July filers!

[kooliz 0]

APPROVED ON THE SPOT!

GOT THE LETTER AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

The interview took around 90 minutes (!), but it was very nice, casual talk, mostly about food, cooking, where we would like to spend vacations etc. A lot of jokes and we didn;t even really feel that was "official"!

Our IO was extremely nice and at the end she said "welcome to America!" and gave us some info how to apply for the second GC in 2 years to avoid the interview and just be approved only by sending the documents.

West Palm Beach office rulez!

Congratulations big time Tormentis! That's amazing news. You can finally breathe easy

To continue on with some big news - My EAD status has changed to document/card production! I guess I didn't even need to send in an expedite request. Phew.

Looking forward to reading your report.

[Poulette 155]

Yay, congrats!!

Also, always good to hear that there are some nice officers around.

APPROVED ON THE SPOT!

GOT THE LETTER AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

The interview took around 90 minutes (!), but it was very nice, casual talk, mostly about food, cooking, where we would like to spend vacations etc. A lot of jokes and we didn;t even really feel that was "official"!

Our IO was extremely nice and at the end she said "welcome to America!" and gave us some info how to apply for the second GC in 2 years to avoid the interview and just be approved only by sending the documents.

West Palm Beach office rulez!

[Tormentis 2]

today was the date of our immigration interview! My wife and I had it scheduled at 10:30am. We arrived to the office 30 minutes early, just to be safe. First, we had to approach a check-in window, where we handed a lady our letter of the interview so she could stamp it and give us a receipt number that they would call in order of arrivals. When we first approached the check-in window though, we stood there in front of the lady and I slid in our letter to her side of the window. I kind of stood there for a second wondering if I had done something wrong, until I realized she was blind. To tell you the truth, she was a very efficient employee regardless of being visually impaired. I don’t know how she could decipher the contents of the letter, but she went ahead and stamped it and handed us our receipt to be called on the other side of the room.

So then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, we got called in at 11:45am, and what a sigh of relief. Of course we couldn’t wait to get it over with. I really had to go to the bathroom, and my wife was really hungry, but this feeling shortly left as we realized how easygoing our immigration officer was.

She smiled and escorted us to her office and showed us where to sit. The lady was very nice, and had a very relaxed personality, which made my wife and I get instantly comfortable. We were so afraid we may get a nasty and offish officer, so we are incredibly grateful for the one we got!

The main piece of advice I have to give is: come prepared to your interview. Have all your documents set in a binder/folder, and go over some examples of interview questions well in advance. This will make you feel more prepared (it’s best to be safe than sorry!). Anyhow, in our case we ended up laughing in the end because we rehearsed probably about 4-5 pages of interview questions, and in reality our immigration officer didn’t ask any of them. But you still have to know your story front and back just in case.

The main questions we got were:

How did you meet?

Where did you meet for the first time?

Who cooks?

Who knows about your marriage and how do they feel about it?

Do you have any documents to show me?

But quite frankly, they weren’t given in interrogation form. Our officer started our interview by saying:

“Okay, so tell me about yourselves. Why are you here?”

She also had made us laugh by telling us that she had just gotten back from vacation in New York, and that now they’re piling cases on her desk. But she then went on to say that our case was going to be no problem.

Then she asked where we were from originally. The interviewer then made a comment like “oh wow, isn’t Poland a very Catholic country?” So our short convo about religion began. The officer told us that she was merely curious, and stated that officially they’re not really allowed to ask about religion but she laughed and said “well, this time you brought it up, so =P” She also said that if we weren’t comfortable speaking about it we could always say so. The religion convo wasn’t strict or anything, more just about making conversation and getting to know us a little bit more.

She went on to talk about New York, and how she doesn’t like the cold weather because she is Latina. My wife and I mentioned that it’s tough living in Florida because the constant year-round heat can be unbearable. We said we (well, officially my wife) lived in Toronto for about a year, and that we loved the four seasons and I grew to like the cold (though not the Polar Vortex winter that thankfully, I did not get to experience.

Frankly, I don’t think we got down to the nitty gritty of the “immigration” questions until halfway through our interview because the officer made a lot of small talk about New York, the weather, Florida, how our families are taking it, and how my wife should learn how to cook rice and beans (and how easy it is!).

She made us feel so comfortable that our nervousness was totally gone, and we were just ourselves. We held hands, and smiled and laughed. To tell you the truth… by the time the interview was over we realized that our officer had cleverly asked the questions she needed to know just by making easy conversation. And this was awesome because it didn’t feel stressful at all. We shared just what we needed to share for the interview to go smoothly, and it did.

To sum it up, we mostly talked about our families.

At the end of our interview she asked if there were any proofs and documents (copies) that we wanted to give her. We said yes, and we started mutually going through our folder and handing her things like: joint cell phone account receipt, bank statements, work paystubs (she really needed them a kept them also), and some photos of us and of our adorable kitten.

Then she mentioned that two years from now I can apply for a second green card (because right now I'm a Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident)

Then she asked if we had any questions for her before we left, and I boldly asked if we had gotten approved, and how long we needed to wait before we heard anything. She said “two weeks” and that we were approved.

[Poulette 155]

How nice it is that she made for both of you a treasurable moment out of a formality or a somewhat scary situation.

Congrats again, and thanks for sharing!

today was the date of our immigration interview! My wife and I had it scheduled at 10:30am. We arrived to the office 30 minutes early, just to be safe. First, we had to approach a check-in window, where we handed a lady our letter of the interview so she could stamp it and give us a receipt number that they would call in order of arrivals. When we first approached the check-in window though, we stood there in front of the lady and I slid in our letter to her side of the window. I kind of stood there for a second wondering if I had done something wrong, until I realized she was blind. To tell you the truth, she was a very efficient employee regardless of being visually impaired. I don’t know how she could decipher the contents of the letter, but she went ahead and stamped it and handed us our receipt to be called on the other side of the room.

So then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, we got called in at 11:45am, and what a sigh of relief. Of course we couldn’t wait to get it over with. I really had to go to the bathroom, and my wife was really hungry, but this feeling shortly left as we realized how easygoing our immigration officer was.

She smiled and escorted us to her office and showed us where to sit. The lady was very nice, and had a very relaxed personality, which made my wife and I get instantly comfortable. We were so afraid we may get a nasty and offish officer, so we are incredibly grateful for the one we got!

The main piece of advice I have to give is: come prepared to your interview. Have all your documents set in a binder/folder, and go over some examples of interview questions well in advance. This will make you feel more prepared (it’s best to be safe than sorry!). Anyhow, in our case we ended up laughing in the end because we rehearsed probably about 4-5 pages of interview questions, and in reality our immigration officer didn’t ask any of them. But you still have to know your story front and back just in case.

The main questions we got were:

How did you meet?

Where did you meet for the first time?

Who cooks?

Who knows about your marriage and how do they feel about it?

Do you have any documents to show me?

But quite frankly, they weren’t given in interrogation form. Our officer started our interview by saying:

“Okay, so tell me about yourselves. Why are you here?”

She also had made us laugh by telling us that she had just gotten back from vacation in New York, and that now they’re piling cases on her desk. But she then went on to say that our case was going to be no problem.

Then she asked where we were from originally. The interviewer then made a comment like “oh wow, isn’t Poland a very Catholic country?” So our short convo about religion began. The officer told us that she was merely curious, and stated that officially they’re not really allowed to ask about religion but she laughed and said “well, this time you brought it up, so =P” She also said that if we weren’t comfortable speaking about it we could always say so. The religion convo wasn’t strict or anything, more just about making conversation and getting to know us a little bit more.

She went on to talk about New York, and how she doesn’t like the cold weather because she is Latina. My wife and I mentioned that it’s tough living in Florida because the constant year-round heat can be unbearable. We said we (well, officially my wife) lived in Toronto for about a year, and that we loved the four seasons and I grew to like the cold (though not the Polar Vortex winter that thankfully, I did not get to experience.

Frankly, I don’t think we got down to the nitty gritty of the “immigration” questions until halfway through our interview because the officer made a lot of small talk about New York, the weather, Florida, how our families are taking it, and how my wife should learn how to cook rice and beans (and how easy it is!).

She made us feel so comfortable that our nervousness was totally gone, and we were just ourselves. We held hands, and smiled and laughed. To tell you the truth… by the time the interview was over we realized that our officer had cleverly asked the questions she needed to know just by making easy conversation. And this was awesome because it didn’t feel stressful at all. We shared just what we needed to share for the interview to go smoothly, and it did.

To sum it up, we mostly talked about our families.

At the end of our interview she asked if there were any proofs and documents (copies) that we wanted to give her. We said yes, and we started mutually going through our folder and handing her things like: joint cell phone account receipt, bank statements, work paystubs (she really needed them a kept them also), and some photos of us and of our adorable kitten.

Then she mentioned that two years from now I can apply for a second green card (because right now I'm a Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident)

Then she asked if we had any questions for her before we left, and I boldly asked if we had gotten approved, and how long we needed to wait before we heard anything. She said “two weeks” and that we were approved.

[Tormentis 2]

No problem! I've always been reading all the reports and I think it's good to share your own experience. Especially if it's nice. We need more nice experiences!

[Love hopes 0]

It sounds amazing. And I always thought it will go this smooth for you. I am very happy for you girls.

And hopeful me and my wife get similar experience.

[Tormentis 2]

Thank you!

One small question - I got the letter on the interview that I got approved and I'm a lawful permanent resident etc.

Can I apply for SSN today or should I wait for the card itself? What do you think?

I have a job opportunity coming up and I would gladly get all the papers done ASAP.

[aks1362 1]

APPROVED ON THE SPOT!

GOT THE LETTER AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

The interview took around 90 minutes (!), but it was very nice, casual talk, mostly about food, cooking, where we would like to spend vacations etc. A lot of jokes and we didn;t even really feel that was "official"!

Our IO was extremely nice and at the end she said "welcome to America!" and gave us some info how to apply for the second GC in 2 years to avoid the interview and just be approved only by sending the documents.

West Palm Beach office rulez!

Congrats Tormentis great news !!!

[Tormentis 2]

Hmm weird.. My status didn't change, it's still on the initial review.

What the hell is going on?

[hellostranger57 18]

Hmm weird.. My status didn't change, it's still on the initial review.

What the hell is going on?

Don't worry especially since they gave you an approval letter on the spot

[Tormentis 2]

Well I;m not really worried, but I would like to take some action (start working maybe?)

I was at the SS office today asking for SSN

But they said they need an actual green card, or EAD and this letter wouldn't do much.

I'm kinda stressed because I have a really nice job opportunity.. and I'm not perfectly sure.. If I can start working

[hellostranger57 18]

Exactly a week ago today, we had our interview. Still have not heard anything back

I'm thinking disorganization of our officer could be the cause of this delay. Grrrr!!!!

[Tormentis 2]

Did you call USCIS and talk to Tier 2?

Maybe he got an update. They all know this system is pretty much eh.. well not working well.

I'm after the interview, I have been approved and my online status for GC is.. INITIAL REVIEW

[hellostranger57 18]

Did you call USCIS and talk to Tier 2?

Maybe he got an update. They all know this system is pretty much eh.. well not working well.

I'm after the interview, I have been approved and my online status for GC is.. INITIAL REVIEW

No, I haven't. I am planning to call them on the 30th day mark. The officer said to expect to hear from them within 30 days but could take up to 120 days. I hate how they are so vague sometimes when it comes to giving out a timeline.

Right now, I am just obsessively checking USCIS case status if there are any updates in our i-485. I hate this wait!!! I really wish we would hear something soon Green card Gods, please hear us!!!! (lol)

[Tormentis 2]

Don;t worry I'm on initial review too

Some people received their GCs without any info online.

Call USCIS asap. Why wait?