May 2017 AOS Filers

[oguzksk 25]

Hello

 

we did the interview today. The interesting part was they only took my wife inside not both of us. Interesting right. He asked when we got married date of birth mother names etc. He also asked those yes no questions to my wife. The interview took less than 10 minutes. My wife doesn’t speak English so it could take longer. After that he said to my wife thank you and she was out. He did not say anything. He was pretty nice and calm. 

 

Is is this mean yes we are approved. This was very interesting. At the first time I thought we are going to be interviewed one by one . I don’t care but the interviewer said you are good to go. 

 

How long does it take to know if my application approved . 

[Wiz_Fit 26]

Just got our interview date!

 

Apparently, our change of address did not take effect that we did online as it still went to our old address and then was forwarded here. Kind of worried about that now.

 

 

Question/confirmation - so I know after 2 years we can do the removal of conditions after 2 years, but the waiting time for this interview(It's been 18 months since we filed) does this time count? I am tired of applying for Visa's when we want to go somewhere is the only reason I am ready for her to get further into the process for her US passport. Waiting 18 months, just to start the 2-year wait for removal, then another year to apply for citizenship kind of sucks.

[oguzksk 25]

2 minutes ago, Wiz_Fit said:

Just got our interview date!

 

Apparently, our change of address did not take effect that we did online as it still went to our old address and then was forwarded here. Kind of worried about that now.

 

 

Question/confirmation - so I know after 2 years we can do the removal of conditions after 2 years, but the waiting time for this interview(It's been 18 months since we filed) does this time count? I am tired of applying for Visa's when we want to go somewhere is the only reason I am ready for her to get further into the process for her US passport. Waiting 18 months, just to start the 2-year wait for removal, then another year to apply for citizenship kind of sucks.

Removal is 10x easier. Nothing special. No interview etc unless you are divorced. Most applicants send this documents via usps and receive their green cards. If it takes longer you get a temp stamp at the uscis office

 

so don’t worry about removing conditions on your card. It is not important. 

 

But it we all lost 15 months citizenship process. 2019 we all could apply for citizenship. That’s what we lost. 

[Wiz_Fit 26]

1 minute ago, oguzksk said:

Removal is 10x easier. Nothing special. No interview etc unless you are divorced. Most applicants send this documents via usps and receive their green cards. If it takes longer you get a temp stamp at the uscis office

 

so don’t worry about removing conditions on your card. It is not important. 

 

But it we all lost 15 months citizenship process. 2019 we all could apply for citizenship. That’s what we lost. 

 Sorry confused about the steps. I know removal is 2 years after but can be waived if it takes 2 years to get your interview for family-based adjustment. If we are approved at the end of the month after our interview, do we have to wait 2 years(Novemenber 2020) to remove conditions, then 2021 to apply for citizenship? Or does the 18th months we already waited for our interview count towards that 2 year time frame?

 

[oguzksk 25]

No it can not be waived. We all have to wait 3 years for the citizenship. I am in the same boat. I have to wait 3 year after you got my green card.  Also you don’t know when you will get it. Not everybody gets their card in two weeks after the interview. Some folks wait more than 5 months after the interview. Of course it is case by case but still. 

 

I did did my interview today and it is was weird. They called only my wife not me. Very simple questions. However still there is no any update yet. We don’t know when they will issue the green card. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by oguzksk

[Orangesapples 1,954]

1 hour ago, Wiz_Fit said:

 Sorry confused about the steps. I know removal is 2 years after but can be waived if it takes 2 years to get your interview for family-based adjustment. If we are approved at the end of the month after our interview, do we have to wait 2 years(Novemenber 2020) to remove conditions, then 2021 to apply for citizenship? Or does the 18th months we already waited for our interview count towards that 2 year time frame?

 

No, if at the time of approval you're married for more than 2 years, you get a 10-year card, if you're married for less than 2 years (even by a day) then you get a 2-year card and you'll have to remove conditions in 2 years. 

[Wiz_Fit 26]

1 hour ago, oguzksk said:

No it can not be waived. We all have to wait 3 years for the citizenship. I am in the same boat. I have to wait 3 year after you got my green card.  Also you don’t know when you will get it. Not everybody gets their card in two weeks after the interview. Some folks wait more than 5 months after the interview. Of course it is case by case but still. 

 

I did did my interview today and it is was weird. They called only my wife not me. Very simple questions. However still there is no any update yet. We don’t know when they will issue the green card. 

Gotcha ok. So maybe we get stuck waiting 6 more months and we get our 2-year conditions waived from the first approval. I see what you mean now though, the removal isn't a short-cut to citizenship, its just the conditions. It would just be 3 years without conditions vs 2 years with + 1 year without. So really it doesn't matter, even if we got conditions removed we would still wait 3 years total from approval.

 

 

Actually have a friend now who abandoning her petition due to issues with removal of conditions because they denied it twice and she is tired of lawyer's fees. Not sure why though. Im waiting for details on that.

[Wiz_Fit 26]

11 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

No, if at the time of approval you're married for more than 2 years, you get a 10-year card, if you're married for less than 2 years (even by a day) then you get a 2-year card and you'll have to remove conditions in 2 years. 

Gotcha that makes sense.

 

From time of approval, 3 years we can file for citizenship from what I understand? If we get conditions, we have to do removal after 2 years then can do citizenship 1 year after that(3 years from initial approval.)

[Orangesapples 1,954]

33 minutes ago, Wiz_Fit said:

Gotcha that makes sense.

 

From time of approval, 3 years we can file for citizenship from what I understand? If we get conditions, we have to do removal after 2 years then can do citizenship 1 year after that(3 years from initial approval.)

Yes, correct, just keep in mind that the window for applying starts 90 days before the 2 years are up and you should definitely send your application before the 2 years are up. 

[Lupigirl 67]

Just got our interview date!

 

Apparently, our change of address did not take effect

On 11/1/2018 at 11:13 AM, Wiz_Fit said:

Just got our interview date!

 

Apparently, our change of address did not take effect that we did online as it still went to our old address and then was forwarded here. Kind of worried about that now.

 

First of all, congrats on the interview notice!  We have our interview tomorrow and it’s been 18 months since filing as well.

 

Our notice went to our old address too.  And what’s weird is that after I changed our address online (and mailed in the sponsor change of address form) I called and verified they had the correct address on file.  And I called USCIS a few times after that to ask questions, and every time I called they asked me to give personal information to verify my identify. Including my address! 

 

It makes me wonder if the interview notices are prepared long before they send them, in our case, before we moved (in July).  

 

Anyway, I will bring it up at the interview tomorrow and see if there’s anything else I can do to make sure the green card is sent to the proper address.

[Wiz_Fit 26]

3 hours ago, Lupigirl said:

Just got our interview date!

 

Apparently, our change of address did not take effect

First of all, congrats on the interview notice!  We have our interview tomorrow and it’s been 18 months since filing as well.

 

Our notice went to our old address too.  And what’s weird is that after I changed our address online (and mailed in the sponsor change of address form) I called and verified they had the correct address on file.  And I called USCIS a few times after that to ask questions, and every time I called they asked me to give personal information to verify my identify. Including my address! 

 

It makes me wonder if the interview notices are prepared long before they send them, in our case, before we moved (in July).  

 

Anyway, I will bring it up at the interview tomorrow and see if there’s anything else I can do to make sure the green card is sent to the proper address.

Congratz!

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Let us know how it goes and what all you end up taking.

[Lupigirl 67]

I’ll write a detailed review later, but our interview this morning went very well and I got approved for my 2 year green card!

[Wiz_Fit 26]

3 hours ago, Lupigirl said:

I’ll write a detailed review later, but our interview this morning went very well and I got approved for my 2 year green card!

Congrats!! On the spot!?

 

Please do! As well as everything you took in, we're going to renew her medical exam this week so hoping we get an approval there and not the wait for our reply. 

[Lupigirl 67]

1 minute ago, Wiz_Fit said:

Congrats!! On the spot!?

 

Please do! As well as everything you took in, we're going to renew her medical exam this week so hoping we get an approval there and not the wait for our reply. 

Thank you!  

 

We arrived 30 minutes early and waited maybe 10 minutes past our appointment time.  Security and check in went smoothly, with everyone being very friendly and helpful.  As we waited, we observed about 10 other couples getting called in, some called together, others separately.  I got nervous when I saw some couples getting separated but when our turn came we got called in together.

 

Our officer was very nice and made us feel comfortable.  She asked us to sit and produce our ID’s.  I had to have my photo taken and fingerprints recorded again.  Then she had us stand and take our oath.  She asked us to sit again and asked if we had any questions before we began.  I told her I wanted to verify our address since the interview notice had been sent to our old address.  She checked and found that our address had been updated everywhere except in one place, so she changed it.  Hopefully it’s truly fixed now!

 

She started by asking my husband (US citizen) his name and date of birth, current place of employment and whether he was born in the States.  Then she asked him how we met and whether he’d been to Canada to visit me.  She asked him when we decided to get married and how he proposed, where we got married and who came to the wedding.  After that, she switched to questioning me, just the same basic questions and when I arrived in the States, had I ever left the country and had I been married before.  She then asked me the Yes No questions from the application (have you ever been involved in drug trafficking, etc). 

 

All her questions were more like a conversation, not adversarial at all.  Once we completed that part, she asked if we had supporting documents.  We had brought A LOT of stuff.  I mean, way more than I saw anyone else bring.  All she asked for specifically was our tax return and bank statements/utility bills.  We also gave her copies of our apartment lease and phone bills.  At that point she stopped us and said she had enough.  It was barely a quarter of what we brought.  

 

Then she asked if we had any photos, which I was happy about because I love our wedding pictures:).  She looked through all our photos, commenting on some of them and when I told her we had more from trips and family events, she looked through all those too.  Didn’t keep any though.  

 

At that point she told us she was recommending us for approval and gave us a letter with the approval box checked off.  She explained that we should keep everything we had brought today since we would need it all again for the ROC application, but that I would likely get citizenship before I got the 10 year green card if I wanted to become a citizen.

 

We both got teary eyed and she said it was a happy day for us:)

 

So glad to have it finally done! 

 

 

[Wiz_Fit 26]

12 hours ago, Lupigirl said:

Thank you!  

 

We arrived 30 minutes early and waited maybe 10 minutes past our appointment time.  Security and check in went smoothly, with everyone being very friendly and helpful.  As we waited, we observed about 10 other couples getting called in, some called together, others separately.  I got nervous when I saw some couples getting separated but when our turn came we got called in together.

 

Our officer was very nice and made us feel comfortable.  She asked us to sit and produce our ID’s.  I had to have my photo taken and fingerprints recorded again.  Then she had us stand and take our oath.  She asked us to sit again and asked if we had any questions before we began.  I told her I wanted to verify our address since the interview notice had been sent to our old address.  She checked and found that our address had been updated everywhere except in one place, so she changed it.  Hopefully it’s truly fixed now!

 

She started by asking my husband (US citizen) his name and date of birth, current place of employment and whether he was born in the States.  Then she asked him how we met and whether he’d been to Canada to visit me.  She asked him when we decided to get married and how he proposed, where we got married and who came to the wedding.  After that, she switched to questioning me, just the same basic questions and when I arrived in the States, had I ever left the country and had I been married before.  She then asked me the Yes No questions from the application (have you ever been involved in drug trafficking, etc). 

 

All her questions were more like a conversation, not adversarial at all.  Once we completed that part, she asked if we had supporting documents.  We had brought A LOT of stuff.  I mean, way more than I saw anyone else bring.  All she asked for specifically was our tax return and bank statements/utility bills.  We also gave her copies of our apartment lease and phone bills.  At that point she stopped us and said she had enough.  It was barely a quarter of what we brought.  

 

Then she asked if we had any photos, which I was happy about because I love our wedding pictures:).  She looked through all our photos, commenting on some of them and when I told her we had more from trips and family events, she looked through all those too.  Didn’t keep any though.  

 

At that point she told us she was recommending us for approval and gave us a letter with the approval box checked off.  She explained that we should keep everything we had brought today since we would need it all again for the ROC application, but that I would likely get citizenship before I got the 10 year green card if I wanted to become a citizen.

 

We both got teary eyed and she said it was a happy day for us:)

 

So glad to have it finally done! 

 

 

Awesome!! So happy for you guys!!  That doesn't seem to bad at all. Our appointment is at 8 am and an hour and a half away. We planned to get there about 15 minutes early. Hopefully, that's enough. The letter we got asked for some things that we didn't even send with our initial application. Such a letter from my employeer current rate of pay and hours, which I was just going to take updated pay stubs but now wondering if I need to ask HR for this? Im a salaried employee and pay stubs would show this.

 

For evidence we plan to take:

 

Bank statements in both our names

Last home sell document which has both of our names on it

Our new home contract which has both names on it

Loan application for our new home in both our names

Current lease agreement in both our names

Auto, home and health insurance showing both of our names

Forms showing her as the primary beneficiary for myself for all benefits

Pictures from our wedding here and there

Flight stubs from trips together

 

Hoping that's enough

 

How would you get citizenship before 10-year green card? I thought you applied for those at the same time(3 years after approval of this?)