Stokes Interview Approved

[rustylove18 6]

I just want to share with everyone my story and hoping this will help someone with the same situation. I am from the Philippines and overstayed my visa for almost 4 years. I married my USC wife last year and she petitioned me after 2 months of marriage . Everything went smoothly as planned, I had my bio metrics and the EAD and AP arrived accordingly on time After around 2 months we received our interview notice. The interview went well, we brought along our lawyer just in case, but unfortunately we did not get the approval right away. My lawyer was concerned about my answering too much with regards to my working without authorization and he just told us to wait for whatever comes in the mail.

After a month without receiving anything we went for an infopass but was told to wait for another 30-60 days and that they were very sure that we should get something in the mail during that duration. After around 5 weeks after the infopass we made, we recieved in the mail a SECOND INTERVIEW NOTICE, and based on my research it should be the dreaded STOKES INTERVIEW. I did a lot of reading about it and was pretty confident that we will pass it because this is a genuine marriage. I cannot imagine failing it unless this is a fake one, When the stokes interview started, the immigration officer explained to us all the legalities and told us everything is on videotape. She started with my wife for 1 1/2 hours and then me for 1 1/2 hours, and during that time me and my wife never saw each other, I think they made sure of that to avoid cheating, lol! When it was my turn, I just told myself just to tell the truth and just be honest if I cannot remember or don't know the answer. That is one good advice I want to tell anyone, just be confident and maybe review some important stuff about your relationship with your partner. I even forgot what I did during the holidays and what I gave her for her birthday which was just a month ago. They are very protective of the USC petitioner and played mind games with her. I had a very tough one, they dug up everything including how I got into the US and the circumstances surrounding it. I entered legally but overstayed. I reminded myself that this IO are all experts in psychology and that they will know how to squeeze the real from the fake. They are not investigators for nothing. Just be honest, remember this saying...The advantage of telling the truth is never to remember anything

At the end of the interview, we were again reunited with my wife with the IO. She explained to us that during the first interview that we had the IO then never had us sign the I-751 information (Release of Conditions) and that she would like us to sign it. I really thought we already got the approval by signing the document, because the document basically says that we read the conditions for a Conditional Green Card. My USC wife asked the IO if we got approved, and she said we are not yet approved because she has to type in everything and do this and that, and that was a heart breaker for me. We went home wondering what is the result of the stokes interview.

After 2 days, I checked my status online (I got a text message) and found out that my I 130 just got approved, that means they found the marriage to be credible. That was a good thing. The I-485 stayed the same(scheduled interview still) so that was still a disappointment but at least we got 50% for what we are praying for. After another 3 days, we received something in the mail, a very ordinary mail coming from the local USCIS office, my name on the envelope was even handwritten and I told myself, this might be another interview notice again or another useless paperwork because I expected like a machine generated copy from the USCIS for any formal communications. When my wife opened it (I was then already readying myself for another disappointment), it was the copy we signed about the conditional green card that will expire in 2 years, and that I got approved for Conditional Green Card as of 4 days ago. You just can't imagine how happy we were and told my wife to call our lawyer just to confirm everything, and yes! yes! yes! our lawyer said that was an approval.

I hope this will help someone in the same circumstance.

[Bajan_star88 0]

Congratulations!!!

[Pitaya 2,577]

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Edited March 6, 2016 by Pitaya

[Empress200735 6]

congratulations to you both, I am so pleased for you.

[ParisHeart 19]

Big congratulations to you and your wife.

[marianath 27]

Congratulations !!!

and i like what you said:

.The advantage of telling the truth is never to remember anything

[chimichanga 3]

What visa did you originally entered on? Can you please tell us what questions were asked in both the first and second interview? Congratulations!

[POM 21]

Congrats!

[KASH2011 382]

Congrats!

[rustylove18 6]

What visa did you originally entered on? Can you please tell us what questions were asked in both the first and second interview? Congratulations!

non-immigrant H4...overstayed