Nervous about the interview..

[zuluweta 250]

Congratulations! Here's hoping you can live your life to the fullest, contribute positively to this country and the world as well and realize your dreams.

Don't forget to post a more detailed account of the interview, like whether you were asked questions regarding being out of status for so long, if you ever claimed any other immigration status, legitimacy of your marriage, whether your mother's immigration status was brought up, etcetera. Thanks!

[blk 87]

Finally home!

So here is how it went, last night after Game of Thrones (love that show) my wife and I started gathering all the required documents in the checklist. We went document crazy, packing a suitcase loaded with pictures, cards, e-mail print outs, bills, agreements, leases, contracts, pictures of our home, photo albums, scrap books and everything we could possibly get our hands on that shows a track of our relationship from the day which we met, until today.

This morning, schlepping this heavy suitcase we took the subway to the USCIS building; 1 hour early. After a security check, we enter the building and head to the check-in booth with my appointment letter. We were asked if we need a translator or if an attorney was coming, both to which we said no to.

Sitting in the upper floor, we got our waiting ticket; perhaps 40 other people in the room and we're eagerly waiting to start and end this process. We saw the immigration officers call up random couples, some officers seemed nicer than others; some seemed a bit less, nicer.

Finally our man came and called out our number, we entered a small room (almost like a cubicle) where we were asked to raise our right hand and swear to tell the truth. We sat down and the IO asked for our ID's, we provided our ID's to him, a very nice man and he gave them right back to us. After giving us our ID's in return, he asked whether my wife ever had a different name (which she answered no to), he quickly browsed through the packet which we had originally sent the office when we applied for the AOS. We tried to show him our entire suitcase of documents, but he did not want to see any of our supporting evidence, I asked if he would like to go through some of our photo albums, he did not seem interested in going through our entire photo book and just asked us for two photos. He also took a copy of our lease agreement for our apartment, after he glanced at out tax return for a moment and that was pretty much it.

He did not ask us anything about each other, he did not even question us about our marriage or anything of the sort. We showed him our marriage certificate, we had originals of all the documents which we originally sent in but he didn't really look through them like we thought he would.

As a matter of fact, this was more like an orientation than an interview, to look at the original documents from the AOS but to my surprise he asked us absolutely nothing about each other, our marriage, relationship or anything. We engaged in small talk afterwards for about 10 minutes, about his job and about USCIS. I asked him, what's the next step now? and he replied "Well the interview was over 15 minutes ago, the next step is you'll be getting your green card in the mail. Just don't forget to apply to remove the conditions on it 3 months before it expires.".

I was relived to hear that we passed and I am now officially a green card holder.

I am just shocked that from everything I have read, and I mean everything, we had a completely different and opposite experience where almost no questions were even asked. Our marriage wasn't questioned, put to the test or anything of that nature. I can't help but to think was it our insanely over packed suitcase of evidence, or my wife's pregnant belly that made this whole process such a breeze.

I can hope it is a breeze for others as well, thank you for the great support I have received reading on forums such as this.

My wife just said; basically, people with legitimate marriages should have nothing to worry about; maybe it was just all too obvious the way my wife and I talk to each other, or look at each other; I'm unsure but she claims she was absolutely not worried at all. I on the other hand, totally different; always worried.

All I have to say is thank God.

Hi & congrats to you both

[sweet cakes 326]

Congratulations! Thanks for updating us on your case. I'm glad it worked well for you. Now, time for you to live your life fully! You know what I mean! Go travel and see the world!

Cheers!

Edited April 7, 2014 by sweet cakes

[NewYork2014 9]

Congratulations! Here's hoping you can live your life to the fullest, contribute positively to this country and the world as well and realize your dreams.

Don't forget to post a more detailed account of the interview, like whether you were asked questions regarding being out of status for so long, if you ever claimed any other immigration status, legitimacy of your marriage, whether your mother's immigration status was brought up, etcetera. Thanks!

Thank you! and thank you everyone else;

I wasn't asked anything about being out of status, or if I claimed anything, in fact the questions I thought I would be asked:

• How did you meet?
• When did you meet?
• What's her birthday?
• When did you propose and how?
• Where does she work? how long as she worked there?
• How long have you lived together?
• Did you know you were out of status?
• Did you ever leave the country?
• Where are your parents now?
• How are you currently earning a living?
• Etc..

None of these were asked, I was shocked at this, Taking the elevator down after the interview I looked at my wife in total disbelief all this time we were thinking what they would ask and they asked none of those questions.

The questions we were asked:

• Show me your marriage license.
• Show me a document such as a lease or joint bank account if you have one (we do not have joint accounts, but a lease we did have.).
• Show me your IDs, passports and birth certificates.
• Give me two photos, any two photos is fine.

That was it, we were approved on the spot after. He did not even take my EAD or anything away, no stamp or anything just a receipt of our appearance. The whole process took 5 minutes, we chatted for a a little bit after about minuscule things such as work, etc. But that was just about it.

I just got the e-mail / text saying card is in production and should arrive within 30 days. I'm INSANELY happy.

I can't believe how surreal this experience is, and how worried I felt and the stress and the "what if's and the how's" and worried about being judged or turned away, afraid to make a mistake out of being nervous, etc. My wife barely uttered any words at all, he asked her nothing but for her ID and birth certificate.

He told me to wait for a 'Welcome' letter, though I have been here in NY for 16 years already. it's nice for a change to actually feel welcomed. I have waited for this moment far too long, and I am most grateful. Keep in mind we also did everything solo, no lawyer, no assistance of any kind we did a 'DIY" kind of thing; we read instructions, sent forms in, made sure to follow everything to the 'T', affidavits, notarized documents and letters, we appeared for a FOI to get the I94 details we used in the application; and we passed. I recall a lawyer I consulted with saying for $2,600 + cost of filing he would make this come true for me, my wife and I realized if you know English well enough and are a competent person saying the truth; there should be no problem. This was exactly the case. So thankful.

Edited April 7, 2014 by NewYork2014

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Congrats, New York.

[gwenstar 66]

I am so happy for you!!!!

[Jon York 156]

WOW! AWESOME!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so happy to see the end of your story!

And I'm happy (for once) to say I told you so!! (post #5).

That's really awesome. Now take your wife to a club (just to see that you haven't missed anything), buy a pack of cigarettes (and throw them away) and start enjoying your new freedoms!!

And by the way - very smart you were to do this yourself. Stupid lawyers - $2,500 - unbelievable. And you can bet he would have found a way to work it up to $5,000 before all was said and done.

Awesome!

[dalabera 0]

Finally home!

I was relived to hear that we passed and I am now officially a green card holder.

All I have to say is thank God.

Hello, You should make a movie!! Congrats!

[Cathi 5,794]

congrats!!!!!!!!!!!

[NewYork2014 9]

Thanks everyone again, and yes Jon, you were correct.

Rewind back 3 weeks ago when I originally posted I was a nervous wreck, lol. No clubbing, baby's coming REAL soon; good to know this whole thing got sorted out and done with before the little package arrives. I agree on the lawyer statement, it would've opened a hole for more money; bad enough it was difficult to put up the filing amounts I couldn't imagine paying someone to do something that with a little effort could be done manually. I would advise anyone to do this, simply read and don't take everything you read online without a grain of salt as my experience was completely and utterly different than anyone else's.

Today is day two of being 'greened' as I've read, even though I haven't magically made a million dollars yet I must admit it feels great walking down the street. I already went to the DMV to get a study guide for the driver's permit exam I intend to pass. I feel like I've missed out, standing on a line with 16 year old kids to learn to drive. Better late than never@!

[krijn 0]

Congratulations, NewYork2014! That's an awesome story!

[NewYork2014 9]

This is my final post and update, I received my CR6 (Conditional Resident) green card in the mail today; Friday 4/12/2014. The interview was on Monday, 4/17/2014. 5 Days only and finally, this is all over with. On December of 2016 I will apply for removal of condition, meanwhile; it is finally over and my wallet has one more additional card in it; perhaps the most important one I've ever had.

Being my final post, again I would like to thank everyone for their advice and this forum for the vast amount of knowledge I've obtained reading and studying the process. This is a great place. I would also like to wish best of luck to everyone, anyone who had ever been in my shoes and those of you still in the fight to obtain the basic right of living worry free in this great country.

From New York,

Thank you, good luck and good bye!