Upcoming Interview - Questions - Separate Finances

[alborosie8090 17]

Hi there,

My husband and I have our AOS / Greencard interview coming up in a few weeks. A few questions as we are organizing what to bring.

- They send a letter with a checklist with is mostly self-exclamatory, so we are organizing everything in a binder labeled as needed (Immigration Documentation, Marriage Documentation, Evidence, etc.) - do I need to bring two of these so I have copies of everything in case they take it? It would be a lot of work (what isn't a lot of work in this process), but my understanding is they can take what they want and I know this is just the beginning of the process and we want to have copies of everything we've ever submitted, correct?

- One line asks "All documentation establishing your eligibility for Lawful Permanent Resident Status." - This seems vague to me as everything else they are requesting in the list seems to encompass that line. Am I missing something in specific they are asking for here? They ask separately for marriage certificate, petitioner's birth certificate, passports, travel documents showing legal entry into U.S., we have a copy of our K1 submission, etc etc - is that what they mean?

- Evidence of bona fide marriage - We have joint rental agreement, joint insurance (car/renters/health), joint tax return from last year, joint utility bills addressed to both of us, etc. Also plenty of photos, wedding announcements and photos, and photos of trips since then. We do not have joint bank accounts or joint credit cards, as a personal choice, as we are very different in how we manage our finances and keeping them separate limits conflict and stress. I know some people are going to have their opinions on this, I've ton plenty of reading on these boards that joint bank accounts should be a "given" in an immigration marriage, but I think the rest of the co-mingling should be sufficient, shouldn't it? Has anyone else had an interview and not had joint bank accounts?

Part of me is confident that immigration shouldn't be able to dictate how we choose to do our finances in our marriage and we have plenty of evidence to show how we live as a family unit and co-mingle, but the other part of me is still scared they may question this. I suppose we could go open a joint savings account and put something in it before our interview on the 2nd, but I think that may raise just as many eyebrows since we are just opening one now. Any thoughts on this? Again, the rational side of me thinks we have plenty to suffice, but I also still have a lot of anxiety about it.

- Medical Examination and I-864 -- we already sent both of these in when we mailed in our I-485. Obviously could not make a copy of the medical examination as that needed to be sealed, so no copy of that, but I have copy of I-864. I am also planning on bringing an updated letter from my employer and recent pay stubs as my pay has increased, and we will bring our tax return from last year, too. Has anyone else already sent in the Medical Examination and had an issue at interview?

I know this is a lot, so I thank you all in advance for sharing your experiences + responses.

[juand25 2]

We just got our interview last tuesday and got approved. We did not have a joint account or even joint taxes, you can explain at the interview how you guys handle your finances. We did have a credit card together, also costco and kohls card accounts in our names. As long as you can prove with pictures and other documents it should not be a problem.

They usually know when it is a real relationship. best of luck!

[juand25 2]

we also sent our medical I864 with our Aos package. They usually have the full file at the interview of everything you sent them, but we also brought a copy of everything we sent , just in case they would say we did not send something.

[alborosie8090 17]

We just got our interview last tuesday and got approved. We did not have a joint account or even joint taxes, you can explain at the interview how you guys handle your finances. We did have a credit card together, also costco and kohls card accounts in our names. As long as you can prove with pictures and other documents it should not be a problem.

They usually know when it is a real relationship. best of luck!

Thank you! That makes me feel a lot better. Yes, deep down I feel like I shouldn't be too worried, once they meet us and talk to us I'm sure it will all be super evident, but you read some horror stories on here so I always get a wee irrational. Thanks again for sharing your experience and congrats on your approval!!

we also sent our medical I864 with our Aos package. They usually have the full file at the interview of everything you sent them, but we also brought a copy of everything we sent , just in case they would say we did not send something.

You didn't have copies of the medical though, right? My understanding was this needed to be sealed by doctor and sent so that is how we did it, so there wasn't a way to make copies. Did you go to your doctor's office and ask for your own copy afterward?

We have copies of everything else (K1 Visa package, AOS package, etc.) - just not the medical forms.

[Pitaya 2,577]

Hi there,

My husband and I have our AOS / Greencard interview coming up in a few weeks. A few questions as we are organizing what to bring.

- They send a letter with a checklist with is mostly self-exclamatory, so we are organizing everything in a binder labeled as needed (Immigration Documentation, Marriage Documentation, Evidence, etc.) - do I need to bring two of these so I have copies of everything in case they take it? It would be a lot of work (what isn't a lot of work in this process), but my understanding is they can take what they want and I know this is just the beginning of the process and we want to have copies of everything we've ever submitted, correct? We put the original documents in plastic page-savers, and made color laser photocopies of all originals. They could easily compare the original vs. the copy and retain the copy for their records.

- One line asks "All documentation establishing your eligibility for Lawful Permanent Resident Status." - This seems vague to me as everything else they are requesting in the list seems to encompass that line. Am I missing something in specific they are asking for here? They ask separately for marriage certificate, petitioner's birth certificate, passports, travel documents showing legal entry into U.S., we have a copy of our K1 submission, etc etc - is that what they mean? It is not necessarily vague, however, it can be encompassing, see below.

- Evidence of bona fide marriage - We have joint rental agreement, joint insurance (car/renters/health), joint tax return from last year, joint utility bills addressed to both of us, etc. Also plenty of photos, wedding announcements and photos, and photos of trips since then. We do not have joint bank accounts or joint credit cards, as a personal choice, as we are very different in how we manage our finances and keeping them separate limits conflict and stress. I know some people are going to have their opinions on this, I've ton plenty of reading on these boards that joint bank accounts should be a "given" in an immigration marriage, but I think the rest of the co-mingling should be sufficient, shouldn't it? Has anyone else had an interview and not had joint bank accounts? The IOs realize that most couples filing for AOS are just starting out, often don't have a lot of bonafide marital evidence. Take what you have.

Part of me is confident that immigration shouldn't be able to dictate how we choose to do our finances in our marriage and we have plenty of evidence to show how we live as a family unit and co-mingle, but the other part of me is still scared they may question this. I suppose we could go open a joint savings account and put something in it before our interview on the 2nd, but I think that may raise just as many eyebrows since we are just opening one now. Any thoughts on this? Again, the rational side of me thinks we have plenty to suffice, but I also still have a lot of anxiety about it. See below.

- Medical Examination and I-864 -- we already sent both of these in when we mailed in our I-485. Obviously could not make a copy of the medical examination as that needed to be sealed, so no copy of that, but I have copy of I-864. I am also planning on bringing an updated letter from my employer and recent pay stubs as my pay has increased, and we will bring our tax return from last year, too. Has anyone else already sent in the Medical Examination and had an issue at interview? Likely not an issue, you already submitted with AOS application.

I know this is a lot, so I thank you all in advance for sharing your experiences + responses.

We took the statement about "all documentation establishing eligibility" as all inclusive. and took every shred of paper that we had accumulated thus far throughout our immigration journey. Good thing we did, the IO asked to see my previous divorce decree, a copy of which I had previously submitted with the initial Form I-129F. I was able to show the IO the original in the plastic page saver, and gave them a color laser copy. That likely saved a possible RFE and likely delay in processing. (He could have asked for anything.)

The IOs realize that at this stage of your marriage, you likely do not have a lot of bonafide marital evidence, take what you have, and show what you have in progress. Don't be overconfident about what USCIS can and cannot do with regards to your finances. It would be wise to start now to collecting your bonafide marriage evidence for the ROC process. At that time USCIS will want to see ALL bonafide marriage evidence since the inception of the marriage. Suggest that you get a paper filing box, and start putting any and all paperwork, cards, letters, statements, etc., that may be useful to you as marital evidence for the ROC process. In our ROC process, we ended up submitting close to ten (10) pounds of paper evidence to support our claim of a bonafide marriage. Lately, USCIS can, and has been very particular about marital evidence.

In retrospect, the AOS processes, applications and interview, were not too overwhelming, The ROC process can be intrusive, quite lengthy, and unduly rigorous. YMMV.

Good luck on your AOS and you immigration journey.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Pitaya

[juand25 2]

Thank you! That makes me feel a lot better. Yes, deep down I feel like I shouldn't be too worried, once they meet us and talk to us I'm sure it will all be super evident, but you read some horror stories on here so I always get a wee irrational. Thanks again for sharing your experience and congrats on your approval!!

You didn't have copies of the medical though, right? My understanding was this needed to be sealed by doctor and sent so that is how we did it, so there wasn't a way to make copies. Did you go to your doctor's office and ask for your own copy afterward?

We have copies of everything else (K1 Visa package, AOS package, etc.) - just not the medical forms.

Thanks. The Civil surgeon made a copy of The medical form for us to keep. the original forms he sealed in the envelope. Also remember that your medical form expires I think after a year, so if by The time the interview comes it had expried, they may ask you to do it again. But yeah don't worry, All the people at the immigration office we went were super nice, and if your is also real it will go easy and quick. They do separate couples into different offices when they have suspicion of Fraud. so relax, and just organize your file and whatever you are taking which most likely they will not even look at. I brought a ton of papers and was only asked for our passports, my birth certificate, and 2 questions, then just the legal question if you are going to be a good resident etc.. anyways good luck .

[alborosie8090 17]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to provide an update and answer my own questions should anyone stumble on this in the future. I'm happy to share we were approved yesterday! Our appointment was a very pleasant experience despite how nervous I was. We started by swearing an oath and the officer went through all of the information we sent in with our original application. She went through and verified all of the information was correct, asked my husband a series of yes or no questions, and also asked about employment / if he had a SS card / etc. Then she moved onto the evidence portion which basically the only thing we had originally mailed in was our certified marriage certificate and photos of the wedding as well as our apartment lease for evidence. She asked if we had any other evidence we wanted to submit so that is when we shared our updated lease, auto insurance, health insurance, tickets showing trips we took to visit my family and just on our own as well as photos, a bill with both of our names on it + showing our current address, as well as our tax transcript from last year showing we filed jointly. She was happy to take this and add it to the file and was pleased we were prepared and brought the additional evidence in.

Afterward she let us know we were approved on the spot and asked if we had any questions at all and went over the future process (2 year conditional green card, we'll get a letter when we need to submit everything for ROC, etc etc). Super nice and very helpful. When we were in the waiting room we noticed a lot of people had lawyers and got a little nervous, so at the end we asked about that and she more or less said some people chose to have them, some don't, but really it is just all of our information and is necessary - she actually even said nice job for doing it all on our own which felt good.

Anyway, nothing but positive things to say about the interview and she said we should have the green card via mail in 2 to 6 weeks. Yay!

[juand25 2]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to provide an update and answer my own questions should anyone stumble on this in the future. I'm happy to share we were approved yesterday! Our appointment was a very pleasant experience despite how nervous I was. We started by swearing an oath and the officer went through all of the information we sent in with our original application. She went through and verified all of the information was correct, asked my husband a series of yes or no questions, and also asked about employment / if he had a SS card / etc. Then she moved onto the evidence portion which basically the only thing we had originally mailed in was our certified marriage certificate and photos of the wedding as well as our apartment lease for evidence. She asked if we had any other evidence we wanted to submit so that is when we shared our updated lease, auto insurance, health insurance, tickets showing trips we took to visit my family and just on our own as well as photos, a bill with both of our names on it + showing our current address, as well as our tax transcript from last year showing we filed jointly. She was happy to take this and add it to the file and was pleased we were prepared and brought the additional evidence in.

Afterward she let us know we were approved on the spot and asked if we had any questions at all and went over the future process (2 year conditional green card, we'll get a letter when we need to submit everything for ROC, etc etc). Super nice and very helpful. When we were in the waiting room we noticed a lot of people had lawyers and got a little nervous, so at the end we asked about that and she more or less said some people chose to have them, some don't, but really it is just all of our information and is necessary - she actually even said nice job for doing it all on our own which felt good.

Anyway, nothing but positive things to say about the interview and she said we should have the green card via mail in 2 to 6 weeks. Yay!

Congrats! keep an eye on the mail, i got mine 6 days later.