interview questions

[jasmhook 0]

Hi guys,

 

So my wife (applicant) and I (petitioner) are applying for an AOS from her student visa to a spousal Green Card.

 

We sent in the application and we're now at the "Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview" phase and are waiting for the appointment notice.

 

I have a few points about our marriage that I wanted your advice on how to address if they come up in the interview.

 

1. We have wedding rings but no engagement ring, and neither of us really proposed to the other. We sort of just decided to get married in January 2017 and then actually did it in April 2017. I'm not really rich or anything so my wife wouldn't let me get an engagement ring. (I asked because I wanted her opinion on what to buy since I have bad taste in jewelry, and she just told me not to get anything.) I mean I have a good paying job, but I also have student loans. What should we say about it if it comes up? I've read many scary articles online that all interviewers ask about the proposal and that it's a huge event so we should have a definitive answer on it..

 

2. We didn't have any wedding guests and we don't really have any friends who know both of us. We spend all our time together at home, sometimes going out, but not often (and she has no job so she doesn't meet too many people). It's always been like this since college, we're two indoor recluses (gamers) and we've always hung out alone in a dorm or now, alone in an apartment, for like 4 years now. Will they ask about our lack of guests at the wedding or our general lack of friends? 

 

What we do have: a cat, utility bills in both our names, our names on our rental agreement, wedding rings (no engagement though), a few pictures of us (we dont go out much but we have maybe one/two picture per year and a few more this year, as well as wedding photos taken on her iPad, and we sent these with our application), our student IDs showing we went to the same college, her being covered under my health/dental/vision insurance, her as a beneficiary on my life insurance.

 

What do you guys think? We've lived together in our current apartment for like over a year now, so I'm confident in our ability to tell where the microwave is in relation to the sink and that the floor is mostly carpet but tiled in some places, but some example questions bug me.

[Ortolan 381]

The rings don't really matter; we just had gold bands, and that was plenty for us :). You might want to include holiday cards, if you have them, that are addressed to you both; also, you can go online and find "living wills" you can fill out for each other and get notarized. That'll help too. Good luck!

[puppalo 5]

It shouldn't be a big deal. We eloped, didn't have engagement rings, and our wedding rings were like $20 from amazon. They look at the totality of the situation - it sounds like you're about the same age, have shared interests, have lived together (and are currently), and most importantly, have some evidence of financial commingling (not required at this point but helpful).

 

They will probably ask why your wife isn't working, or what she's doing instead. Having trouble finding a job, stay at home mom, etc., are all acceptable answers. I assume she knows what you do for a living - they will probably ask.

 

You don't absolutely need it now, but it will certainly help, and it will make life easier in a couple years when you convert her two-year green card to a ten-year green card, if you start commingling finances. They will want to see this then. Beneficiary on life insurance, on health insurance, both on leases/mortgage/car title are all good. I would also add a joint bank account that you use as the primary one, authorized user on credit cards, beneficiary on retirement accounts, etc. Living will/healthcare power of attorney is good too.

 

Some of the information about Stokes questions on the site is out of date - it seems like everyone gets some of this type of question now. If our interviewer suspected fraud, he certainly didn't show it, and we got some of this type of question. The interview was pretty conversational, just asking about where we lived, pets, etc. Basic stuff like is it an apartment or a house, not "how many floor tiles between the toilet and the shower." The interviewer did insert one kind of laughable trying to trip me up question about our dog (we don't have one). None of the ridiculous stuff you read online about whether we use plain Colgate or Colgate total or date of last menstruation.

[Cathi 5,795]

Engagement ring is a non-issue and it sounds like you have a good amount of evidence. Just try to relax during the interview, even though that's easier said than done, and answer all of the questions honestly.  My husband came on a CR-1 interview and I attended his interview at the consulate,  the CO asked me more questions than he asked my husband. There was a question I didn't know the answer to, I was honest and told the CO I didn't know and he didn't make an issue of it. My best advice is to be honest. Good luck and keep us updated.

[worrywart22 0]

You shouldn't worry about this at all... my husband and I were in a similar situation as you and the only thing they examined was how much we knew about each other. They don't care about how much money you spent on weddings and rings. We are gamers too and we showed the interviewer paintings that I did with us as League of Legends characters and she loved it, got approved on the spot. It was a really relaxed and pleasant experience.