Interview Experience

[Waiting_In_SC 28]

My wife (immigrant spouse) and myself (USC) had our marriage-based AOS interview today at noon at the Greer, SC USCIS office. We took a translator just in case my wife, who speaks intermediate English, needed help answering questions.

We arrived at 11:35 and presented our interview notice to the security personnel at the entrance. We were quickly and efficiently processed by security. They were extremely cordial, and made small talk as they processed us. Once through the security checks, we were asked to wait in a waiting room off to the side.

When we entered the room, there was one other couple waiting. After about 20 minutes of waiting, an officer opened the door and called the other couple into the back. In another 2-3 minutes, a gentleman who I estimate to be in his early 50s entered the room and called my wife's name.

He took us back to his office, all the while making a bit of small talk with us. When we entered the room, he said, 'before we all sit down, let me swear you in.' He swore us in, told us to have a seat, and we got down to business.

Like many of the reviews I've read, it was very clear to me that he had reviewed our file in detail before our interview, and told us we'd just go through our paperwork together. He asked for all of our IDs, then took her I-94 and placed it in her file. He verified our names, birthdates, and places of birth, then immediately launched into the 'Yes/No' questions of the I-485, all of which my wife answered correctly. He marked them off as she answered, and kept saying 'that's good..' or 'that's a good answer.'

He mentioned that he had worked as a border patrol officer near the city where my wife is from, and we talked for a few minutes about how things have changed since he worked there.

He then went into my I-130 form and confirmed all the information on that, and then went through the evidence we presented in our original packet to USCIS.

Once we finished going through the file, he closed the folder and said 'I don't see any problems with your case. Things look good. Do you have anything else you'd like to submit?'

I told him 'well, we've got several things, and I presented him with a joint checking account statement, a letter from our insurance company, a water bill, a light bill, and our cell phone bill, all of which had both our names on them. He took them, put them in our file, and closed it again.

He turned to type on his computer, and as he was typing, he looked at my wife and said 'Well, I'm going to approve your application.' As he hit the button on his mouse, he said 'I'm hitting this button right now, and that means that you are now a legal resident of the United States. Congratulations!'

We were stunned, but recovered quickly to say 'thank you!'

He went over the removal of conditions, and answered a couple of questions we had regarding travel and ROC.

For those who'd like to know, he ONLY took her I-94. He let her keep her original Visa and EAD. He did mention to her that she may want to cut her Visa up to keep someone from stealing and using it.

Overall the interview lasted about 20 minutes, and he really seemed to go out of his way to make us feel comfortable. He was totally unlike the cold, overly stoic, and sometimes combative officers I've read about. He was very professional, but seemed compassionate and friendly.

We celebrated by going to a local park and sitting on a swing together for a while and watching the waterfall, then went and had a nice sushi dinner.

Thankfully we are done for 21 months until it's ROC time. Thanks to everyone on VJ who has posted and helped make life easier on folks like us. We couldn't have done it ourselves without all of the great info on this site.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Waiting_In_SC

[Timon 26]

Congrats to you and our wife

[Sirdaniel42 86]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing

[Lornaevo 48]

Congratulations. I was a bit worried after I didn't see an update from you yesterday. I am happy you guys were approved.

[Waiting_In_SC 28]

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks, Lornaevo, and sorry about that. Our interview was actually near where my son lives, so we took the opportunity to spend some time with him while we were in town. That put us later getting back home.