I have my green card in my hand today...at last

[seaotter 0]

After many months of form filling, waiting, interviews, and so on, I just wanted to share with you the fact that my green card has today arrived in the post!

We started this journey back in March 2010 when my fiance filed the petition so it's taken a while, but we've got there. Phew.

I wrote about my interview at the embassy in London and thought it would be worthwhile sharing what happened at the interview here, after our marriage, to adjust my status.

I arrive here August 10 and we married on August 14, and then we waited an impossibly long time for the local registrars' office to make our marriage certificate available. Six or seven weeks is the norm in Los Angeles

It eventually came through in October and I filed for my AOS towards the end of October. I had my biometrics done in the first week in December, and then waited. In january I got my temporary employment authorisation and waited again...we finally got a date for our interview for the beginning of March, and I made sure I had everything they specified - this included originals of all certificates plus one copy for the immigration officer, plus copies of every document I had every filed in connection with my marriage and move here.

The office in downtown LA is a large building, there is underground parking directly opposite, coffee shops etc above the parking and a Starbucks in the foot of a hotel just a block away. We arrived an hour early so got a coffee and sweated slightly, even though we knew we were a legitimate couple and had nothing to hide. There's something about bureaurocracy that's a little unsettling.

We joined the line for security and got in. Note: we read that you shouldn't take in mobile phones etc (as in the case with the London embassy) but in fact the only thing they were stopping were cameras - one couple had to take theirs back to their car.

We made it up to the sixth floor (as advised on the interview letter) only to find the door locked, so we went back downstairs and asked a security guard who told us we should be in the basement. There were were two waiting rooms, both small, windowless, airless, packed full of people and without air conditioning. Yuk. You give your letter to the security guard and he tells you to put it in the in-tray at a certain window (ours was window 1) and then take a seat.

Once we sat we realised people were pretty fed up and restless, and discovered the interviews were running around two hours late. There was nothing to do but be patient, and eventually (after almost three hours) we were called in.

Our IO was polite but not over-friendly. She had a habit of asking questions (her first one to me was, so what do you like about him?) and before you had a chance to answer she was running her finger down various forms in a file and asking you another. She asked how we met and we told her (we had met many years ago, as teenagers), and she asked me if I preferred England or the US. I started by saying that. because I had been here before, there was nothing scary about moving here and was going to go on and say, but I'd move anywhere to be with my husband, when she told me I shouldn't be telling her that, and that in fact I should tell her that I preferred the US!

Then she asked about joint finances and if we had a joint credit card. We said we didn't, and instead had copies of car and health insurance policies that listed both of us. She asked us why we didn't have joint back accounts or credit cards, and we explained that, at our (middle) age, we came from two separate secure financial backgrounds and saw no need to change that, but explained how we share bills and cost of running the house.

After a few more questions (I can't remember them all but she asked my husband how he liked being married) she ran me through the statutory questions such as have I ever smuggled drugs, taken drugs, killed anyone, been in an army, or been a prostitute.

She then asked for my husband's W2 for 2010 (which we didn't have) and rejected the letter employment from his company as it didn't have a recent enough date on it (she wanted one from that week, not a month or two old). She also asked why my husband hadn't filed his taxes (even though he has until April).

Finally, she told us she needed more evidence and would issue an RFE. My heart sank as I'd hope this interview would be the end of all the paperwork, but she got on a roll at this stage and ended up asking for:

A letter from his employer confirming his employment with a more recent date

W2 from 2010

A signed statement from him confirming he hadn't filed his taxes for 2010-2011

An affidavit from three people (friends, family or neighbours) confirming we were a genuine couple and actually lived together at the same address.

We were slightly nonplussed and didn't know why she was asking for the affidavits, but agreed. My husband asked if we could fax any of the information to her, and she refused, saying I would have to bring it all in with my to another interview in about a week (she would issue the RFE and I would phone her to arrange a time and date), at which point she would also run our background checks. She did, however, say that it looked as though my AOS would be OK after we'd done all that.

We left feeling rather depressed but immediately contacted friends to request the affidavits. My husband got started on finding the information he needed and I expected to get her RFE letter that week.

In fact, things turned out a little differently. Three days after the interview the IO called me and basically told me if I could fax over to her the W2 and the employers' letter before she left the office at 3pm (it was then 1.40pm) she would approve my application there and then, if not she implied there would be a delay and it could be another month. What about the RFE?, I asked, we hadn't received that. Oh no, she said, your husband wanted to fax everything so I've been waiting for you to send it all to me....hmmmm, not quite how we remember it, but who's going to argue?

Of course I went into hyper mode, called my husband who whizzed home with the employers letter and we faxed them to the IO just 10 mins from her deadline.

She called me to confirm she'd received them and said that was it. I asked again about the need for affidavits, other documents, and she said no, she was happy with my application, and that was all she needed. She was officially approving me and I should have the card in a week or so. She told me I would have to apply again in two years to have the conditions lifted, and that it was my responsibility to remember to do so.

There were a few tears and much celebration, as you can imagine, and I had a letter to confirm her decision two days later, a second letter of confirmation three days after that, and then my card arrived today, less than three weeks after my interview.

So there you have it, I am pretty much at the end of my visa journey. Yes there's more filing in one year and nine months' time, but that's small fry.

To all you K1's who are in the early stages of applying, do take heart. It feels like you will never get there, and you feel like everyone's out to make sure you don't get to the US, but you'll do it. If you're a genuine couple, you have no reason to worry. Good luck!

And to the Visajourney site, thank you for being a constant source of good information, forms, help and support, the best source of information on US visas on the internet, and all free.

[Nadiia and Eric 1]

Congrats and good write up enjoy your break

[cakely 0]

Congratulations....I am so happy for you..

[Andres88 0]

Congrats on your green card!!! what a story!!