AOS Interview

[Mike and Adriana 0]

My wife and step-daughter just received their I-797 with their AOS appointment date/time. Unfortunately, they will both be in Colombia on that date. My wife's mother is having two back surgeries in June and my wife, the only daughter, is going done to care for her. Thus, my first question.....how difficult is it to obtain an alternate interview date? The I-797 gives an 800 number to call...which I will do on Monday....but I want to know if a change in date is a normal request...or if I should expect some difficulty. My only alternative is to spend about $1,000 to fly them back for 2 days....assuming they can get away.

My second question has to do with the Orlando Service center. The I-797 says to bring a translator if the beneficiary is not fluent in English. My wife and step-daughter are not fluent in English and, while I speak enough Spanish to communicate with them fine, I am definitely not good enough to translate for an interviewer. Given that Florida has so many Hispanics, I'm almost suprised that a Spanish translator is necessary. Anyone have any experience with the Orlando Service Center? Do they have interviewer who speak Spanish? Or is bringing a translator a necessity, even for Spanish?

Any observations or experienes would be appreciated.

Mike

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Lots of view, but no replies. I'm going to bring this to the top one more time to see if anyone has experience with 1) changing appointment dates and 2) the translator issue.

Thanks,

Mike

[athena_ny 1]

My wife and step-daughter just received their I-797 with their AOS appointment date/time. Unfortunately, they will both be in Colombia on that date. My wife's mother is having two back surgeries in June and my wife, the only daughter, is going done to care for her. Thus, my first question.....how difficult is it to obtain an alternate interview date? The I-797 gives an 800 number to call...which I will do on Monday....but I want to know if a change in date is a normal request...or if I should expect some difficulty. My only alternative is to spend about $1,000 to fly them back for 2 days....assuming they can get away.

My second question has to do with the Orlando Service center. The I-797 says to bring a translator if the beneficiary is not fluent in English. My wife and step-daughter are not fluent in English and, while I speak enough Spanish to communicate with them fine, I am definitely not good enough to translate for an interviewer. Given that Florida has so many Hispanics, I'm almost suprised that a Spanish translator is necessary. Anyone have any experience with the Orlando Service Center? Do they have interviewer who speak Spanish? Or is bringing a translator a necessity, even for Spanish?

Any observations or experienes would be appreciated.

Mike

I have no experience with Orlando, BUT even in areas that are heavily populated with Latinos, you cannot expect that you IO will be fluent in the language. While they very well may be, you should bring a translator just so your interview doesn't go awry when your wife and step daughter can't understand.