Visitor to AOS: Interview Experiences

[Autumnal 25]

I'll be looking forward to all the Canadians due soon! I know your fear -- I think all of us have it to some extent.

[anutka 0]

GOOD LUCK PEOPLE!!!!

and looking forward to read your experience on the interview

[thndrdancr 0]

Wow, an AOS tourist visa's r us thread! Cooool! and no bashing.

Ok guys, I know I took quite a while to post it, not sure how to put the thread here, but I just posted our experience in the AOS thread yesterday mornin, under "Our interview experience". Sorry I am not proficient enuff to post the thread.

Oh, and my hubby travelled on his AP no problem while AOS was pending. He was in status whole time, and immigration also told us no problem when we asked bout it.

[Autumnal 25]

Thank you! ^^

[Liz10976 0]

I also got married to my fiance while he was here on the VWP. We're using a lawyer (we'll see if he was worth it), and applied for AOS/EAD and I-130 all at the same time. We're still waiting! I'm glad to see there are others out there!

[bettenan 1]

Since there have been a few questions of it lately, can anyone please share their interview experiences for going from a visitor to the US (VWP, Canadian, etc.) and then using AOS to adjust status based on marriage? I've had two or three private messages about this, and I'm frankly curious myself.

Kezzie and clmarsh are two people I know that did this. Anyone else?

We adjusted from VW (expired). We did use a lawyer (with a great rep). The interview was a piece of cake. I asked (the lawyer) if the adjusting from out of status VW would be brought up in the interview. She told us it would not and it was not. We were not seperated nor asked questions about our relationship. We provided updated "proof of joint life together" in the form of HUD-1 for house we bought and 2005 tax return filed jointly. He was not interested in photos or much else. It was smooth and pleasant.

I've read about interviews that were grueling and I feel relieved that it was not the case for us. If they watched us for lovey-dovey behavior we would not have been approved....we (especially hubby) are not much into public displays of affections. We also did not have loads of photos.......hubby is a photographer & I hate having my pic taken..... so not many pics of us together.

Green card arrived less than two weeks later.

If anyone has more questions, feel free to PM or email me bettenan@yahoo.com

[Autumnal 25]

Yeah, a lawyer would make sense if you had an expired permit or such. I went ahead and filed with my husband without one, because our case was otherwise pretty bland and generic.

Interesting he wasn't much into the photos! We're sort of in the same boat; my husband is the one behind the camera and I'm the one usually trying to avoid being seen...

[ktun 0]

Yeah, a lawyer would make sense if you had an expired permit or such. I went ahead and filed with my husband without one, because our case was otherwise pretty bland and generic.

Interesting he wasn't much into the photos! We're sort of in the same boat; my husband is the one behind the camera and I'm the one usually trying to avoid being seen...

We consulted a lawyer over an RFE issue and found him good but didnt say anything we didnt already know, he was good for reassurance though. If we encounter any further problems we would use him again.

That's the problem with photos, normally we got places just the two of us, so one person have to take the pics while the other is the subject of the picture. We seem to have many pictures of us individually standing in front of things. ie. Me in front of one of the lions in Trafalgar Sq and then the same with him in it. We do have so good group family shots though from Christmas/trip to Chicago and last summer in England with his parents, brother, sister, nieces and nephews, and the ones in Chicago and England with my Mum and Dad, uncles, aunts, grandma etc. I dont like having my photo taken really either, especially since gaining weight, but we make a point now of asking waiters at restaurants or other people to take some of us both together.

And yes, Craig is the picture freak too, he just loves our digital camera, takes it everywhere we go, we end up with the most random pictures sometimes!!

[kahluagal 0]

Bumping because I promised to post my experiences at the interview but forgot ok, so here goes.

My experience was very much like bettenan - ours was a piece of cake as well, although ours didn't involve VW or laywer (although we did have one - our lawyer was just in NYC and didn't come for the interview, not that we would have needed him). Hubby and I were in the same room for the interview, interviewed by a very nice, competant professional interviewer. Great guy - must be a good judge of character. Asked us all the necessary questions and it must have been pretty obvious we are a legit couple... we had lots of ok evidence - no housing, joint taxes etc. but lots of the paperwork well organized. I created a binder and put sections of everything we were to show him. The letter you get regarding the interview and what to bring is what I used as our 'table of contents' - so I put everything in a separate plastic sheet protector thingy. It looked quite professional - if only our apt. was that neat and tidy

The entire interview was about 20 minutes if that - I offered to show him the pics I did in the wedding album I had been working on and he said, laughing, 'that's not necessary' but I showed him anyway and he could see we had a wedding album, a binder of our documents plus all our letters (categorized by year, phone bills, etc.). When he said, "oh my, is that all your supplimentary evidence?" when I brought it out of my bag, I kinda had a feeling things would go ok in the interview I think all the photos we had helped too - both of us with each other's families, plus we had photos where some of them were datestamped on the back. I think it's kind of a culmulative effect - binder of necessary docs + photos + letters + obviously affectionate but not too sappy couple + good interviewer = good interview.

Honestly, all that stressing out for nothing. I think it was that it's Government With A Capital G - the adults running things which kinda freaked me out. But we knew what to say (i.e. the truth!) and we were prepared. If anything, that's my advice for the interview (and for life, kinda) - be prepared, know your story and all is well. We really lucked out having a good interviewer as well. The card took about 3 wks. to get here but it's finally over - this emotional rollercoaster journey. whooooot! *insert many enthusiastic smilies here!*

thanks to everyone for any help you've provided. It's been one of the few ways I've been able to cope Good luck to everyone on their journeys...

Oh, and I'm another digital camera freak - yesterday I past by a bee's nest and my hubby was across the street, freaked out at how close I was getting in for a shot

[ktun 0]

Thank you very much for sharing your interview experience, and so pleased for you that it was easy and a positive outcome.

Kate

[notrepetiteashley 0]

You prolly read my post from our interview on April 11th, but I will state here that it was just fine.

The whole not having a passport or a stamp in the passport thing almost shot it, but it was approved.

I simply explained to the officer that I had looked on travel.gov and saw Canadians were NOT required to have passports to enter the US at the time we came through, which was 2003.

Anyway...it was easy. He said he could tell just by looking at us that we are a real couple, so he didn't even want to see pictures! It lasted like 10-15 minutes. Easy.

[Autumnal 25]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! And in a week and a day, mine will be up here.... O_O

[ChanelKitten 0]

Autumnal, your situation is much like mine, so I am very much looking forward to hearing your interview experience!

[antda 13]

Hi Autumnal,

Good luck on your immigration journey. Like you, I did the Visitor to AOS based on marriage thing from Canada too (hey, who knew that a two week vacation would turn into a lifetime here in the USA). In answer to your question about AOS interview experiences, our interview experience was (as quoted/written on my timeline):

"The I-485/AOS interview only took about 15 mins. Quick and simple, as they only asked my husband (D) and I (Ant) a few questions and then we showed them our evidence. I (Ant) was approved and my passport was stamped. The Green Card (though actually creamy white coloured, not green coloured) arrived by USPS the next week. And yes, it helped to have a good immigration lawyer in dealing with our case too."

Hope this helps.

Ant

Since there have been a few questions of it lately, can anyone please share their interview experiences for going from a visitor to the US (VWP, Canadian, etc.) and then using AOS to adjust status based on marriage? I've had two or three private messages about this, and I'm frankly curious myself.

Kezzie and clmarsh are two people I know that did this. Anyone else?

Edited March 3, 2007 by AntandD

[Kez/JWolf 6]

Why did you add this to a very old post.... its almost a year old...

Kez