Thank you visajourney!

[loyaboya 0]

I'm a long time lurker here but my husband's AOS was recently approved and so I wanted to share our experience in hopes that it could help others. Everything went very smoothly from start to finish and it was definitely a result of the good advice I found on this board.

First the background: I'm the USC and met my husband while he was here on an F1 visa. We became a little worried because both his F1 and his passport were due to expire within a month of when we'd planned the wedding. But since everything was already planned (we were engaged for over 1 year) we decided to just keep moving and submit our paperwork ASAP after the wedding. This website was instrumental in helping us understand the risks involved with making that decision, but it was a risk we decided to take.

After the wedding we immediately began doing whatever we could to document our relationship. I got my name changed and we opened a joint checking account. We put together our package following the visajourney guides *to the letter*. The instructions that come with the immigration forms are very confusing and if that was all we'd had to go by then I'm sure we would have messed up. So the visajourney guides were a huge help. We did everything, even if it seemed redundant or necessary. Our package contained:

I-130 Petition for Alien Relative

a. $355 fee (personal check)

b. Copy of US birth certificate (front and back)

c. Copy of foreign birth certificate (front and back)

d. Copy of foreign passport (all pages, front and back)

e. Certified copy of marriage license

f. G-325A for USC (including One passport-type photo of USC)

g. G-325A for petitioner (including One passport-type photo of petitioner)

h. Evidence of bonafide marriage (1. Documentation showing shared bank account and credit card 2. Copies of drivers licenses showing the same address, 3.Proof of name change for USC)

II. I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

a. personal check for $1010 ($930 I-485 fee plus $80 biometrics fee)

b. Copy of foreign passport (all pages front and back)

c. Copy of foreign birth certificate (front and back)

d. Certified copy of marriage license

e. Two passport-type photos of petitioner

f. G-325A for petitioner

g. Sealed I-693- Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment of Status (BTW- we really would not have understood this if it wasn't for this site)

h. Criminal record check for petitioner

i. I-864- Affidavit of Support from USC (including 1. Copy of 2008 Federal tax return for USC, 2. Copies of 2008 W-2s 3. Six months of paystubs)

j. I-765 Application for employment authorization

I should also mention that we were somewhat concerned because my husband had received a DUI some years ago. So his criminal record check was not "clean".

Anyway, we mailed the (receipt requested) package in late July and received our NOAs about 9 days later in early August. We never got any RFEs . Hubby's biometrics appt was scheduled for almost exactly 30 days later (btw he tried to do an early walk-in but they wouldn't let him). I believe it was 30 days after that when we received his employment authorization card.

Our interview was scheduled for November 11th (we just had it this week)! We were shocked that it all happened so quickly- just about 3 months after they received our package. And we'd checked the processing times for our local office (Durham NC) and based on what we saw we thought we wouldn't hear anything until early next year.

For the interview we brought a copy of our original package, our drivers licenses and passports, some wedding pictures (only a few but they included both our families and the wedding party), some nice cards that we received (addressed to both of us), a copy of our cell phone bill (we have a family plan), and my most recent paystubs. We really don't have any joint property at all (only been married a few months) so I was worried that our evidence was a bit skimpy.

But the interview went really well! Our interviewer was professional but also very pleasant. He hardly asked me anything and directed almost all his questions to my hubby. He basically just asked him to verify the info that was in our package. Then he asked the yes/no questions that are on the application and whether or not we'd been previously married or had any kids (no to both). He glanced at our pictures and took the additional 'evidence' that I'd brought. And that was it! He said that he believed us and that we are nice people and then he stamped a big red APPROVED on our package . He said we'll get the green card in a few weeks. Thats it! It took about 30 minutes total and we spent most of the time chatting.

Oh- and he also gave us a bit of advice which was to get as much additional evidence as possible over the next 2 years. That way it'll be easy when we go back to get the conditional status lifted.

Thats it! I know this recap is a little long but I hope someone can get something out of it. The best advice I can give to the next person is to follow the advice on this site and be as thorough as possible. Don't make any assumptions about what you do or don't need. I felt so silly making 2 and 3 copies of the same documents to all be put into the same envelope, but in the end it was worth it because our package was well organized and we didn't get any questions about it. Take the extra time to do it right the first time. Good luck to everyone!

[shellyalex 0]

Congratulations.

Your experience is and will be very help.

[Scott and Mhay 57]

Congrats!!! How i wish our petition will get approved fast, but I'm planning on for about 10 months or more. If it gets done quicker..that would be great.

[marie09 5]

Thank you so much for posting - such a help to read your story/experience. My visa expires soon and we only recently filed, so good to know that didn't cause you guys any problems... And congratulations!

[MaddyCruise 2]

Congrats for the successful AOS journey!!!!

[RebeccaAndPhil 5]

Congrats, that's awesome!!

[juliava 80]

Congratulations!!! Great news!

[Flyer92 2]

Congrats...glad it all played out well.