! Yes it still doesn't seem real!

Yeah we won't sure what to wear either but I know a couple through work who went through it and they told us it's important you show you respect the process - i.e don't turn up in sweats! We went with business casual which seemed to be what everyone else was wearing... Excect the girl in the party dress! I'm sure it doesn't really matter what you wear though when it comes down to it. Good luck with your upcoming interview!

[Laura & Kyle 16]

Congrats, Marie09! I'm so very happy for you. Seems like you had a great experience! Can't say over and over again how happy I am for you!

IstanBulls- I hope you hear something soon! I'm on the lookout on updates from you!

[juliava 80]

Marie, congratulations!!!!!!!!I am sooo happy for you!!!i knew you will be just fine! Great interview experience!

[MaddyCruise 2]

Received the green card on the mail today- Day 94 :dance: :dance:

Congrats Marie for the successful interview! :thumbs:

[FortLaudy 10]

Received the green card on the mail today- Day 94 :dance: :dance:

Congrats Marie for the successful interview! :thumbs:

Congrats, we're worried, cause yesterday we got this envelop with no return address with our I-130, inside someone wrote: "Sent by mistake to me"... strange! hopefully the same doesn't happen with the GC, lol

[MaddyCruise 2]

Congrats, we're worried, cause yesterday we got this envelop with no return address with our I-130, inside someone wrote: "Sent by mistake to me"... strange! hopefully the same doesn't happen with the GC, lol

Thanks Shani..Maybe they got confused... Your GC will be at your mail soon.....Im not expecting it to arrived today..coz it's still early i guess for 2 to 3weeks wait...but were happy about it...