Interview Wednesday...

[bigdog 376]

Congratulations on getting through to the interview you will be fine.

[Em Z 3]

Hello OP, first of all, congrats. you guys made it. i just want to ask if the Immig. Officer ask your copies of form I485, 1765 and 864? because when i submit mine, i did not make a copy of those. so i'm kinda scared now coz my interview is on sept 12 and i only have bills, marriage cert, photos, birth cert of our newborn, bank account together and other tax documents. wish me luck! ty

Thank you!

She did not ask for any of those copies.

I had them for my own records.

What she did was, she was asking basic questions (name, dob, address, questions from 485) and then just crossed it off on her paperwork.

My husband recently had a change in jobs so I did make a new 864. I let her know of this but she just said that it wasn't necessary, she'd take a pay stub instead.

You should be alright!

You seem to have a LOT more things than I had (we don't have tax documents, a child, or bank accounts together).

Good luck!! Let us know!

[Em Z 3]

Congratulation!

I have one question for all you guys. My interview done on Aug 24,2011 and the IO gave me a printed paper that "file further review and you will receive a decision in 60 days by mail".

But my I-130 is still in initial reveiwe, and the I-485 says Testing and interview. Did you guys I-130 is approved already or they approve combined (I-130 and I-485) at the time of interview?

The average time for I-130 is 5 months, my NOA is May 23, 2011.(Till now 3.5 months)I submitted my I-130 & I-485 and 765 together and NOA is May 23.

I got my EAD on Aug 25, which is approved on Aug 18.

any comments/suggetions welcome.

Thank you!

I'll try to answer as best as I can from experience...

I didn't receive anything like that.

However, our I-130 is still in initial review, but our card production has been ordered for the 485 and the EAD. So I'm not sure how that works.

My NOA date was for July 7th, so 3 months later, I had my interview and they ordered card production.

I'm not sure why yours is doing an extra step..

Maybe you can start a post and see if someone has had the same experience...

Good luck!

[Em Z 3]

Thought I'd make a new topic so people can gather information!

Our interview was scheduled for September 7, 2011 at 9 am in the Philadelphia office.

We live about an hour and 15 mins away from Philly, but both my husband and I work near the area, so we know how the traffic is usually. We left 630-640, so we figured we'd get there in plenty of time and even have time for breakfast.

It wasn't...

Traffic was backed up for about 30 miles. We have never seen something like this. I believe it was because of all of the flooding and the rain in the area. But anyways. We finally arrived at the USCIS office at 1030. We were an hour and a half late.

Ouch.

Prior to arriving, at around 845 or so, we knew we still had about a 30 minute drive to go in order to get there, without traffic, of course.

I called the main number on my interview paper, and spoke with someone. They said there was no way to get in touch with someone at the Philly office, and that if I was late, I was considered a "no show" and that would possibly result in the denial of my application. He said I should still show up there, and see what they said and just "hope for the best."

Obviously I'm freaking out at this time, and my husband isn't in the most comfortable moods either.

We arrived at 1030, parked across the street and went through security... All of which took about 5 minutes.

We went to the 3rd floor and I gave my interview letter to a receptionist. He stamped and took my letter and then told us to have a seat.

We were pretty relieved he didn't tell us to leave on the spot.

We were sitting for about 10 minutes and our nerves for the interview were gone by that time. We were just so frustrated with having spent 4 hours in traffic, that we were just exhausted.

We were called in shortly after by an IO.

A female took us in her office, she didn't say hi or anything. Just told us to stay standing and swore us in.

She wasn't friendly but she was comfortable to be around.

We took our seats and she then asked for IDs. My husband gave his driver's license, and I provided my state ID as well as EAD. She then asked me for the passport I used to enter the country.

She double checked some things, then asked for his birth certficate and our marriage license.

She then asked me if I had received my I-94, which I did, and I handed it to her.

She crossed a few things out on her paperwork and then began asking us questions.

She asked my husband for his name, date of birth, and address.

She then asked him when we got married (he said this was the hardest question of the interview!), where we got married...

She asked my for my name, dob, address as well, then questions off of the 485 form (yes/no questions). She also asked me what my parent's names were.

She then addressed both of us and asked how many people attended. She asked us why we got married where we did (it's a bed and breakfast inn two hours from where we lived), and how we met (we met online, he answered it...), and then we went on to describe our first date, which she was pretty amused at.

I then said I had our wedding album with me, if she wanted to see it, and she said I ha already sent pics but she'll take a look. So she flipped through it, said thanks, and gave it back.

All in all, it was a pretty simple and easy interview.

She then said everything seemed to be okay and we'd receive a decision within 2 to 4 weeks.

I then asked her about having my documents changed to my last name and she said that if SSA changed it, it really shouldn't matter. But she could change it now but she'd have to resubmit stuff. And then she said I can just go about using both as I am now because "it's only conditional residency, so you'd have to come back in 2 years anyways" and that I can legally change my name when I "apply for naturalization, because they give you the option there".

So I just said I'd do it later instead of having to wait for her to resubmit.

She gave me all of my documents back, except for my husband new paystub (he has a new job) and the I-94 she had grabbed from me.

I realized she didn't give it back when we got in the car, so Idk what to do... I paid like 330 for that!

But anyways... Interview lasted probably about 10 minutes.

We went out to eat because we were starving, and spent a few hours wondering and discussing the interview.

We were semi confident.. but we were really expecting an answer on the spot.

We were home at around 4 PM, and I received a text saying my case had been updated. I checked my email and there was a card production! YAY!

Just waiting for it now...

I hope this info helps somebody! I know that a lot of the posts on VJ has helped me... so I wish you all luck on your journey!

- Em

[menina 50]

Thought I'd make a new topic so people can gather information!

Our interview was scheduled for September 7, 2011 at 9 am in the Philadelphia office.

We live about an hour and 15 mins away from Philly, but both my husband and I work near the area, so we know how the traffic is usually. We left 630-640, so we figured we'd get there in plenty of time and even have time for breakfast.

It wasn't...

Traffic was backed up for about 30 miles. We have never seen something like this. I believe it was because of all of the flooding and the rain in the area. But anyways. We finally arrived at the USCIS office at 1030. We were an hour and a half late.

Ouch.

Prior to arriving, at around 845 or so, we knew we still had about a 30 minute drive to go in order to get there, without traffic, of course.

I called the main number on my interview paper, and spoke with someone. They said there was no way to get in touch with someone at the Philly office, and that if I was late, I was considered a "no show" and that would possibly result in the denial of my application. He said I should still show up there, and see what they said and just "hope for the best."

Obviously I'm freaking out at this time, and my husband isn't in the most comfortable moods either.

We arrived at 1030, parked across the street and went through security... All of which took about 5 minutes.

We went to the 3rd floor and I gave my interview letter to a receptionist. He stamped and took my letter and then told us to have a seat.

We were pretty relieved he didn't tell us to leave on the spot.

We were sitting for about 10 minutes and our nerves for the interview were gone by that time. We were just so frustrated with having spent 4 hours in traffic, that we were just exhausted.

We were called in shortly after by an IO.

A female took us in her office, she didn't say hi or anything. Just told us to stay standing and swore us in.

She wasn't friendly but she was comfortable to be around.

We took our seats and she then asked for IDs. My husband gave his driver's license, and I provided my state ID as well as EAD. She then asked me for the passport I used to enter the country.

She double checked some things, then asked for his birth certficate and our marriage license.

She then asked me if I had received my I-94, which I did, and I handed it to her.

She crossed a few things out on her paperwork and then began asking us questions.

She asked my husband for his name, date of birth, and address.

She then asked him when we got married (he said this was the hardest question of the interview!), where we got married...

She asked my for my name, dob, address as well, then questions off of the 485 form (yes/no questions). She also asked me what my parent's names were.

She then addressed both of us and asked how many people attended. She asked us why we got married where we did (it's a bed and breakfast inn two hours from where we lived), and how we met (we met online, he answered it...), and then we went on to describe our first date, which she was pretty amused at.

I then said I had our wedding album with me, if she wanted to see it, and she said I ha already sent pics but she'll take a look. So she flipped through it, said thanks, and gave it back.

All in all, it was a pretty simple and easy interview.

She then said everything seemed to be okay and we'd receive a decision within 2 to 4 weeks.

I then asked her about having my documents changed to my last name and she said that if SSA changed it, it really shouldn't matter. But she could change it now but she'd have to resubmit stuff. And then she said I can just go about using both as I am now because "it's only conditional residency, so you'd have to come back in 2 years anyways" and that I can legally change my name when I "apply for naturalization, because they give you the option there".

So I just said I'd do it later instead of having to wait for her to resubmit.

She gave me all of my documents back, except for my husband new paystub (he has a new job) and the I-94 she had grabbed from me.

I realized she didn't give it back when we got in the car, so Idk what to do... I paid like 330 for that!

But anyways... Interview lasted probably about 10 minutes.

We went out to eat because we were starving, and spent a few hours wondering and discussing the interview.

We were semi confident.. but we were really expecting an answer on the spot.

We were home at around 4 PM, and I received a text saying my case had been updated. I checked my email and there was a card production! YAY!

Just waiting for it now...

I hope this info helps somebody! I know that a lot of the posts on VJ has helped me... so I wish you all luck on your journey!

- Em

Congratulations on your approval!

[Ban Hammer 13,573]

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