Stokes Interview??

[RiverDeep 7]

well i feel it's unfair that couples are looked upon with more scrutiny when they have different religious backgrounds and an age gap. if it's important in your husband's country that he marry a muslim woman of child bearing age that could be a red flag. for instance when my hubs and i went to our interview i saw a couple being escorted into two separate rooms for a stokes interview. he was from Nigeria and much younger than her, a Caucasian lady.

Anyway the best advice I can give is just to go in there and be calm and relaxed and answer truthfully. We personally did not have a lawyer in our interview and i think that worked in our favor. The first question the IO asked us is how we met and I said through our mutual friend who suggested that we would be a good match and he sent me a message but i didn't respond for a month. husband gave me the side eye and i said "what, i have to tell the truth" the IO laughed and it was smooth sailing from there.

I would think the supporting documents are required to also overcome these minor differences. I guess it also depend on the IO. Some people may have personal hangups when looking at a couple and believe they couldn't possibly truly love each other. I guess I've been guilty of that also :-(. The age difference isnt something we think or care about. It would be really uncomfortable if the IO made a big deal of it. I would also feel discriminated against because of it. There has to be a limit to these things. I read some cases where the couple had a bigger age gap than us and the IO didn't harrass them about it. Perhaps the couple you speak of had other issues. Anyway my husband is so calm and not nervous at all. He has faith in our relationship. I guess I'm doing the worrying for the both of us :-P

[chakravo 0]

You know, in some ways, there is only so much you can do. You have a list of documents that seem good to my (rather inexperienced) eyes. We had our interview on the 4th of March. The differences between the documents you have and the ones we had is that we had a huge number of photos with friends and each others' families and wedding pictures (we had a ceremony here in the US, and one in India, where I am from), and we had a lease showing that we had been living together for almost a year before our wedding. But, we did not have renter's insurance, life insurance, joint utilities, life insurance, car insurance documents with both our names.

Also, my wife is 6 years older than me, is nominally a Catholic while I am a Hindu, and she has a prior divorce (points brought up as potential red flags by other posters). For what it's worth, our interview was quite pleasant and ordinary.

I guess a couple of questions you might be asked are how long have you known each other before the wedding, and have you met each other's families?

Good luck! I think you will be fine, but I was quite anxious about the interview, so I won't tell you to stop worrying .

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Hi VJers -

My husband and I interview is coming up on March 11th....right around the corner! Naturally I'm feeling a bit nervous and ready to get it over with. Anyway, I've been reading different couples interview experiences and some either got a difficult interview or stokes interview even though they may have had joint accounts. I was wandering (and this may be hard to answer) what usually triggers this in spite of having joint accounts??

My husband and I met through a mutual friend (I knew this person for over a year before he and my husband met) and didn't date long before marrying. Our marriage is as real and wanderful as the next couple. We had a small intimate cermony with just one of his friends. It was a very romantic and happy day for the both of us. We were going to do a big wedding for friends and family but I changed my mind due to expense and logistics.....family is spread out in different states. My mother doesn't fly or like long bus/train rides. We plan to celebrate with immediate family at a later date.

Here is what we have to prove bona fide marriage:

1. Marriage Certificate
2. Joint Apartment Lease (new residence)
3. Renter’s Insurance
4. Joint Utilities (old & new residence)
5. Health Insurance
6. Dental Insurance
7. Vision Insurance
8. Life Insurance
9. Car Insurance
10. Joint Bank Account
11. Joint Cell Phone Account (two phones only in my name due to SS#)
12. Emergency Contact sheet (Job)
13. Wedding photos
14. Photos with friends
15. Cards from Family

We recently moved and our prior apartment wouldn't allow me to add him to the lease until he got a SS#. Our current apartment didn't care about this

Adjusting from B2

Religious Ceremony 08/31/2013

Mailed documents 12/11/2013

Case received (ups certification) 12/13/2013

Text and Email NOAs received (USCIS) 12/19/2013

Biometrics Appt Letter 12/23/2013

Biometrics done (Early walk-in) 12/31/2013

original date 01/17/2014

I-485 Changed to "Testing & Interview" 01/14/2014

Interview Scheduled 02/03/2014

Email EAD Production 02/19/2014

Email EAD Card Mailed 02/24/2014 (will arrive 02/26)

Email EAD Approval Notice Mailed 02/24/2014

Interview 03/11/2014

As it had been said, given the cultural/religious differences, I would be prepared for one -just in case-, but not count on it. Letr me elaborate: if it in fact happens, then you don't want to be caught by surprise; having taken into account the possibility already eliminates the surprise factor (that is part of those types of interviews).

But keep in your mind, that either case, whether it happens or not, you have nothing to hide. If there is something you don't know, the answer is "don't know", rather than trying to guess.

We've been together for 4-5 years already and every week I learn something new about my wife, and so does she. Mostly things from the long past (we are both early 50's and married 2 1/2).

Also, in the AOS, it is not expected that there is great deal of commingling of finances and you seem to have quite a good set.

I might look into filing taxes and then re-file as needed when the name correction is done; but as others said, not a must to have those taxes.

[RiverDeep 7]

You know, in some ways, there is only so much you can do. You have a list of documents that seem good to my (rather inexperienced) eyes. We had our interview on the 4th of March. The differences between the documents you have and the ones we had is that we had a huge number of photos with friends and each others' families and wedding pictures (we had a ceremony here in the US, and one in India, where I am from), and we had a lease showing that we had been living together for almost a year before our wedding. But, we did not have renter's insurance, life insurance, joint utilities, life insurance, car insurance documents with both our names.

Also, my wife is 6 years older than me, is nominally a Catholic while I am a Hindu, and she has a prior divorce (points brought up as potential red flags by other posters). For what it's worth, our interview was quite pleasant and ordinary.

I guess a couple of questions you might be asked are how long have you known each other before the wedding, and have you met each other's families?

Good luck! I think you will be fine, but I was quite anxious about the interview, so I won't tell you to stop worrying .

I'm glad you had a pleasant interview. I wish we had more pics. Im pretty much a home body and when we do go out it doesn't occur to me to take pics. We havent had an opportunity yet to travel to see family...financial reasons. Our marriage is real and hope the IO can see that and we are successful in conveying that message. My concern with the stokes is I read if you get 3 questions wrong you fail. I wouldnt want our relationship to suffer because of 3 questions. Arrrgh....again....perhaps I worry too much.

[RiverDeep 7]

@Gosia&Tito....Thanks for the encouragement. We dont ever know everything there is to know about our partner. Everyday we learn something new. I'm not sure how much USCIS takes that into consideration. Like you said we have nothing to hide. If they make us do it we'll just have to go through with it and hope for the best :-).

[Soloenta 2,218]

@Gosia&Tito....Thanks for the encouragement. We dont ever know everything there is to know about our partner. Everyday we learn something new. I'm not sure how much USCIS takes that into consideration. Like you said we have nothing to hide. If they make us do it we'll just have to go through with it and hope for the best :-).

Please can we have an update please? Praying all went well.