Confused after AOS Interview

[elitesnicker 0]

Hello,

I was hoping someone could add some insight into our interview/application. We initially thought it was going to be a breeze, but after the interview we are now worried. We knew living apart might be a flag, but we thought we supplied enough proof to overcome it.

Here is our situation:

I am a USC and she is on a H1B visa. We are the same age, culture, income, and roughly the same education level. We meet 2 years ago, dated for about 15 months, then married last summer. We currently live in different cities (3 hrs apart) because we both want to keep our careers. She's been trying to get something near me, but it hard because she is on a H1B visa and very few companies will sponsor given her industry and experience. A green card will make it much easier for her to look for something local.

What we provided for proof of bona fide marriage:

Joint bank statements for over 4 accounts. The amount in these 4 accounts is significant (not just a token account).

Driver's Licenses with the same address.

Joint title and car registration for both cars.

Name on both car insurance policy.

Receipt of engagement ring.

Printed Pages to our wedding website detailing us and how we met, our wedding party, ceremony and reception details.

Receipt of wedding reception with over 80 guests.

Pictures of the wedding ceremony and tea ceremony(pictures of us, with both set of family, friends, etc)

Beneficiary paper for 401k accounts.

The Interview

We were interview by a very friendly IO (that is how I read him). He separated us for the interview. We thought it was a stokes interview because of our living situation, but the more I read about the stokes Interview, it didn't seem like it was. The only commonality is that we were separated. It wasn't taped and the questions were not invasive or long (roughly 10-15 questions for each of us). He asked us why we are apart and we told him the reason, asked about wedding details, family in-laws, cars, how we got to the interview, what we did the past weekend. There were no problems with our answer (I think). But it seemed to be fixated that we are apart and he said we should provide as much proof as possible. He specifically mention tax returns, utility bills, CC, and lease agreement. The tax returns we are waiting until the last minute this year, and we never bother to add each other to the lease and utilities, because we always thought the living situation as temporary and it much easy to setup those with just one person. We told him these facts. In hindsight, we probably should have done this just to leave no doubt, but we both honestly felt we have enough. At the end of the interview he allowed me run to a photo store to print out our wedding pics, because we showed them on a tablet. He also said to take this time to print out anything else, because he said they will make a judgement with what is in the file.

Impression/Afterthought

Like I said, he was very friendly, at one point we are talking and laughing about the paradox of needing a greencard to be together. He also wanted to take her H1B, but he had to check with his supervisor and in the end he didn't. The reason we are so concern is because after our interview, while he gave us some time to print out the photos, he had a long discussion with his supervisor and when he came back, that is when came back to say, we should try to think about any other evidence we have and they can only make a judgement with what is in the file. I'm not sure what to make of that statement and has made us quite concern and upset. We honestly didn't think those things would be a cause of concern with all the other evidence we provided.

Thanks in advance for any insight anyone can provide.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You had a stokes interview.

Did you ask him what to expect next?

[elitesnicker 0]

You had a stokes interview.

Did you ask him what to expect next?

Yeah, he said a review and if we are approved, we can expect the GC within a month.

[Villanelle 4,122]

First, you dont know if you were denied yet or not. If you were denied, youre going to need to file a motion to appeal it and get another interview. If your motion is unsuccessful, youre going to have to reapply.

Well Im kind of confused by "we thought we supplied enough proof to overcome it." You knew you had different residences, and your proof to overcome it was rather limited. It included- bank statements, Driver's Licenses with the same address (which I dont get (?) what address do you have thats joint?) car titles/registrations/insurance, 401k, and a bunch of wedding stuff.

You didnt have anything from anyone who knew you. No affidavits from friends or family saying although you live 3 hrs apart they know you to be a couple, that you spend weekends (or at least 1-2 times a month) together. Nothing from a church saying youre members. No joint memberships to health clubs or shopping clubs, or gun clubs or AAA or any kind of clubs.

I know youre not doing ROC, but you need ROC like evidence. Things that show even though theres distance between you, you guys are still very much joint. You do have joint activities.

You say all your answers seemed to match, which is good. But it seems like you had no physical evidence to show that you guys arent living two separate lives. Thats not good. Your approval or denial can go either way. Its going to be up to the officer who interviewed you. They like to have something physical they can point to and show to a supervisor, like an affidavit or lease with both names on it to be like, I based my decision on this and not just their statements of 'I entered this not for benefits'. With out anything physical to point to, all they have is your statements and matching answers, thats why he said, were going to make our decision based on the file. Your file doesnt contain much physical evidence. You need to pray that he sticks his neck out for you.

If he doesnt, get ready to file a motion to get another chance at an interview and bring to it new evidence. ROC type evidence. Read through the ROC forums for ideas.

[elitesnicker 0]

First, you dont know if you were denied yet or not. If you were denied, youre going to need to file a motion to appeal it and get another interview. If your motion is unsuccessful, youre going to have to reapply.

Well Im kind of confused by "we thought we supplied enough proof to overcome it." You knew you had different residences, and your proof to overcome it was rather limited. It included- bank statements, Driver's Licenses with the same address (which I dont get (?) what address do you have thats joint?) car titles/registrations/insurance, 401k, and a bunch of wedding stuff.

You didnt have anything from anyone who knew you. No affidavits from friends or family saying although you live 3 hrs apart they know you to be a couple, that you spend weekends (or at least 1-2 times a month) together. Nothing from a church saying youre members. No joint memberships to health clubs or shopping clubs, or gun clubs or AAA or any kind of clubs.

I know youre not doing ROC, but you need ROC like evidence. Things that show even though theres distance between you, you guys are still very much joint. You do have joint activities.

You say all your answers seemed to match, which is good. But it seems like you had no physical evidence to show that you guys arent living two separate lives. Thats not good. Your approval or denial can go either way. Its going to be up to the officer who interviewed you. They like to have something physical they can point to and show to a supervisor, like an affidavit or lease with both names on it to be like, I based my decision on this and not just their statements of 'I entered this not for benefits'. With out anything physical to point to, all they have is your statements and matching answers, thats why he said, were going to make our decision based on the file. Your file doesnt contain much physical evidence. You need to pray that he sticks his neck out for you.

If he doesnt, get ready to file a motion to get another chance at an interview and bring to it new evidence. ROC type evidence. Read through the ROC forums for ideas.

Thanks for your insight. We never thought about it from that point of view. I guess we didn't focus on presenting the personal part of the marriage. Hopefully it gets approved, but if not, we'll be better prepared. Her boss has already said she is willing to write something stating she has already requested to work remotely from where I am at and so will our friends. We have also started adding each other to our CC and some utilities. I'll browse around the ROC forum for more ideas. Thanks a lot!

[Darnell 8,479]

i think 'single name domicile stuff' is what killed you.

for anyone else reading this, with the same type of AOS and living apart?

two leases, in both names

two sets of utility bills, in both names

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

I don't know what your full evidences were, but living apart isn't necessary a denial. It can, but isn't always and necessary. I did not live with my husband at the time of the application/interview. Indeed, we still don't live together even though I've got my green card roughly two months ago. And we won't be living together for sure until Fall. If things work out the way we plan it than soonest in September or October we can move in together. Before that, definitely not. Obviously, you have to have a very good reason for not living together, but I believe if you have sufficient evidences, than living apart isn't going to break you. We had evidences as: joint bank account, joint rental agreement (for apartment) even though he doesn't even live here with me, joint car insurance, joint PGE bills, two-two affidavits from both of our sides. What we did not have: joint tax return, but had separate individual last three years of tax return, joint health insurance since my university does not fund spouses. Then the only thing we had extra for the interview itself was a photo album, and a verification of employment both from my side and my husband side, W2s from the last three years of both his and mine. And we took everything else we sent with the AOS package, but the lady only looked our photo album and our driver's licenses for verification purposes. Oh and our driver's licenses had totally different address on too. So, I think if you had really good reasoning why you guys live separately then it wasn't that what cut your opportunity. But I was not there to judge this. Think it through again what they were asking for you, what evidences you had, you might pinpoint what could have been the actual reason for POSSIBLE denial.

Good luck, I wish you all the best!

[elitesnicker 0]

Thanks everyone. There is nothing we can do about this now, all we are doing is hoping for the best and preparing for a denial (gathering new evidence). I'm going update this thread because I hope it will help others in our situation.

I have thought about the interview and I think we did convince the interviewing officer (ie: him saying "I want to give you this as soon as possible too", him wanting take her H1B, and the general friendliness of the interview). The problem was trying to convince his supervisor, who wasn't in the interview and who is going to go by the body of the evidence. One thing that threw us off was his examples of a bona fide marriage (joint tax return, joint utility bills, & joint cc, joint health insurance), because of his concrete examples we became fixated on these also. If we had to do it again we would have:

-get affidavits from co-workers and friends stating how we visit each other every weekend and how she has tried to move closer but not having permanent status makes it difficult.

-put each others name on the utility bills, credit cards, and lease.

-CC/debit statements since we've been married, even though they are in each others name, it shows consistent purchases in each others cities during the weekends. <-- I think this more than anything would have helped.

-Have a different mindset. Honestly, we only saw our marriage as a "bona fide" one, we didn't think about what in our lives would make it suspicious. It is still pretty hard and this thread helps.

Hopefully it is a denial, the process won't be a pain.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I wouldn't be expecting a denial. Before you would get denied, they would sent a RFE or ask you for a second interview. The IO said they can only approve you based on the evidence you submit, so that sounds to me like a RFE for more evidence may be on its way. So, it's a setback, but just wait patiently and wait for further instructions from them.

[Villanelle 4,122]

^Yes I agree but be very careful about what you submit if you do get an RFE. Make sure the things you submit are 'old' things and not newly created ones.

Old things will count, new things wont. Old things would be like you said, receipts showing you did spend time together in each other cities. Statements from friends and family members.

New things are- putting yourself on the lease starting today. Putting yourself on utilities starting today. (You already told him youre not on the leases/utilities, going back and back dating those items fraudulently and then submitting them is a mistake)

New items are not going to count. Old items are. (you can submit the new items- esp if like you said, she has a letter that says she will or may be able to work remotely from your address so youre going to add her to your lease, but they wont have as much weight as the old items)

[blankmedia 41]

This wasn't a stokes interview, a stokes interview is actually a "second chance" interview to make sure that the couple were treated fairly and not unjustly denied. It just so happens that in stokes interviews, the couple is separated. You will either be approved or have an official stokes interview.