March 2017 AOS Filers

[arc1993 10]

2 hours ago, Abhi138 said:

Which is your local office

Fresno, CA. But the address on the envelope is NBC

[Kim&Gary 15]

On 9/7/2017 at 8:24 PM, ausmad said:

Totally didn't realise this whole thread was here... would have been so helpful in all that time waiting haha
Anyway, received my green card in the mail today! Filed March 29th  
Good luck all! Hopefully you hear good news soon x

Congrats! Mine is also March 29th but my case is not moving.

[britontherun 35]

Tampa, Florida here... anyone heard of USCIS moving or cancelling upcoming interview dates because of IRMA? We have a date coming up on the 28th.

[arc1993 10]

1 hour ago, britontherun said:

Tampa, Florida here... anyone heard of USCIS moving or cancelling upcoming interview dates because of IRMA? We have a date coming up on the 28th.

When you got your interview notice, did you receive a second page with instructions on what to bring if you were ever arrested?

 

[britontherun 35]

Just now, arc1993 said:

When you got your interview notice, did you receive a second page with instructions on what to bring if you were ever arrested?

 

Yes

[arc1993 10]

13 minutes ago, britontherun said:

Yes

They are referring to the applicant only, right? Not the USC?

[CezSheena 10]

What questions were you asked at your green card interview? We go to ours tomorrow. 

[CezSheena 10]

On 9/12/2017 at 1:20 PM, arc1993 said:

Fresno, CA. But the address on the envelope is NBC

We are Fresno too!

[arc1993 10]

12 minutes ago, CezSheena said:

We are Fresno too!

Oh cool! I see your interview is tomorrow. Good luck and please let me know how it goes. Ours is on Oct. 11.

[CezSheena 10]

On 8/25/2017 at 8:09 PM, Ariii said:

Hey, I received my notice today and it says the same thing... I came on K1 and did my medical last year. What did you do in this case ? Thank you 

We have our interview tomorrow. I will update after! Fingers crossed we don't  need it! 

[CezSheena 10]

Green Card approved. My Case Status updated less than 2 hours later to card production.

Ours was because the vaccinations were in question, but we alleviated that by resubmitting a sheet of paper.

She said that it is sometimes sent out to inform you IF you go over a year.

 

The lady we had Ms Harrison was very friendly. (She was the supervisor)

Not really much in the way of questions and such, just going over our forms making sure they were filled out the same still.

 

Took no longer than 30 minutes.

 

For the Fresno couple - don't park at the parking meters. 2 hours max wait. We were in there for 2.5 hours ish and got ticketed. And its a pain to walk out and back in.

[arc1993 10]

43 minutes ago, CezSheena said:

Green Card approved. My Case Status updated less than 2 hours later to card production.

Ours was because the vaccinations were in question, but we alleviated that by resubmitting a sheet of paper.

She said that it is sometimes sent out to inform you IF you go over a year.

 

The lady we had Ms Harrison was very friendly. (She was the supervisor)

Not really much in the way of questions and such, just going over our forms making sure they were filled out the same still.

 

Took no longer than 30 minutes.

 

For the Fresno couple - don't park at the parking meters. 2 hours max wait. We were in there for 2.5 hours ish and got ticketed. And its a pain to walk out and back in.

Congratulations!!!! 🎊 Thanks for the heads up. We'll park somewhere else.

 

[Babigau 42]

 

Had the interview yesterday. Our application was was approved & card was ordered on the spot.

 

Here's some detail on the experience which I hope will help you plan for yours, should you have an interview.

 

Los Angeles Downtown Office

Appointment time 715 am

 

Entry & Check-in

 

Arrived at 615 am, we lined up behind 3 early birds. 

By 645 am there were perhaps 500 people lined up around the corner and out of view.

At 7am officers split out the lines so that the earliest appointments were taken first, retaining the order of the line.

We were in first in the 715am line, which itself had a count of about 100.

Lines were split further to utilize two entrances & security centers concurrently.

They were very well organized to say the least.

 

Security was what you'd experience at an airport. After repacking our stuff we immediately went upstairs to our assigned floor and room. The Office was a large waiting room with plenty of seating and a small children area with about 6 processing windows. Check in was as simple as a greeting and handing over the interview form at the first window.

We then sat for a bit before being called for the beneficiary to have another photo taken then we were both called, greeted then invited into the interview suite by our interviewer. On our way photocopies were taken of some original documents then we were invited into a small office for the interview.

 

The Interview ~ 45 minutes

 

The officer was polite and genuinely interested in how we were feeling. In front of us on an office desk lay our i-130 i-485 (including i-693 and i-864) and i-765 packets, now bound on as a single 3 inch slab with pages well worn. 

 

First we went through the i130 (probably not relevant in a K-1 but I'd recommend taking your approved I-129) and confirmed the details were all correct and still valid.

Next was the I-485; we ran through the details of the petitioner and beneficiary then the officer asks for responses on all of the I-485 Part 3 Yes/No answers, followed by the remainder of the application. Neither the I-693 (Medical) nor the 864 (Affidavit of Support) were reviewed in the interview. The officer made a note that they had reviewed all documents prior to our interview.

 

The officer then asked us to give a background on our story, from before we first met to the present.  We also were asked about our wedding, who was there etc; whether my wife had been to my home country, to which she described her two visits, one of which prior to engagement. It really seemed just like a conversation you'd have with a new neighbor or a social event.

 

The officer then wanted see any new supporting evidence since filing, should it be available. The interest was essentially focused on evidence of joint documents.

Given our original packet was extremely thorough & it had only been 6 months since filing we didn't really had much to add. So we noted this then moved to work through the various documents we had submitted:

- Joint lease, bank account, car insurance, life insurance (separate but being each other's beneficiary), flights, wedding receipts, photos.

 

While we didn't review every supporting document we had far more than what you'd consider reasonable.

This is where the additional copy of your packet comes in very handy as you can help the officer work through the original packet to locate each item.

While the original packet had filing labels on everything, table of contents for the whole and for each form & supporting documents and filing labels the packet was a bit different at the interview. All sticky labels had been removed and some items were out of order in a trivial way, but enough so you'd be in a bit of bother figuring things out if you didn't have a copy. The interviewer asked about more recent tax returns however we had submitted 2016 as a joint application in the original packet so we reviewed that together.

 

Still we were able to supply some items not included in our original packet 

- Additional bank & paypal transactions from the time we have known each other

- A photocopy was taken of our car insurance card that has both our names on it

- Honeymoon photos

 

The officer indicated he would approve the case and order the card immediately. Several minutes passed in complete calm and we got the confirmation with an approval letter printed on the spot indicating the card has been ordered. Case status updates followed as we drove away from the office.

 

My thoughts

 

It is a privilege to become a permanent resident of any country. I am happy with the process and understand that the USCIS departments across the country work on processing millions of documents per year.  We feel lucky to have been blessed with a 6 month time frame and an approval. 

 

My advice

Be punctual and prepared:

- Arrive very early

- Ensure you have exactly what is asked for on the interview notice

- Take copies of everything you have submitted to USCIS.  Do not assume the packet you submitted is complete at your interview nor in order. Mistakes happen and the packet is thoroughly examined at NBC and your local office.

- Print quality photos of yourself with context that supports your case. Photos with family, friends, wedding, holidays, whatever

- Bring any new supporting evidence that is became available since submission. This can include affidavits of support, evidence of travel/accommodation together & tax returns

- It is OK to be nervous

- For those about to submit use thick paper stock. They loved it.

 

If you're late don't abandon your hope. Turn up regardless of how late you are or if you've left supporting material behind. An RFE is far preferable to re-submission.

 

Thoughts are with you all and I hope this interview experience helps. If you have questions please ask.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Babigau
missed something

[T_P 872]

14 hours ago, CezSheena said:

Green Card approved. My Case Status updated less than 2 hours later to card production.

Ours was because the vaccinations were in question, but we alleviated that by resubmitting a sheet of paper.

She said that it is sometimes sent out to inform you IF you go over a year.

 

The lady we had Ms Harrison was very friendly. (She was the supervisor)

Not really much in the way of questions and such, just going over our forms making sure they were filled out the same still.

 

Took no longer than 30 minutes.

 

For the Fresno couple - don't park at the parking meters. 2 hours max wait. We were in there for 2.5 hours ish and got ticketed. And its a pain to walk out and back in.

Congrats on your GC. I was looking your timeline and saw that you received your EAD fairly fast, did you expedite it or it was trough the normal waiting process?

[T_P 872]

@Babigau what a great summary. Thanks a lot for that, I'm sure it will help not only myself but lots of other people as well. Enjoy your "new" life.