Approved. Interview Review. Los Angeles field office

[yulya 0]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all your help throughout my journey. We had our interview on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, and were APPROVED!

I would like to give back something to this wonderful community of VJ members, so here is our interview experience:

Quick background: came to the US in 2006 on J1, changed J1 to B2 status in September 2006(for 6 months), tried to extend B2 - never worked, in the end - overstayed by 4 years. Met my hubby in 2006, got married in 2010, mailed the paperwork in July 2010.

Our interview was scheduled for 8:45am at Los Angeles USCIS local field office, 300 North Los Angeles Street.

We left our house in Santa Barbara around 5:30am, arrived to Downtown Los Angeles around 7:00am. Found parking (which i had previously google mapped and even knew how the sign looked like just in case!). The parking is located at 225 North Los Angeles St, right across from USCIS building, there is a big blue sign saying "Public Parking", you wont miss it, and it is a very good deal - $8 for the whole day.

Parked the car and went to look for the restrooms. The signs were so confusing that we just ended up asking the gardener and he directed us to the city hall building that had public restrooms on the first floor on your left.

When finally got to the immigration building itself there was already a long line of people waiting to get in. Surprisingly, the lined moved quickly and we passed through security check in about 20 min. Be sure to take everything out of your pockets, also no belts, watches and etc. My hubby had something metallic in his shoes, they made him take those off as well. Cellphones are ok as long as they do not have cameras, the ones with built in cameras are absolute no-no. One of the girls in front of us in a line was not allowed to enter the building because of that. The security guys were not too friendly not to stern , just like they are supposed to be - very reserved.

After passing the security check we went to buy some fruits for hubby because his stomach demanded food. I , personally, did not eat anything because i was so nervous.

Our room was 6532. We had to take an elevator to the 6th floor(elevators will be on your left after you enter the building). The waiting rooms was half empty when we got there with only a few couples, the rest were single individuals maybe those who won the lottery or something. We showed our appointment letter to an officer at the entrance and then had to put it in the tray in the window #2 and ring the bell.

We waited about an hour till we were called at around 9am. The funny thing was that the IO called my hubby's name not mine, because my last name is very long and complicated:)))

The IO's office was very small, disorganized, dusty and with dozens of folders, binders and just loose papers on the floor. He swore us in and the interview started.

First he told us to relax and basically gave us a hint that he had a positive opinion on our case otherwise he would have not be talking in such a nice tone of voice, he said he had reviewed our case and it seemed approvable:)))

So after he said that i hoped for an easy 20 min questions session, but , boy, was i mistaken. We got out of there at 10:20, the interview took an hour and 20 min. The questions were to the point and fair, easy if your marriage is legit and you live together. What took so long was the IO slow typing on the computer and very inefficient way of organizing the paperwork. He got a bit upset about multiple copies of birth certificates, visa, etc. but he did not seem to realize that in his big binder he had the paperwork from all three I-485, I-130 and I-765 combined that's where all the multiple copies of documents came from. He threw the unnecessary copies on the floor and seemed to be pleased with a much thinner binder of our case.

Questions asked ( I am sorry i dont remember all of them because there were so many):

Where on earth did you meet? ( we met through friend on a road trip to Minneapolis)

Where did you live in Minneapolis?

did you have you roommates?

When did relationship turn romantic?

When was the first time you had sex?

Where do you live now?

What is the address?

How much is the rent?

Do you have room mates?(we do have one)

How did you meet your room mate?

How many bedrooms are there? is it a house or apartment?

Where do you work?

What are the hours?

When do we find time to spend time together with such hectic schedules?

Have you ever visited your wife's country(to my hubby)?

Where is Belarus located?

How old are you today?

Have you ever gone to school in the US(question to me, no)

Do you have plans on going to school?

How many kids are you planning on having?(we said four two ours and two adopted, he asked adopted from where? and then told us not to adopt from the US, ii have no idea why)

DO you have a car? (no)

How did you get to LA?(rented one)

How do you get t work(walking bus)

How far is your work places from your house?

When did you arrive to the US for the first time(question to me)?

Have you ever left(no)?

Were you born in Canada(to my hubby, a trick question, cuz his mom is the one who was born there)

Have you met his parents(question to me)?

Why are the addresses on your ID are different(we did change them with DMV but DMV never put new info in the system, apparently their database is connected with USCIS, IO could look the info up from his comp, at the DMV we were given little brown cards with the address change on them to carry with actual ID and save money on new cards, thank God i had those with us!!!! if you want to save yourself a headache , change the address and get actual cards)

And some other questions about info on I-485 and I-130. He also asked all the yes/no questions and made a joke about being a prostitute that we did not get but laughed at just in case.

The documents taken: IDs, my passport, two of my I-94, EAD (at the very beginning of the interview), mine and hubby's birth certificate, hubby's temporal driving license(he just renewed it and is waiting on the card itself), the translation of my Birth certificate.

We had tons of evidence to prove marriage and relationship but he only took some utility bills, bank statements of joint debt and credit accounts(here there was a question what we use the debit account for and we answered to pay the bills and then he asked if we are planning on putting all the money in that account soon, and we answered yes after we learn how to manage finances as a family, now we are just beginners:))

We also had a wedding album and an extra album with pics from different events with family and friends. He just glanced through, not paying very close attention. Only made a comment that we should have printed some pics on regular paper to put in our case folder, would have been more convenient for him

After that he printed the Welcome Letter and explained the removal process and finally released us say "Stay out of trouble" hahaha guess cuz we are young.

Overall positive but very loooooooooooooooong experience.

We are very happy and wish good luck to all of you!

Edited November 6, 2010 by yulya

[mwfiler 0]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for all your help throughout my journey. We had our interview on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, and were APPROVED!

I would like to give back something to this wonderful community of VJ members, so here is our interview experience:

Quick background: came to the US in 2006 on J1, changed J1 to B2 status in September 2006(for 6 months), tried to extend B2 - never worked, in the end - overstayed by 4 years. Met my hubby in 2006, got married in 2010, mailed the paperwork in July 2010.

Our interview was scheduled for 8:45am at Los Angeles USCIS local field office, 300 North Los Angeles Street.

We left our house in Santa Barbara around 5:30am, arrived to Downtown Los Angeles around 7:00am. Found parking (which i had previously google mapped and even knew how the sign looked like just in case!). The parking is located at 225 North Los Angeles St, right across from USCIS building, there is a big blue sign saying "Public Parking", you wont miss it, and it is a very good deal - $8 for the whole day.

Parked the car and went to look for the restrooms. The signs were so confusing that we just ended up asking the gardener and he directed us to the city hall building that had public restrooms on the first floor on your left.

When finally got to the immigration building itself there was already a long line of people waiting to get in. Surprisingly, the lined moved quickly and we passed through security check in about 20 min. Be sure to take everything out of your pockets, also no belts, watches and etc. My hubby had something metallic in his shoes, they made him take those off as well. Cellphones are ok as long as they do not have cameras, the ones with built in cameras are absolute no-no. One of the girls in front of us in a line was not allowed to enter the building because of that. The security guys were not too friendly not to stern , just like they are supposed to be - very reserved.

After passing the security check we went to buy some fruits for hubby because his stomach demanded food. I , personally, did not eat anything because i was so nervous.

Our room was 6532. We had to take an elevator to the 6th floor(elevators will be on your left after you enter the building). The waiting rooms was half empty when we got there with only a few couples, the rest were single individuals maybe those who won the lottery or something. We showed our appointment letter to an officer at the entrance and then had to put it in the tray in the window #2 and ring the bell.

We waited about an hour till we were called at around 9am. The funny thing was that the IO called my hubby's name not mine, because my last name is very long and complicated:)))

The IO's office was very small, disorganized, dusty and with dozens of folders, binders and just loose papers on the floor. He swore us in and the interview started.

First he told us to relax and basically gave us a hint that he had a positive opinion on our case otherwise he would have not be talking in such a nice tone of voice, he said he had reviewed our case and it seemed approvable:)))

So after he said that i hoped for an easy 20 min questions session, but , boy, was i mistaken. We got out of there at 10:20, the interview took an hour and 20 min. The questions were to the point and fair, easy if your marriage is legit and you live together. What took so long was the IO slow typing on the computer and very inefficient way of organizing the paperwork. He got a bit upset about multiple copies of birth certificates, visa, etc. but he did not seem to realize that in his big binder he had the paperwork from all three I-485, I-130 and I-765 combined that's where all the multiple copies of documents came from. He threw the unnecessary copies on the floor and seemed to be pleased with a much thinner binder of our case.

Questions asked ( I am sorry i dont remember all of them because there were so many):

Where on earth did you meet? ( we met through friend on a road trip to Minneapolis)

Where did you live in Minneapolis?

did you have you roommates?

When did relationship turn romantic?

When was the first time you had sex?

Where do you live now?

What is the address?

How much is the rent?

Do you have room mates?(we do have one)

How did you meet your room mate?

How many bedrooms are there? is it a house or apartment?

Where do you work?

What are the hours?

When do we find time to spend time together with such hectic schedules?

Have you ever visited your wife's country(to my hubby)?

Where is Belarus located?

How old are you today?

Have you ever gone to school in the US(question to me, no)

Do you have plans on going to school?

How many kids are you planning on having?(we said four two ours and two adopted, he asked adopted from where? and then told us not to adopt from the US, ii have no idea why)

DO you have a car? (no)

How did you get to LA?(rented one)

How do you get t work(walking bus)

How far is your work places from your house?

When did you arrive to the US for the first time(question to me)?

Have you ever left(no)?

Were you born in Canada(to my hubby, a trick question, cuz his mom is the one who was born there)

Have you met his parents(question to me)?

Why are the addresses on your ID are different(we did change them with DMV but DMV never put new info in the system, apparently their database is connected with USCIS, IO could look the info up from his comp, at the DMV we were given little brown cards with the address change on them to carry with actual ID and save money on new cards, thank God i had those with us!!!! if you want to save yourself a headache , change the address and get actual cards)

And some other questions about info on I-485 and I-130. He also asked all the yes/no questions and made a joke about being a prostitute that we did not get but laughed at just in case.

The documents taken: IDs, my passport, two of my I-94, EAD (at the very beginning of the interview), mine and hubby's birth certificate, hubby's temporal driving license(he just renewed it and is waiting on the card itself), the translation of my Birth certificate.

We had tons of evidence to prove marriage and relationship but he only took some utility bills, bank statements of joint debt and credit accounts(here there was a question what we use the debit account for and we answered to pay the bills and then he asked if we are planning on putting all the money in that account soon, and we answered yes after we learn how to manage finances as a family, now we are just beginners:))

We also had a wedding album and an extra album with pics from different events with family and friends. He just glanced through, not paying very close attention. Only made a comment that we should have printed some pics on regular paper to put in our case folder, would have been more convenient for him

After that he printed the Welcome Letter and explained the removal process and finally released us say "Stay out of trouble" hahaha guess cuz we are young.

Overall positive but very loooooooooooooooong experience.

We are very happy and wish good luck to all of you!

Congratulations!!!!! Yes, seems like a longer interview then most, but atleast it is over and went well. Once again, CONGRATS!! And thanks for the info, I'm sure it will be helpful to many VJ users, including myself

[silvana.toma 15]

Oh...man..i was reading your story like it was mine, a lot of suspense, but thank god is over for you guys. good job!!!

thanks for sharing this with us, it helps me a lot. I will for sure put some copies of our pictures together in with the package, cause i'm thinking it can't hurt, right?

[USUY2010 4]

Congratulations! My hubby and I practiced answering your questions! Haha. We're really happy for you guys!

[remeam 1]

Congratulations....Our Interview is here in LA in January(the first week)

[Timf79 3]

Thanks for the post,

I was always wondering what they would ask.

I heard they would ask difficult questions, like:

- What kind of tothpaste does your spouse use?

What color is your spouses toothbrush?

What is the KDR of your spouse on CoD BO?

.

.

.

.

[ceadsearc 516]

congrats!!

[Leenie 15]

He seriously asked when the first time you had sex was? And it doesn't even sound like a Stokes interview. Geez! Sounds like a weird IO.

Congrats on your approval, though!!