January 2010 AOS Filers

[Rasprez 0]

Interview experience at Garden City NY 04.14.10

Hi we went for our interview today. It was very good. First of all we sent in our AOS package on January 5th and did biometrics on February 3rd, received EAD March 14th and Interview April 14th. My wife came here on a B2 visa in September and we got married in October.

We went to New York Garden City office. Our appointment was for 10am, we got there around 9:10am. We went through security around 9:15am and they directed us to a waiting area to show our appointment letter. We waited for about 25 min then they called everybody who was in that waiting area to form a line to go upstairs to the second floor to another waiting area. We waited there for about an hour and 20 minutes before my wife's name was called. Our officer was a nice Asian lady in her 50's. She swore us in we took out seat, looked at our ids and then asked my wife my date of birth, when we met and if she met my mother. And then she asked her if she came here with the intention to get married which my wife said no of course. That was that for her questions. She then said she is going to approve the case and that she will give us instructions to remove the condition in 2 years. She didnt really ask me any questions, we more had a small conversation about the economy and how hard it is these days ans stuff like that. She then took my wife's passport and took out the I94 and said she is going to stamp it. She asked for a recent bank statement and she took two of our pictures to put in our file, thats it. She didnt ask for job letter, that we brought or any other evidence. She told us to wait in the waiting are for a minute until she bring the passport back. The whole process took less than 15 minutes.

To all the folks who got approved already, congrats. And to all the folks who have there's coming up, just stay calm and positive,and relax. If your case is not very complicated, you are wasting your money hiring a lawyer.

[Andrelle 1]

Congrats to those who just recently had a successful interview!!! I hope everything will be ok tomorrow. We have to leave the house early tomorrow for the interview. Good luck to those who will have interviews soon!!!

[AAD... 4EVER!!! 0]

We are leaving at 7 A.M. for our interview!

[Miranda&John 0]

We're leaving at 8:15am

[MI.PI 7]

We're leaving at 8:15am

Good luck on your interview, Miranda. Did you ever get your EAD? I remember you made a post about having a job offer but couldn't start yet because you were waiting for your EAD. I just thought maybe you can request for the I-551 stamp on your passport when you go to the interview so you can get that job offer rightaway without having to wait for the green card to arrive in the mail.

Congrats to those who just recently had a successful interview!!! I hope everything will be ok tomorrow. We have to leave the house early tomorrow for the interview. Good luck to those who will have interviews soon!!!

Good luck Andrelle. Im sure you'll do well

[MI.PI 7]

We are leaving at 7 A.M. for our interview!

Good luck

[Miranda&John 0]

Good luck on your interview, Miranda. Did you ever get your EAD? I remember you made a post about having a job offer but couldn't start yet because you were waiting for your EAD. I just thought maybe you can request for the I-551 stamp on your passport when you go to the interview so you can get that job offer rightaway without having to wait for the green card to arrive in the mail.

THANKS!! Actually I got an email that it was approved yesterday. I'm going to go ahead and request the stamp anyway (assuming all goes well!). I would like to start work on Monday, but the employer said they would wait as long as it takes for me to get my greencard, so it's not such a big deal.

I'll let you know how it goes!

[menina 50]

Good luck to those with interviews tomorrow!

[victorious 0]

Good luck to the ones who are still going for an interview.

[smiley1 3]

We just got back from our interview. We were inside for 10 minutes and I was asked only questions from my I-485 since my I-130 was already approved.I was so stressed before the interview because I had a pretty bad experience before at this office when they denied my I-485 because of an old J1 visa and me and my husband were separated and treated really bad.

This time the IO was a really nice lady who just looked over the originals of the papers we previously submitted and asked questions from I-485 form.She also took my I-94. After 10 minutes she said that everything looks good and I should get the answer within 2-4 weeks. Our lawyer said that I should get the approval by the end of the day or tomorrow morning.

This process was so stressful for me and I can't wait to see that approval (hopefully it will come soon)! I cannot be happy until I see clearly the approval because I had so many bad experiences before!

Good luck to everyone who will have their interview soon!

[smiley1 3]

I got a text message at 3:00 pm. Card production ordered! I can finally relax now! Good luck everyone!

[Miranda&John 0]

Just got back from my interview. It was... interesting.

We showed up about 30 minutes early to the building in Fresno. My husband, daughter, and I went through the medical detectors and then were escorted up to the 3rd floor. We put our appointment letters in a box and then waited in an empty waiting room until 10:30. At 10:30 my name was called, and we all went up to the door. The IO took everyone's ID and then told my husband and daughter to continue waiting in the room, while I followed him to his office.

He swore me in, and then asked me some questions:

What is your address?

What is your birthday?

What is your phone number?

Why did you come to the U.S.?

Did your J-1 visa have a 2 year residency requirement?

How long have you lived with your husband?

Who else lives with you?

Then he asked me all the questions on the I-485. He asked if I had anything I wanted to show him that proved my husband and I lived together. I said "do you want copies or originals?" because I had organized a stack of copies for him to have before hand. He said he would look at the originals then keep the copies. He also asked if I had any photos and I indicated that they were on the bottom of the pile of copies. He had me sign off on the back of our I-485 forms that I opted to have the interview without my lawyer.

After that, he went on to my daughter's application. He asked me her name, birthdate, asked to see the original of her birth certificate and compared it to the one he had in our file. When he asked her name, I included her middle name. He was a little bit worried that (and I didn't realize this) her passport doesn't have her middle name on it. BUT, I have her expired passport that did and I showed that to him and he seemed satisfied. I asked him if he wanted a copy of our 2009 taxes and he said "no, you've given me quite enough". He also asked if my daughter was on any medication (which she is). I don't know why he asked this...?

When he was done looking through my daughter's portion of the file he said "well, everything looks good but I can't approve you today because I have to verify that your J-1 visa does not have the 2 year home residency rule (which it doesn't). I explained to him that I would have liked him to stamp my passport, but he said they don't do that anymore. I told him my work authorization and AP hadn't been approved yet and he seemed shocked and said it was really strange that my daughter had received her AP and not me (although clearly not very sympathetic to the whole situation). He explained the removal of conditions and gave me another piece of paper that just had today's date on it and said "You will receive notice by mail."

I called my lawyer, who was equally as frustrated. What have they been doing with my file for 4 1/2 months, if not figuring out of the 2 year rule applies? My husband thinks he had to have his supervisor look it over to approve it. My lawyer says I should receive approval soon. I hope I hear later today like smiley1!!!

[smiley1 3]

Just got back from my interview. It was... interesting.

We showed up about 30 minutes early to the building in Fresno. My husband, daughter, and I went through the medical detectors and then were escorted up to the 3rd floor. We put our appointment letters in a box and then waited in an empty waiting room until 10:30. At 10:30 my name was called, and we all went up to the door. The IO took everyone's ID and then told my husband and daughter to continue waiting in the room, while I followed him to his office.

He swore me in, and then asked me some questions:

What is your address?

What is your birthday?

What is your phone number?

Why did you come to the U.S.?

Did your J-1 visa have a 2 year residency requirement?

How long have you lived with your husband?

Who else lives with you?

Then he asked me all the questions on the I-485. He asked if I had anything I wanted to show him that proved my husband and I lived together. I said "do you want copies or originals?" because I had organized a stack of copies for him to have before hand. He said he would look at the originals then keep the copies. He also asked if I had any photos and I indicated that they were on the bottom of the pile of copies. He had me sign off on the back of our I-485 forms that I opted to have the interview without my lawyer.

After that, he went on to my daughter's application. He asked me her name, birthdate, asked to see the original of her birth certificate and compared it to the one he had in our file. When he asked her name, I included her middle name. He was a little bit worried that (and I didn't realize this) her passport doesn't have her middle name on it. BUT, I have her expired passport that did and I showed that to him and he seemed satisfied. I asked him if he wanted a copy of our 2009 taxes and he said "no, you've given me quite enough". He also asked if my daughter was on any medication (which she is). I don't know why he asked this...?

When he was done looking through my daughter's portion of the file he said "well, everything looks good but I can't approve you today because I have to verify that your J-1 visa does not have the 2 year home residency rule (which it doesn't). I explained to him that I would have liked him to stamp my passport, but he said they don't do that anymore. I told him my work authorization and AP hadn't been approved yet and he seemed shocked and said it was really strange that my daughter had received her AP and not me (although clearly not very sympathetic to the whole situation). He explained the removal of conditions and gave me another piece of paper that just had today's date on it and said "You will receive notice by mail."

I called my lawyer, who was equally as frustrated. What have they been doing with my file for 4 1/2 months, if not figuring out of the 2 year rule applies? My husband thinks he had to have his supervisor look it over to approve it. My lawyer says I should receive approval soon. I hope I hear later today like smiley1!!!

Good luck! I hope you will receive that e-mail today so can feel better... I've been through the same thing with the J1 visa and I know how frustrating it can be...I truly hope that they will find you not to be subject to the 2 years...

[smiley1 3]

I think you'll be fine since the IO mentioned the removal of conditions.Try to think positive( I know it's easier said than done)!

[AAD... 4EVER!!! 0]

Interview went very good! We got there about an hour early, and waited for an hour and a half in the waiting room, we went into the IO office and he basically just went through the whole 485 file and asked my wife to verify if all the info was correct, the only thing that wasnt was that we had changed our address in the process and so he marked the old onne out and put our new one in. He then asked how we met, and what proof we had of our life together since we have been married. We had utility bills, house title, 2009 tax return, and lots of other small stuff, and he finally said, ok thats enough now! Then he said, do you have any questions at all? So I just told/asked him, My cousin is going through this process right now to, how was our file if I help him with his paperwork, is it all good and the right info? And he said yes, you guy did an excellent job, if you tell your cousin to do it just like you, he should have no problems! Then he said he would have to enter our new address and other info from the interview in before he could say we were approved but we should receive an e-mail by tonight or tomorrow he said. And then he said thats all I need, have a great day!

P.S. He let her keep the EAD and AP, he never mentioned the EAD, and he asked if she had an AP, and she said yes, then he said will you need it before you receive your greencard in 6 weeks? We told him no, unless there was an emergency with the wife s family before then, then we would like to be able to go. So he said ok, you guys can just keep it then, in case you need it, and it will just be invalid whenever you receive your greencard!

There is NO reason to be nervous, the IO`s are NORMAL people doing their job!