March 2017 AOS Filers

[Dini90 0]

I just got my interview appointment yesterday, will be on December 14. My filling date was March 10!   New Orleans office! 

[Goodluckeveryone 42]

Does anyone here has any experience with the change of address?? Does that delay the process?

[sheenita 17]

On 11/4/2017 at 10:25 AM, Dini90 said:

I just got my interview appointment yesterday, will be on December 14. My filling date was March 10!   New Orleans office! 

Congratulations!

 

i am still waiting

filed March 17.

RFE May 5

[sheenita 17]

3 hours ago, Goodluckeveryone said:

Does anyone here has any experience with the change of address?? Does that delay the process?

I changed address too, but i dont know if it affects the process. I remember when we filed for K1, we also changed address but it didnt affect my timeline 

[SparklePony 238]

We changed addresses in the midst of of the K2 AOS and there were no issues at all.

[Goodluckeveryone 42]

27 minutes ago, sheenita said:

I changed address too, but i dont know if it affects the process. I remember when we filed for K1, we also changed address but it didnt affect my timeline 

 

13 minutes ago, SparklePony said:

We changed addresses in the midst of of the K2 AOS and there were no issues at all.

Well then lets just hope for the best

[Apfel 46]

We had our infopass appointment today and it was really good news! The officer told me I worry too much (very true) and that Iranians are not taking longer than anyone else. He said our case is just waiting to be scheduled for an interview and there is a large backlog due to many applications recently. Our status has been on RFIE received since April and we have called and put a service request online, but neither time did they tell us any of this information.

 

We also asked about traveling internationally and what would happen if our interview is scheduled for a time we are gone. He said we can request a new interview if that happens. We have an international trip scheduled for January, I know others wouldn't risk it, but he has AP and the travel ban says people who already have re-entry visas are OK. We are willing to take the risk, I haven't heard of any Iranian spouse with advance parole being denied entry, but we will have attorney contact information in case there is an issue.

[Shushulsan 32]

6 hours ago, Apfel said:

We had our infopass appointment today and it was really good news! The officer told me I worry too much (very true) and that Iranians are not taking longer than anyone else. He said our case is just waiting to be scheduled for an interview and there is a large backlog due to many applications recently. Our status has been on RFIE received since April and we have called and put a service request online, but neither time did they tell us any of this information.

 

We also asked about traveling internationally and what would happen if our interview is scheduled for a time we are gone. He said we can request a new interview if that happens. We have an international trip scheduled for January, I know others wouldn't risk it, but he has AP and the travel ban says people who already have re-entry visas are OK. We are willing to take the risk, I haven't heard of any Iranian spouse with advance parole being denied entry, but we will have attorney contact information in case there is an issue.

 

Thanks for the update. But if I were you, I would not consider their answers at face value. USCIS is known to give contradictory and often times, false answers to confuse applicants. In the past I have been given 4-5 different answers for one question.

 

My best wishes for you.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Shushulsan

[Denis & San 72]

Just wanted to let you guys know that we had our AOS interview yesterday at the San Fernando Valley office here in Los Angeles CA.  We arrived 20 min. early to our appt. My wife and daughter were asked for their Employment authorization card to match the interview appointment notice and then we were given a number to be called for the interview.  We were called in by a woman immigration officer about 15 min later.  She did ask my wife if she understood English.  If not, she would see if there is an officer there that could translate Vietnamese, or see if there's anyone in the waiting room that could translate.  Otherwise, we'd need to reschedule.  My wife said that she understood as long as she was speaking slowly.

After sitting down in her office, she took pictures of my wife and our stepdaughter with her webcam.  She asked for our ids..driver licenses.  She then asked if we had originals of the birth certificates, passport, marriage certificate, divorce decrees and of my naturalization certificate.  ( I am a US Naturalized citizen).  I totally forgot about bringing my naturalization certificate and didn't think about bringing it with me since I'm the US citizen and brought my US passport with me.  She asked why didn't I bring it?  I just answered that I totally forgot about it.  She didn't say anything at that point.  I thought for sure she was going to reschedule the interview for missing that.  Anyways, she didn't and went on and inspected the original documents.  She basically compared the originals to the copies I had submitted with the AOS packet.  It was all in front of her and she would mark in red little notes to the copies in the packet.  She was curious as to why the date of my first divorce was different from the original I had.  I told her I wasn't sure.  It was still in the same month, but different date. She asked if she could keep the original and I said sure..keep whatever you want (didn't want to make thing difficult as it was).  

She also asked for the social security numbers of my wife and step-daughter and wrote them down on the application.  

Then she started asking questions to my wife about how she met me, how many times did I visit her, who the father of the child is and where he lived.  She then pointed to me and asked who I was and my birthdate.  Asked her if she's ever been to the US before.  While asking the questions, she was writing our answers on a piece of paper.  She then went over the packet and started asking her questions about the criminal section of the application such as had she ever been arrested, was she ever part of the Communist party etc...  On a few questions, my wife didn't quite understand so I had to tell her in English the meaning of it.  Like she asked if she was ever arrested...she didn't understand the word arrested, so I asked her in English, "Have you ever gone to jail?", and she said no.  The immigration officer was sort of smiling.  She did ask her one more time if she needed a translator and my wife said maybe.  I told her are you sure? (I didn't want a translator cause I didn't think we'd find one and we'd have to reschedule).  So my wife said..just speak slowly.  Finally she turned to our daughter and she asked her who's this? (pointing at me). And my daughter answered "Daddy".  My wife said step-daddy (NOOOO!!) but then the immigration officer said that it was ok...it was good for her to call me daddy (which she does at home).  So I think that sealed it for us.

She also looked at my tax transcripts and asked if I had the full form of tax year 2016.  I said no..I only brought my tax transcripts.  She said the reason is because on the tax transcript, it showed 4 lines of dependents even though there were no names and social security numbers there.  I told her no, it was only me and sometimes my daughter who I get to claim every other year.  She looked at it again but didn't say anything else.  Probably because I make good money and that even if there were 10 dependents, I'd still qualify to be a financial support for the application.  

She then asked if we had any other proof of our relationship... So I handed to her our joint bank account statements (she asked for our bank cards...I handed her mine but my wife didn't bring hers), life insurance showing being a beneficiary, my company health insurance summary showing them as dependents, join lease agreement with both of names on it, and pictures since she's been in the US.  She looked at them and pointed out one picture of us attending a high school graduation and she asked who that was in the picture with us.  My wife answered that it was my daughter (from a previous marriage).  

At this point, she then said, based on what she sees, there is no reason why my wife and daughter wouldn't be able to get a green card.  She said she would approve my daughter on the spot but then it would take 2 days to run another background check on my wife to make sure nothing has come up since the filling of the application.  And then after that, they would be getting their green card in about 2-3 weeks.  She did gave us a tip that for the removal of conditions (which is for the 10 year green card) that if we submitted every month of the joint bank statements since getting her 2 year green card, that there would likely be no interview when we applied for the 10 year green card.  Basically submit everything that we can to bypass the interview. I think I put everything that I can remember of what happened at the interview. Probably forgot some minor details.

I apologize for the detailed summary of our interview, but all in all, it took about 30 minutes for the interview.  To sum it up, bring all the originals of any documents you have...birth certificates, divorce decree, marriage certificate, naturalization certificate (if you became a US citizen via naturalization) and passports. Make sure you bring the actual Tax forms that were submitted to the IRS and not the tax transcripts that was sent with the AOS package in case they have any questions because it's much more detailed than the transcripts.  

Apart from that, it was nerve wrecking especially since we didn't have a couple of documents that she was asking about but it was a good experience as she was very nice with our daughter afterwards and joking with her.

 

[AzoTBG 4]

On 11/4/2017 at 10:25 AM, Dini90 said:

I just got my interview appointment yesterday, will be on December 14. My filling date was March 10!   New Orleans office! 

Around what time your online status changed? I am also in New Orleans, PD is March 6. Still waiting.

Anybody else in NO?

[strider4 43]

10 hours ago, Apfel said:

We had our infopass appointment today and it was really good news! The officer told me I worry too much (very true) and that Iranians are not taking longer than anyone else. He said our case is just waiting to be scheduled for an interview and there is a large backlog due to many applications recently. Our status has been on RFIE received since April and we have called and put a service request online, but neither time did they tell us any of this information.

 

We also asked about traveling internationally and what would happen if our interview is scheduled for a time we are gone. He said we can request a new interview if that happens. We have an international trip scheduled for January, I know others wouldn't risk it, but he has AP and the travel ban says people who already have re-entry visas are OK. We are willing to take the risk, I haven't heard of any Iranian spouse with advance parole being denied entry, but we will have attorney contact information in case there is an issue.

I'm also traveling at the end of December and trying not to worry too much. I had the same concern of having our interview scheduled while we will be away but I don't think it's likely in my case since we are April filers (sent our package end of March and it was received in April, which is why I followed both threads  ) . I was hoping to ask is there some kind of form where you provide attorney contact information or is just in case they ask for it and you provide it? Thanks in advance and good luck  Hopefully all of us waiting will receive positive news by end of January.   Also, I see you reside in California, is your local office in the bay area? SF is moving pretty slow.

[Apfel 46]

2 hours ago, strider4 said:

I'm also traveling at the end of December and trying not to worry too much. I had the same concern of having our interview scheduled while we will be away but I don't think it's likely in my case since we are April filers (sent our package end of March and it was received in April, which is why I followed both threads  ) . I was hoping to ask is there some kind of form where you provide attorney contact information or is just in case they ask for it and you provide it? Thanks in advance and good luck  Hopefully all of us waiting will receive positive news by end of January.   Also, I see you reside in California, is your local office in the bay area? SF is moving pretty slow.

There’s no form for attorney information but I want to have it in our phones just in case we have to call someone if there is an issue upon reentry! Our local office is in Southern California, the cases are taking about 9 months according to the online processing times 

[Ariii 7]

3 hours ago, Denis & San said:

Just wanted to let you guys know that we had our AOS interview yesterday at the San Fernando Valley office here in Los Angeles CA.  We arrived 20 min. early to our appt. My wife and daughter were asked for their Employment authorization card to match the interview appointment notice and then we were given a number to be called for the interview.  We were called in by a woman immigration officer about 15 min later.  She did ask my wife if she understood English.  If not, she would see if there is an officer there that could translate Vietnamese, or see if there's anyone in the waiting room that could translate.  Otherwise, we'd need to reschedule.  My wife said that she understood as long as she was speaking slowly.

After sitting down in her office, she took pictures of my wife and our stepdaughter with her webcam.  She asked for our ids..driver licenses.  She then asked if we had originals of the birth certificates, passport, marriage certificate, divorce decrees and of my naturalization certificate.  ( I am a US Naturalized citizen).  I totally forgot about bringing my naturalization certificate and didn't think about bringing it with me since I'm the US citizen and brought my US passport with me.  She asked why didn't I bring it?  I just answered that I totally forgot about it.  She didn't say anything at that point.  I thought for sure she was going to reschedule the interview for missing that.  Anyways, she didn't and went on and inspected the original documents.  She basically compared the originals to the copies I had submitted with the AOS packet.  It was all in front of her and she would mark in red little notes to the copies in the packet.  She was curious as to why the date of my first divorce was different from the original I had.  I told her I wasn't sure.  It was still in the same month, but different date. She asked if she could keep the original and I said sure..keep whatever you want (didn't want to make thing difficult as it was).  

She also asked for the social security numbers of my wife and step-daughter and wrote them down on the application.  

Then she started asking questions to my wife about how she met me, how many times did I visit her, who the father of the child is and where he lived.  She then pointed to me and asked who I was and my birthdate.  Asked her if she's ever been to the US before.  While asking the questions, she was writing our answers on a piece of paper.  She then went over the packet and started asking her questions about the criminal section of the application such as had she ever been arrested, was she ever part of the Communist party etc...  On a few questions, my wife didn't quite understand so I had to tell her in English the meaning of it.  Like she asked if she was ever arrested...she didn't understand the word arrested, so I asked her in English, "Have you ever gone to jail?", and she said no.  The immigration officer was sort of smiling.  She did ask her one more time if she needed a translator and my wife said maybe.  I told her are you sure? (I didn't want a translator cause I didn't think we'd find one and we'd have to reschedule).  So my wife said..just speak slowly.  Finally she turned to our daughter and she asked her who's this? (pointing at me). And my daughter answered "Daddy".  My wife said step-daddy (NOOOO!!) but then the immigration officer said that it was ok...it was good for her to call me daddy (which she does at home).  So I think that sealed it for us.

She also looked at my tax transcripts and asked if I had the full form of tax year 2016.  I said no..I only brought my tax transcripts.  She said the reason is because on the tax transcript, it showed 4 lines of dependents even though there were no names and social security numbers there.  I told her no, it was only me and sometimes my daughter who I get to claim every other year.  She looked at it again but didn't say anything else.  Probably because I make good money and that even if there were 10 dependents, I'd still qualify to be a financial support for the application.  

She then asked if we had any other proof of our relationship... So I handed to her our joint bank account statements (she asked for our bank cards...I handed her mine but my wife didn't bring hers), life insurance showing being a beneficiary, my company health insurance summary showing them as dependents, join lease agreement with both of names on it, and pictures since she's been in the US.  She looked at them and pointed out one picture of us attending a high school graduation and she asked who that was in the picture with us.  My wife answered that it was my daughter (from a previous marriage).  

At this point, she then said, based on what she sees, there is no reason why my wife and daughter wouldn't be able to get a green card.  She said she would approve my daughter on the spot but then it would take 2 days to run another background check on my wife to make sure nothing has come up since the filling of the application.  And then after that, they would be getting their green card in about 2-3 weeks.  She did gave us a tip that for the removal of conditions (which is for the 10 year green card) that if we submitted every month of the joint bank statements since getting her 2 year green card, that there would likely be no interview when we applied for the 10 year green card.  Basically submit everything that we can to bypass the interview. I think I put everything that I can remember of what happened at the interview. Probably forgot some minor details.

I apologize for the detailed summary of our interview, but all in all, it took about 30 minutes for the interview.  To sum it up, bring all the originals of any documents you have...birth certificates, divorce decree, marriage certificate, naturalization certificate (if you became a US citizen via naturalization) and passports. Make sure you bring the actual Tax forms that were submitted to the IRS and not the tax transcripts that was sent with the AOS package in case they have any questions because it's much more detailed than the transcripts.  

Apart from that, it was nerve wrecking especially since we didn't have a couple of documents that she was asking about but it was a good experience as she was very nice with our daughter afterwards and joking with her.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to have mine at the same office by the end of the month. 

[SparklePony 238]

5 hours ago, Denis & San said:

She did gave us a tip that for the removal of conditions (which is for the 10 year green card) that if we submitted every month of the joint bank statements since getting her 2 year green card, that there would likely be no interview when we applied for the 10 year green card.  Basically submit everything that we can to bypass the interview.

I sent my ROC package recently, and one of the things I included was bank statements from both our joint checking and savings account, since we got married until now, one per quarter. I hope it's enough.

[Dini90 0]

7 hours ago, AzoTBG said:

Around what time your online status changed? I am also in New Orleans, PD is March 6. Still waiting.

Anybody else in NO?

 

7 hours ago, AzoTBG said:

Around what time your online status changed? I am also in New Orleans, PD is March 6. Still waiting.

Anybody else in NO?

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