September 2014 AOS Filers

[msdynamite 57]

Happy to know that you had your interview scheduled and its gives hope for mine as we share almost he same timeline and local office. As for rescheduling, I did not had the experience but I will suggest that if possible cancel what ever will be taking you out of town and finish with this long wait...

it caught me by surprise as I was prepared for a longer wait.

but you`re right. me and my husband decided to cancel our flights (it`ll cost us $600...urgh..we would had to leave town for work and had everything set up already) and take the interview.

at least we`re done with USCIS for a while then. I guess it will be worth it...just hurts..we don`t have a lot of money..

[Le Bangoulap 25]

it caught me by surprise as I was prepared for a longer wait.

but you`re right. me and my husband decided to cancel our flights (it`ll cost us $600...urgh..we would had to leave town for work and had everything set up already) and take the interview.

at least we`re done with USCIS for a while then. I guess it will be worth it...just hurts..we don`t have a lot of money..

You took a wise decision...and I hope it will be worth it...I wish you success during your interview!

[msdynamite 57]

You took a wise decision...and I hope it will be worth it...I wish you success during your interview!

thank you. I let you know about the outcome. hope you will receive news soon!! sometimes it happens faster than you expect

[wazabiboy 0]

We had our interview today in Seattle, WA.

Same-sex marriage to an american citizen AOS.

We were scheduled for 1.50pm. Arrived 20 mins early and waited another 90 mins until we were called in by an African-American gentleman in his 40s. The wait was definitely nerve-wrecking.

He started off by saying that he will specify which one of us are the questions for, and the other person must remain silent.

Questions included

- Why are you here?

- How are things going?

- How/When did you meet? How come you can remember the exact date?

- When did you start dating?

- Have you been married before and why did you get a divorce?

- Any children?

- Have you met each others' parents?

- When did you move?

- When was the last time you entered the US before AOS and why? (I think this was to see the preconceived intention to adjust status)

- What's your status in the country you entered the US from

- What's next for you?

- Yes/No questions

Then he asked if we brought any additional evidence. We gave him the following:

- 6 months joint bank statement

- joint car title

- joint renters insurance

- spouse being listed as emergency contact at work and 401k beneficiary

- old apartment lease + utility bills

- wedding dinner receipt

- engagement ring receipt

- past trips itineraries

- tMobile family plan

We showed him a photo album of 100 pictures. He asked us to show the pictures from the wedding date, which we did.

He didn't take any photos.

Then he told us that we are approved, that card production will be ordered today and that we need to apply for removal of condition 90 days before 2 years from today.

I asked about the I-155 stamp because I want to leave the country next week but he said just wait for the GC to arrive as I-155 is only for emergency travel cases with pre-booked itinerary (e.g. your parent is sick, etc).

30 mins after the interview, online status changed to "interview was completed and my case must be reviewed"

2 hrs after the interview, online status changed to "New card is being produced"

The interviewer was quite intimidating but we remained calm, polite and answered truthfully with a smile.

Overall an easy interview, just remain patient.

As long as your marriage is legitimate and you prepare your application package well, you don't have anything to worry about.

They are just doing their job. I'd say the key to managing your nerves is to practice with your spouse before the interview.

I'd like to thank Visajourney and everyone here for sharing your experience. This has been an emotional roller coaster and you all have made it so much easier to cope, prepare and know what to expect.

Good luck everyone!

[NikeS 49]

Awesome news, congratulations to everyone who has been approved and received their Greencards. To those still waiting, hang in there.

[Manzan76 6]

We had our interview today in Seattle, WA.

Same-sex marriage to an american citizen AOS.

We were scheduled for 1.50pm. Arrived 20 mins early and waited another 90 mins until we were called in by an African-American gentleman in his 40s. The wait was definitely nerve-wrecking.

He started off by saying that he will specify which one of us are the questions for, and the other person must remain silent.

Questions included

- Why are you here?

- How are things going?

- How/When did you meet? How come you can remember the exact date?

- When did you start dating?

- Have you been married before and why did you get a divorce?

- Any children?

- Have you met each others' parents?

- When did you move?

- When was the last time you entered the US before AOS and why? (I think this was to see the preconceived intention to adjust status)

- What's your status in the country you entered the US from

- What's next for you?

- Yes/No questions

Then he asked if we brought any additional evidence. We gave him the following:

- 6 months joint bank statement

- joint car title

- joint renters insurance

- spouse being listed as emergency contact at work and 401k beneficiary

- old apartment lease + utility bills

- wedding dinner receipt

- engagement ring receipt

- past trips itineraries

- tMobile family plan

We showed him a photo album of 100 pictures. He asked us to show the pictures from the wedding date, which we did.

He didn't take any photos.

Then he told us that we are approved, that card production will be ordered today and that we need to apply for removal of condition 90 days before 2 years from today.

I asked about the I-155 stamp because I want to leave the country next week but he said just wait for the GC to arrive as I-155 is only for emergency travel cases with pre-booked itinerary (e.g. your parent is sick, etc).

30 mins after the interview, online status changed to "interview was completed and my case must be reviewed"

2 hrs after the interview, online status changed to "New card is being produced"

The interviewer was quite intimidating but we remained calm, polite and answered truthfully with a smile.

Overall an easy interview, just remain patient.

As long as your marriage is legitimate and you prepare your application package well, you don't have anything to worry about.

They are just doing their job. I'd say the key to managing your nerves is to practice with your spouse before the interview.

I'd like to thank Visajourney and everyone here for sharing your experience. This has been an emotional roller coaster and you all have made it so much easier to cope, prepare and know what to expect.

Good luck everyone!

Congratulations!!

[moraaj 3]

Had an interview scheduled for noon. My husband and I were up late, trying to run around to make copies of stuff, and print outs as were are last minute people. We finally finished at 1120 drive to the office arrived at 1140. Checked in I went to use the bathroom came back my husband was standing waiting for me. I got there she asked my hubby who is the petitioner to go in first and have me stay outside. I waited for 10 minutes which seemed like a year. She then came and called me and asked my hubby to stay outside.

I got in she asked that I take an oath before sitting down. She then asked for my ID, work permit, passport, I gave then to her. All along she was not even smiling.

All questions on the 485 form I mean all questions line by line.

she then asked my hubby's names and date of birth and place of birth

She asked me to tell her all the story of how we met up to our marriage

where did we get married.

She then asked me if we had a reception

Who was at the wedding, did my parents attend the wedding did his parents attend the wedding. Does her have any siblings or parents in the usa . asked if I have any siblings and parents in the usa

She asked what my husband does

She asked me where I work and where my husband works

she asked if we have ever travelled and where we went and why we went to the places we went

She asked me if we have ever be hospitalized..i said no we have been lucky she smiled.

She asked me about how our parents reacted about the wedding

She asked me if we have children

She then told me she will be doing a back ground check later today. Since we have been married for more than two years I can file for citizenship at anytime after 3 years. she then asked is there anything you would like to add? I have a file full of papers i said i don't even know what to give you i have plenty of stuff. She smiled and said you are so organized then i said what do you expect when i have been in school for this years lol i know that was not appropriate but whatever...i gave her recent bills, bank statement i tried to give her pictures she said no...i have enough. She said once I get my GC I can take it to my work place and I can use it to travel. she walked me out and gave me directions on how to get to the lobby where my husband was waiting.

She had asked my hubby the same questions..

When I got home I saw the card has been ordered to be mailed we will mail it to your address. the I-130 was also approved.

I want to thank you all for the support the payers and comfort through sharing of your experiences. I know I haven't meet you guys but I feel like I know you all personally.

Advice like i told my husband yesterday don't lie, just be honest in case we get separated. Pray if you are a believer, don't panic when separated like we did. Good luck to everyone in your future endeavors. One love

[mrszorak44 7]

Wow!!! This is what I'm talking about! Our God is indeed the miracle worker...Congratulations! To God be the Glory!

Thank you! We are very grateful to Him. To God be the Glory. How's your AOS going?

[Snorlux 58]

Ok so I’ve been meaning to write this for a while ago so here it goes,

Our interview was scheduled on February 27th at 8:30 in the Morning at Federal Plaza. Now that made me my pants because we are usually send to the Queens Field office since we live in the NYC borough of Queens.

I read other posts saying that complicated or suspicious cases are send to Federal Plaza where the headquarters of USCIS and FBI are currently located. On top of that I also read that if they want to put you through a Stokes interview they arrange your interview on Friday mornings so that they have a lot of time to interrogate you :S

Anyhow, we arrived at Federal Plaza late. We got there at 8:20 and there was a huge queue outside waiting to go through security. We went up to the 8th floor where a pissed of lady told us that the guy that will interview us was dying to get a case so he’s waiting for us down at 4th floor. I immediately thought that this is gonna be a difficult interview because this guy has not got any cases to go through so he will have a lot of time to be proper and ask a million questions with us.

We went to the fourth floor and waited with other couples to be called. An american-asian guy came out, looked at my name, then found me in the waiting area WITHOUT calling my name and he pointed at me and then he was like “Snorlux?” (obviously snorlux is not my real name so the guy called my real name there). I was surprised on how easily he found my in the croud of people and called us in. He probably saw a lot of photos of us before the interview.

Walking into his office I saw a note on his door saying “Queens Field Office”. Apparently the queens field office was closed for renovation so they moved all cases to Federal Plaza. I was worried for nothing!

The officer asked us to stay standing, put us under oath and said that even if the conversation seems friendly at times, anything we say is considered to be under oath. He then asked us to sit down and told us that he will make questions to each one of us and when he does the other person should stay quite.

He then asked for our driver’s licences or state id cards. He then asked why our addresses are different and my wife told him that it’s our old address and her drivers licence was issued before we move. He said he understands. He then asked my wife how we met. By the way, my wife was the one telling me to stay calm during the interview and not worry about anything and everything will be fine and then when we went there she got all stressed. She told the officer how we met and how we were talking since we were 16 and then she goes “..and umm.. and then what happened?..” and I was like oh my god are you kidding me? She got all stressed couldn’t speak. Anyhow, the officer helped her, he was like how did you start speaking then after all these years? And that gave my wife something to talk about! Then the officer turned to me and asked me if we were living together before coming to the USA.

Then asked me my wife’s parents names, her date of birth, where she works, how much she makes, how often she gets paid, how often we pay our rent, how much is our rent and what’s our landlord’s names and surnames. She made the same questions, except the rent questions, to my wife.

He asked to see some bills or rental leases etc and he asked if he can keep a copy of our rental lease to which we said yes of course. We also had a joint account from the time when we were living together in Scotland, UK. Then she went through photos and saw some that we had in Philadelphia and he was like “oh did you go to philly? I’m from philly! Did you guys like it? My wife said she loved it and the officer was like are you saying this because I have not approved your case yet? And he joked around with that.

Then he turned to me and he told me so you entered on August 8th and got married on September 9th? I said yes. Then he suggested: “So you entered with the intention to get married and adjust status in the US!” to which i replied “No sir I had no intention to stay here when I entered the country! I guess the want to make this questions and receive an answer from us so that they are covered from their end.

He then turned to his computer and started typing stuff. He then turns to me and goes “Congratulations, I have approved your case. Since your marriage is under 2 years old I can only offer you a conditional 2 year green card and you can remove the conditions on it after 2 years”. Then he asked us if we are planning to travel abroad soon. I realised he was asking so that he can see whether we need a green card stamp. Because I knew about this from visajourney I immediately said that yes we are going to canada to which he replied when are you going? And I said we are going in 2 weeks. The officer then said ok then I can give you a temporary stamp that can act as your green card for now. Then he said after you receive your actual green card make sure you never use this stamp again and you only use the greencard to enter.

This was a nerve wracking experience but I was very thankful that we received an approval confirmation from the officer before leaving his office.

Thank you all for all the help and support you gave us this whole time and thank you VisaJourney for an excellent immigration forum platform. I also like the fact that even with different religions and different beliefs we all come together supporting each other in this forum and talking about “god” and “prayers” without mentioning which god we believe in which makes it clear that at the end of the day we are all the same and this is how we should act in our real lives too and not only on forums

[msdynamite 57]

Congratulations Snorlux and thank you for your detailed review!

[cococacao 14]

FINALLY! On March 18 we were sent our interview notice and it arrived in the mail yesterday!!! We're scheduled for April 22. Can't wait!

[Le Bangoulap 25]

FINALLY!

I'm so excited, This is what my case status says this morning:

Interview Is Scheduled

On March 23, 2015, we scheduled you for your interview and mailed you an interview notice for Receipt Number MSCxxxxxxxxxx. Your interview is on April 27, 2015. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your interview notice by April 22, 2015, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request a copy of the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

I hope everyone get theirs very soon...I can see that most people from Portland office are approaching the end of the tunnel. Please for those having their interview at Porland office before ours, kindly share your experience...

Thank God for His faithfulness!

[KASH2011 382]

Ok so I’ve been meaning to write this for a while ago so here it goes,

Our interview was scheduled on February 27th at 8:30 in the Morning at Federal Plaza. Now that made me ###### my pants because we are usually send to the Queens Field office since we live in the NYC borough of Queens.

I read other posts saying that complicated or suspicious cases are send to Federal Plaza where the headquarters of USCIS and FBI are currently located. On top of that I also read that if they want to put you through a Stokes interview they arrange your interview on Friday mornings so that they have a lot of time to interrogate you :S

Anyhow, we arrived at Federal Plaza late. We got there at 8:20 and there was a huge queue outside waiting to go through security. We went up to the 8th floor where a pissed of lady told us that the guy that will interview us was dying to get a case so he’s waiting for us down at 4th floor. I immediately thought that this is gonna be a difficult interview because this guy has not got any cases to go through so he will have a lot of time to be proper and ask a million questions with us.

We went to the fourth floor and waited with other couples to be called. An american-asian guy came out, looked at my name, then found me in the waiting area WITHOUT calling my name and he pointed at me and then he was like “Snorlux?” (obviously snorlux is not my real name so the guy called my real name there). I was surprised on how easily he found my in the croud of people and called us in. He probably saw a lot of photos of us before the interview.

Walking into his office I saw a note on his door saying “Queens Field Office”. Apparently the queens field office was closed for renovation so they moved all cases to Federal Plaza. I was worried for nothing!

The officer asked us to stay standing, put us under oath and said that even if the conversation seems friendly at times, anything we say is considered to be under oath. He then asked us to sit down and told us that he will make questions to each one of us and when he does the other person should stay quite.

He then asked for our driver’s licences or state id cards. He then asked why our addresses are different and my wife told him that it’s our old address and her drivers licence was issued before we move. He said he understands. He then asked my wife how we met. By the way, my wife was the one telling me to stay calm during the interview and not worry about anything and everything will be fine and then when we went there she got all stressed. She told the officer how we met and how we were talking since we were 16 and then she goes “..and umm.. and then what happened?..” and I was like oh my god are you kidding me? She got all stressed couldn’t speak. Anyhow, the officer helped her, he was like how did you start speaking then after all these years? And that gave my wife something to talk about! Then the officer turned to me and asked me if we were living together before coming to the USA.

Then asked me my wife’s parents names, her date of birth, where she works, how much she makes, how often she gets paid, how often we pay our rent, how much is our rent and what’s our landlord’s names and surnames. She made the same questions, except the rent questions, to my wife.

He asked to see some bills or rental leases etc and he asked if he can keep a copy of our rental lease to which we said yes of course. We also had a joint account from the time when we were living together in Scotland, UK. Then she went through photos and saw some that we had in Philadelphia and he was like “oh did you go to philly? I’m from philly! Did you guys like it? My wife said she loved it and the officer was like are you saying this because I have not approved your case yet? And he joked around with that.

Then he turned to me and he told me so you entered on August 8th and got married on September 9th? I said yes. Then he suggested: “So you entered with the intention to get married and adjust status in the US!” to which i replied “No sir I had no intention to stay here when I entered the country! I guess the want to make this questions and receive an answer from us so that they are covered from their end.

He then turned to his computer and started typing stuff. He then turns to me and goes “Congratulations, I have approved your case. Since your marriage is under 2 years old I can only offer you a conditional 2 year green card and you can remove the conditions on it after 2 years”. Then he asked us if we are planning to travel abroad soon. I realised he was asking so that he can see whether we need a green card stamp. Because I knew about this from visajourney I immediately said that yes we are going to canada to which he replied when are you going? And I said we are going in 2 weeks. The officer then said ok then I can give you a temporary stamp that can act as your green card for now. Then he said after you receive your actual green card make sure you never use this stamp again and you only use the greencard to enter.

This was a nerve wracking experience but I was very thankful that we received an approval confirmation from the officer before leaving his office.

Thank you all for all the help and support you gave us this whole time and thank you VisaJourney for an excellent immigration forum platform. I also like the fact that even with different religions and different beliefs we all come together supporting each other in this forum and talking about “god” and “prayers” without mentioning which god we believe in which makes it clear that at the end of the day we are all the same and this is how we should act in our real lives too and not only on forums

Congrats!

FINALLY! On March 18 we were sent our interview notice and it arrived in the mail yesterday!!! We're scheduled for April 22. Can't wait!

Good luck!

FINALLY!

I'm so excited, This is what my case status says this morning:

Interview Is Scheduled

On March 23, 2015, we scheduled you for your interview and mailed you an interview notice for Receipt Number MSCxxxxxxxxxx. Your interview is on April 27, 2015. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your interview notice by April 22, 2015, please go to www.uscis.gov/e-request to request a copy of the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

I hope everyone get theirs very soon...I can see that most people from Portland office are approaching the end of the tunnel. Please for those having their interview at Porland office before ours, kindly share your experience...

Thank God for His faithfulness!

Good luck!

[gwrobles 1]

Just had our interview yesterday and was told that a decision would be mailed. Today I received an email and it says my

I-130 was approved. What does that mean?

[England2Wisco 13]

Any people who had a waiver notice got the GC yet?