GC received!

[BlindSide 0]

I wanted to write the usual "I finally got my permanent residency!" post, but first of all I wanted to thank all the people on this forum. I went by all your stories, guides, and recommendations while filing the paperwork, and it all turned fine at the end. So thank you all.

So the wife and I had our inteview a couple of weeks ago in Boston.

The interviewer wasn't friendly. No smile at all, never introduced herself. Told us to take a seat. After we sat, she somewhat disgruntedly said "No, I want the petitioner on the left, and the beneficiary on the right". Ok, so much for pleasantries.

The interview started horribly. She began by asking, of all things, my Social Security card. Which I didn't have on me. The look on her face seemed to promise she was going to have a ball with us. Asked for our passports, (joint) insurance cards, and barely glanced at them.

Some scary, nervous, and amusing exchanges:

Int: Why didn't you bring your Social Security card?

Me: It honestly never crossed my mind. I keep it so safe the idea of just taking it out of the drawer scares me.

Wife: *chuckles* that's what my mom has said to me since I was 15

Int: Doesn't matter. You should have brought it. What's your SSN?

Int: Why have you given me two passports?

Me: One has all my visas and is expired. The other is the current one.

Int: That's a lot of visas [1) tourist; 2) one-time entry; 3) two F-1] I don't think I've ever seen that many in a passport.

Int: so you have joint leases for the past 3 years, joint gym membership, credit card, and insurance. That's it? Do you use the credit cards? No shared bank accounts?

Wife: we avoid using credit cards. I was married already and my ex husband cleared the joint accound before leaving me, so we're avoiding the potential for trouble.

Int: still, you might want to get one. If you were to apply for removal of conditions, you'll need more than this.

Int: I've had over 20 years of experience. I can tell when it's a sham marriage.

[At this point I'm wishing for a diaper. Despite being trained to make people nervous, this lady is not giving any quarter]

Int: have your families met?

Wife: I met his parents over 9 years ago when we first became friends. He met my family a month later.

Int: so you two didn't start dating until after you moved in together?

Wife here goes on to explain how things happened.

Int: have you worked at all since applying for adjustment of status?

Me: I've been a translator since I got my work permit back in January.

Int: and you haven't worked before that?

Me: no. It would be against the law to work without a permit.

Int: what? how have you been eating, paying rent?

Me: she has been providing for most lately. I've been contributing from my savings.

Int: what kind of savings? inheritance?

Me: made some good stock investments [here I show a good 60 pages of transactions]

Int: you know I'd believe you more if you told me you've worked illegally instead of that.

Me: that's the truth of it. There are highlights on the major transactions in the paperwork.

Finally, the strangest conversation that I wasn't expecting.

Int: do you have any other citizenships?

Me: yes, I'm also [certain country]

Int: but you applied as a citizen of [other country]

Me: yes, my entry visa was on that.

Int: I don't get it. Why are you a dual citizen?

Me: I was born [here] and my parents are from [there]. They've been living [here] since the 70s for work.

Int: why would they live [here]?

Me: because of work

Int: what kind of work?

Me: [explains]

Int: can I see your passport from [other country]?

Me: I haven't had one since I was a child.

Int: why not?

Me: haven't needed one. I never used it to travel.

Int: are you sure you never used it to travel into the US?

This last exchange went on for seriously 10min. I found it quite odd, although she was probably trying to figure out if I came from a family of drug smugglers.

She finally mellowed a bit and said "Ok, I will be granting you your conditional green card. Please go to the waiting room and wait for a letter".

It was... grueling, to say the least. I honestly never expected it to be this harsh, but anyway... finally done!

[pathway2gc 0]

Wow! That was the harshest interview I've ever heard, but you guys made it! Congratulations!

[SaraDee 9]

OMG!!!! What a B.....tch. That was a pretty harsh interview. I'm not sure if me or my husband could have dealt with that without loosing our composure. Good Job!!! And, congrats!!!

[Myopia 93]

Congrats!

[snooki703 7]

Wow! Congrats! So weird that they asked for you Social Security card, its not even in the interview list! After reading your review, I'll be sure to bring both of our cards.

[BMW4me 12]

social security card?, i never heard of that... also if you have it you have it how can you fraud getting that i `do not` know...

congrats

[BlindSide 0]

I don't want to call her a b*tch, because she was honestly doing her job. Harsher than the norm, I'm guessing, but her job nonetheless.

The Social Sec thing really messed up my nerves. She also never asked for our marriage certificate, which made me think that the documents *I* thought were important were not the same *she* thought were important.

All of a sudden I started picturing horrible scenarios like "I'm going to call [friend who wrote affidavit] and if he/she doesn't answer, you're screwed".

At the end I was so wrecked that I couldn't hold myself. When she started all the "yes/no" questions and asked "have you ever engaged in or solicited a prostitute?" I actually answered (call me an idiot) "does making breakfast the following day count?".

She laughed at this.

Most of the interviews I've read about are good experiences. The negatives ones I read of tend to (except for the unfortunate exceptions) be cases in which the couple perhaps doesn't even live together. But my case seemed to be along the lines of "everything checks out fine, but I'll try to find a way to screw them up".

[Maxximus1074 14]

...wiping the sweat of my forehead here, man what an interview - wow, even though I read about many cases including mine that the IO wasn't showing any emotions, your experience sure was pretty intense.

Congratulations to you two!!! Am so relieved to read that this experience had a happy ending and you got approved.

Now all you gotta do is collect some more joint evidence like the IO suggested for the ROC in 2 years

Maxximus

[silvana.toma 15]

Thank God is over, and now you can relax, you can now say you did it! And looking back at least your story is a lot more exciting than other stories. There is my silver lining for you:)

Congrats! and tx for sharing with us the experience word for word....helps the rest of us prepare also for interview like this one. It's better to hope for the best but expect the worse.

[karah0215 0]

social security card?, i never heard of that... also if you have it you have it how can you fraud getting that i `do not` know...

congrats

hi vkn $ jsb,

we have the same interview date =) ours will be in Atlanta. Goodluck for both of us!

[prep.mac 7]

I wanted to write the usual "I finally got my permanent residency!" post, but first of all I wanted to thank all the people on this forum. I went by all your stories, guides, and recommendations while filing the paperwork, and it all turned fine at the end. So thank you all.

So the wife and I had our inteview a couple of weeks ago in Boston.

The interviewer wasn't friendly. No smile at all, never introduced herself. Told us to take a seat. After we sat, she somewhat disgruntedly said "No, I want the petitioner on the left, and the beneficiary on the right". Ok, so much for pleasantries.

The interview started horribly. She began by asking, of all things, my Social Security card. Which I didn't have on me. The look on her face seemed to promise she was going to have a ball with us. Asked for our passports, (joint) insurance cards, and barely glanced at them.

Some scary, nervous, and amusing exchanges:

Int: Why didn't you bring your Social Security card?

Me: It honestly never crossed my mind. I keep it so safe the idea of just taking it out of the drawer scares me.

Wife: *chuckles* that's what my mom has said to me since I was 15

Int: Doesn't matter. You should have brought it. What's your SSN?

Int: Why have you given me two passports?

Me: One has all my visas and is expired. The other is the current one.

Int: That's a lot of visas [1) tourist; 2) one-time entry; 3) two F-1] I don't think I've ever seen that many in a passport.

Int: so you have joint leases for the past 3 years, joint gym membership, credit card, and insurance. That's it? Do you use the credit cards? No shared bank accounts?

Wife: we avoid using credit cards. I was married already and my ex husband cleared the joint accound before leaving me, so we're avoiding the potential for trouble.

Int: still, you might want to get one. If you were to apply for removal of conditions, you'll need more than this.

Int: I've had over 20 years of experience. I can tell when it's a sham marriage.

[At this point I'm wishing for a diaper. Despite being trained to make people nervous, this lady is not giving any quarter]

Int: have your families met?

Wife: I met his parents over 9 years ago when we first became friends. He met my family a month later.

Int: so you two didn't start dating until after you moved in together?

Wife here goes on to explain how things happened.

Int: have you worked at all since applying for adjustment of status?

Me: I've been a translator since I got my work permit back in January.

Int: and you haven't worked before that?

Me: no. It would be against the law to work without a permit.

Int: what? how have you been eating, paying rent?

Me: she has been providing for most lately. I've been contributing from my savings.

Int: what kind of savings? inheritance?

Me: made some good stock investments [here I show a good 60 pages of transactions]

Int: you know I'd believe you more if you told me you've worked illegally instead of that.

Me: that's the truth of it. There are highlights on the major transactions in the paperwork.

Finally, the strangest conversation that I wasn't expecting.

Int: do you have any other citizenships?

Me: yes, I'm also [certain country]

Int: but you applied as a citizen of [other country]

Me: yes, my entry visa was on that.

Int: I don't get it. Why are you a dual citizen?

Me: I was born [here] and my parents are from [there]. They've been living [here] since the 70s for work.

Int: why would they live [here]?

Me: because of work

Int: what kind of work?

Me: [explains]

Int: can I see your passport from [other country]?

Me: I haven't had one since I was a child.

Int: why not?

Me: haven't needed one. I never used it to travel.

Int: are you sure you never used it to travel into the US?

This last exchange went on for seriously 10min. I found it quite odd, although she was probably trying to figure out if I came from a family of drug smugglers.

She finally mellowed a bit and said "Ok, I will be granting you your conditional green card. Please go to the waiting room and wait for a letter".

It was... grueling, to say the least. I honestly never expected it to be this harsh, but anyway... finally done!

Congrats, Blindside!

We have our interview on July 25th...in Indianapolis where interviewees are actually separated during the interview..Indy office is quite known for that.."if your response doesn't match his, you're in trouble"..ha!But based on the reviews all the IOs were professional and accommodating..yours was a WHEW! Still you were not blindsided.ha!

Appreciate the blow by blow summary you shared.

Have a good life!