Interview in 5 days :S

[cptrosco 0]

Hey all.

We have our interview on monday in Pheonix. Does anyone know what the place is like. How long does the interview take, and what sort of questions do they ask??

[Seraya-Karl 0]

Hey all.

We have our interview on monday in Pheonix. Does anyone know what the place is like. How long does the interview take, and what sort of questions do they ask??

See the reviews of the Phoenix office at:

http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=&cty=Phoenix+AZ&dfilter=5

And for more information about questions see:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/exampleq#aos

Best of Luck.

[Nik+Heather 121]

It's not too scary, but it is a bit difficult to find! It's on Central, but there is free parking there, or there is a light rail stop within EASY walking distance (It didn't look like that on the map, so we drove, but when we got there, it was right on the corner of the parking lot).

When you get there, you'll turn into the center headed west, and then you'll go around the south corner of the building (Starbucks is in the corner of the building) and then continue west a little ways more. There's more parking just back there, and when we went, all the spots back there were empty. You go in the dark glass door (it's marked pretty clearly) and there's an industrial looking elevator lobby. Go up the elevator to the second floor, and then when you get out you're RIGHT on the security screening. We went up at the same time as another guy, and with 3 it was actually a little crowded.

The security guys are some of the most pleasant security screening guys I've ever come into contact with, but they are also quite diligent. I was scolded more than once for putting my hands in my pockets. (lol). Anyway, they'll peer into your bags, and you'll walk through the most sensitive metal detector EVAR. So, don't be surprised when they wand you after going through even if you take off your belt etc.

There are a lot of chairs in the waiting area, but there weren't that many people there. The security guy will take your appt letter (after checking your IDs- Drivers' licenses work as well as passports) and put it in the basket. We waited ~10-15 minutes before an immigration officer came to get us.

Our officer was particular, detail oriented and serious, but not at all mean. Every step of the way they told you what to do. ("sit there" "Don't move the chairs" "don't lean forward" etc) She said that they were going to record audio and video of our interview, and there was the swear to tell the truth thing, and then we got started.

She asked:

Various questions off of the I-485 and other info in the files. Dates of birth for us, parents' names, all of those "are you a dirty pinko communist??!" yes/no questions. Nik hesitated on the year (but not month and day) of my birthday, but got it in the end...

Then she asked about Nik's entries into the US: "You entered in Feb 2009. Tell me about that trip"

That's when the interview took a bad turn, because Nik drew a complete blank, and she prompted him about entering in Atlanta (maybe after he hesitantly mentioned his K-1 entry in JFK). I think that there was now quite a bit of fluster going on so he definitely couldn't remember, so I hinted "Hawaii?" and he looks at me like I was from Mars, so I say "The wedding???" and the IO told me NOT to answer for him any more, because it was going to call anything else he said into question. This was a firm warning, which I took seriously, and literally bit my tongue, but she wasn't being mean, and I think it was quite fair, looking back. Anyway, that seemed to shake things loose, and he said with some relief, "Oh yes, we attended a friend's wedding in Hawaii" Which I'm sure didn't help any because it was just parroting back what I had said.

Anyway, we talked a little about the other trips back and forth (mostly just dates), and Nik did a little better there. Then we talked about the wedding. Things got back on track there when Nik could confidently answer about the location of our wedding, and the date, and who attended, etc. We had printed out some digital pictures on regular paper, of the wedding, some of the family events before and after, and of a party we had gone to after that etc. I thinks she appreciated that, because she could easily put it into our (enormous!) file. I mean, I am not of the front-loading school, and they had 3 inches of paper on us. crazy.

Then she asked a rather open ended question about the financial mingling of our lives. We showed her our identical health, dental & car insurance cards, identical credit cards, debit cards, and a voided check from our joint account showing both our names and our address on there. She asked if his name was on the house or any bills, and I explained that I had bought it before we married and we hadn't changed anything over.

Then another open ended question about "anything else we'd like to tell her" Feeling rather conscious about being under oath and recorded and the admonishment not to answer for Nik, I sort of asked "well, is there anything else you want to know or standing in the way of approval?" I mean, we'd brought a large bag full of other things to show her, so...Anyway, it was communicated that nothing further was necessary, and she said OK, now, about this Civil Surgeon form....haha, but that's another story.

I think if we were getting a straight up approval instead of a hand delivered RFE, she would have taken Nik's AP and EAD, but since she thought it might take some time, she let him keep those, with instructions to destroy them when the Green card arrived. She showed us the approval letter, and said it was just this pesky wrong-signature line on the I693 that was holding things up, and that otherwise there was no problems, and if we could get the RFE taken care of today, she would leave our file open for the rest of the afternoon if we could get back THAT day. Well, we couldn't, but we mailed it off that same day, and she approved it two days later, just the day after the response arrived at the office.

Overall, I found the experience to be straight forward, honest, and fair. I also felt like we got our share of scrutiny. We weren't given a free pass. However, I think the recommendations here on VJ for what to bring and what sorts of proofs will allow you to prepare very well so that you can have an experience as smooth as ours. The only thing I would do differently would be to review some specifics together, like the dates of the visits etc, because it's easy to get flustered and forget the answers to those types of questions.

Good luck!