November 2017 AOS

[Sarah_k92 112]

17 minutes ago, Morty92222 said:

I did and they just told me it's waiting to be scheduled but the status online says "Recieved" I don't know if that means the online status will go directly to interview scheduled or still go to "Waiting to be scheduled for an interview." Do I need my passport to be valid during my interview? Have you had yours yet?

Then it means you’re waiting for your local office to schedule you in. It’ll change once they are ready to see you. I had my interview and they just asked for ID so I handed my new passport. Nothing was looked at but the picture and name. You could ring your home country embassy for advice on renewing your passport early and getting it expedited. 

[aasupp 9]

***Reposting on this thread too***

 

 

Hello guys! Long time no posting! Well today was my GC Interview!!! Everything went smoothly...they only asked us regular questions (real name, parents name, DOB, place of birth...) and how we met, when we got engaged and when we married...then they proceeded to interrogate me about the questionnaire on the form I-485 (if I ever smuggled drugs, were arrested, were here illegally, was a communist, have ever commited treason, etc...) 

 

I got a big folder with a bunch or records and papers but he only requested the health records and immunization records that I didn’t submit, and he asked if I wanted to show him anything else, so I gave him the elegibility package I made (tax returns, health insurances, rental addendum) and also some wedding pictures. 

 

He said the interview was gonna take 45 min but I think it was shorter than that, prob like 30 min. After the interview he said that he approved me and that my GC should arrive by mail in two weeks! 

 

I received my interview notice on June 14 but didn’t check the mail until June 24  I didn’t check my case online bc since I had my EAD already I didn’t bother and for some reason I didnt get an email alert. 

 

My office is the Portland, OR office and I can’t believe everything has happened so fast! 

[Sarah_k92 112]

Also my update.....

Interview date: 10th July

 

My Husband and I went for our joint interview for AOS. Overall, it was fairly painless. We arrived early and sat in the waiting room for around 25 mins. A IO called my name which both my husband and I stood. She did not do separate interviews.

We entered the office and she asked for a copy of our marriage certificate (apparently missing from file) also asked for IDs. She then stated she was going to run through our application. Asked questions such as “ When did we get legally married and whether our families attended?, What is my full legal name?, What other names have I used?, Date of birth, Where I live and if I have room mates? My husbands full legal name, his date of birth and where he lives. She then asked if I have a job and made a few notes. She finally went through all the yes and no questions at the end of the application. That was it, she said your green card will be mailed within 2-4 weeks.

In and out within 20 mins! I had prepared a full binder worth of everything. Not even looked at.

The whole experience was fine, everyone was polite.

 

My case was updated online within 2 hours, GC was mailed within a week. 

 

Now I'm heading home for two whole weeks, stress free! 

 

Good Luck to those still waiting!!

[lms 50]

No updates from me regarding Interview. I assume it won't be any time soon, because I am in NYC. I will renew my EAD/AP soon and prepare for a 20month-24month total wait time. 

[Darcy_&_Oliver 1]

1 hour ago, lms said:

No updates from me regarding Interview. I assume it won't be any time soon, because I am in NYC. I will renew my EAD/AP soon and prepare for a 20month-24month total wait time. 

We're located in Baltimore and we're scheduled for our interview October 4th, I hope NYC isn't too far behind! Best of luck.

[valkener 0]

How are NOV filers interviews going? We filed at the end of NOV 2017 but no interview scheduled yet.

[Bibijaan 19]

9 minutes ago, valkener said:

How are NOV filers interviews going? We filed at the end of NOV 2017 but no interview scheduled yet.

Got my text and email notification that the interview has been scheduled last Monday 😄

[itsesther 1]

It's been a while since I was last here! Yesterday I got the "Case Was Approved" and "We ordered your new card" updates (for the i485)!

A little bit of background! When we first applied in Nov 2017 we were living in Florida (assigned to the New Orleans office), and I got my EAD card within 60 days (January 2018). After that, silence for like 7 months. We moved to NM in late July so we updated the address and basically within days our interview was scheduled! (Kudos to the Albuquerque office, they've been super efficient and helpful).

At the beginning of August we got the interview notice, scheduled for Sept. 10th. I hadn't had my medical done yet since we were afraid it was going to expire and unfortunately it was impossible for me to get an appointment on base on such short notice  We went to the interview knowing that they'd ask for the i693. The lady at the interview was super nice and sweet, she asked for the basics (passports, marriage certificate) and for the i693. She was going to approve our case on the spot until we told her I wasn't able to get my medical on time. She then gave us a RFE letter and told us she'd approve our case as soon as we mailed that in. We had a trip overseas planned for October, so she said we should wait to mail the i693 (if the case was approved my advance parole wouldn't work anymore). We came back from our trip, I mailed the i693 last Friday (18th), it was delivered on Monday (22nd) and Wednesday morning (24th) the case was approved and my card was ordered!

[Alex3344 10]

9 hours ago, Bibijaan said:

Got my text and email notification that the interview has been scheduled last Monday 😄

Also local LA person, got my text on Friday.  Now just waiting to see what the date is...

[ColoradoBeauty 79]

The wait is finally over !! 

Our interview was yesterday (10/25)

We arrived around 15 minutes before the appointment time in the NOA, had a long security line, got to the check in table around 5 minutes after the appointment time (listed in NOA), and got called by the interviewer around 10 minutes later. He seems middle age and very stern.  

He indicated where we need to sit and ask me (beneficiary) for passport, ID, and EAD. Then, asked my husband (petitioner) for ID. I forgot to put my phone on silent and it vibrated, so he asked that we turn our phones off else he will have to terminate the interview should it goes off the second time. 

 

First he went through the I-130 (page by page) with my husband 

Then, he turned to me and went through the I-485. Basically, putting a check mark on each answer that match the one I put in the form and adding corrections to the one that's obsolete or incomplete.  I made a mistake of not bringing my old passports, as stated in the NOA (All travel documents used to enter the United States, including Passports), fortunately that was not a deal breaker. 

Here are the questions he went through with me for the I-485 (with their corresponding numbers in the form):

Name (#1), other names (#2-4), DOB (#5), City of Birth (#7), addresses (#12), Last Arrival (#15 - 25), Additional Information (Part 3 #1), Address history (Part 3 #5 - 9) and who I lived with on each, Employment History (Part 3 #11 - 18), Parent's first names (Part 4 #1b and 9b), whether my parents like him, marital history (including husband's full name) and children, Biographic Information (Part 7), General Eligibility and Inadmissibility Ground (Part 8 ~15 questions), asked me to confirm my signature in the submitted form. The ones I remember changed after I sent the application was my last arrival information. Other than that, I did not write who I lived with at each address (not required in the form) and my speeding ticket history, so he put a side note on the form, calculated the number of changes and put the number in Part 13, then had me sign the form. 

 

He looked at my husband and asked how we met (including name of the website and how the website works) and how the relationship progressed. He asked when the idea of getting married was brought up, who proposed, where the proposal happened, and how it was done. I asked if I could correct the date my husband mentioned after he mentioned it while jokingly said my husband is horrible with dates and he let me correct the dates. He has gotten more friendly at this point.

He asked for additional evidences I brought in and I provided him with 24 photos (printed in set of 4 on 8.5" x 11" letter paper - 6 papers total), flight confirmation for our trips, joint tax return, credit card statement, and utility bills. He said he would take more should I brought other things.  He commented on the big weddings we had and my husband said we spent a lot of money on them, so he was curious if we happen to print the bill as evidence; I didn't. 

 

Then, he brought up how some fraud marriages are really simple and he got nervous when he saw my husband leaned back on his chair with crossed arms as the interviewer went through the I-485 with me.  He explained that he spent around an hour reviewing our forms last night and has yet to look through the entire package (I submitted). He will need to check other things online as well to make a decision and said the next day would be when he estimated to make the decision. Should he need more evidence or has further questions, he will send RFE or request us to appear for another interview. 

 

He also mentioned the way conditional green card works and suggested we start a folder for I-751, so we can store our joint bank statement quarterly, photos from trips, flights booking confirmations, financial information, future children information, etc. He mentioned they only do interview for I-751 cases either one day a week or per month, but basically it will get really stressful if we are not prepared and will take forever to get the permanent green card after being classified a fraud level that requires interview. 

 

The interview took around 45 minutes. After the interview, my case status was changed to "Interview was completed and my case must be reviewed". 

Today at 5:45 local time, I received a status update "New Card is being produced"  

 

Best of luck to everyone !! 

 

p.s. I didn't review my forms after I completed them last year and with the nervousness, there were a couple times where it didn't go smoothly (e.g. mixed my father's first and last name, provided the wrong second digit of my phone number, etc) 

[Bibijaan 19]

On 10/26/2018 at 3:12 AM, Alex3344 said:

Also local LA person, got my text on Friday.  Now just waiting to see what the date is...

We have a pretty similar timeline . I got the letter today, my interview is Dec 5.

[pajobra 1,395]

On 10/26/2018 at 10:58 PM, ColoradoBeauty said:

The wait is finally over !! 

Our interview was yesterday (10/25)

We arrived around 15 minutes before the appointment time in the NOA, had a long security line, got to the check in table around 5 minutes after the appointment time (listed in NOA), and got called by the interviewer around 10 minutes later. He seems middle age and very stern.  

He indicated where we need to sit and ask me (beneficiary) for passport, ID, and EAD. Then, asked my husband (petitioner) for ID. I forgot to put my phone on silent and it vibrated, so he asked that we turn our phones off else he will have to terminate the interview should it goes off the second time. 

 

First he went through the I-130 (page by page) with my husband 

Then, he turned to me and went through the I-485. Basically, putting a check mark on each answer that match the one I put in the form and adding corrections to the one that's obsolete or incomplete.  I made a mistake of not bringing my old passports, as stated in the NOA (All travel documents used to enter the United States, including Passports), fortunately that was not a deal breaker. 

Here are the questions he went through with me for the I-485 (with their corresponding numbers in the form):

Name (#1), other names (#2-4), DOB (#5), City of Birth (#7), addresses (#12), Last Arrival (#15 - 25), Additional Information (Part 3 #1), Address history (Part 3 #5 - 9) and who I lived with on each, Employment History (Part 3 #11 - 18), Parent's first names (Part 4 #1b and 9b), whether my parents like him, marital history (including husband's full name) and children, Biographic Information (Part 7), General Eligibility and Inadmissibility Ground (Part 8 ~15 questions), asked me to confirm my signature in the submitted form. The ones I remember changed after I sent the application was my last arrival information. Other than that, I did not write who I lived with at each address (not required in the form) and my speeding ticket history, so he put a side note on the form, calculated the number of changes and put the number in Part 13, then had me sign the form. 

 

He looked at my husband and asked how we met (including name of the website and how the website works) and how the relationship progressed. He asked when the idea of getting married was brought up, who proposed, where the proposal happened, and how it was done. I asked if I could correct the date my husband mentioned after he mentioned it while jokingly said my husband is horrible with dates and he let me correct the dates. He has gotten more friendly at this point.

He asked for additional evidences I brought in and I provided him with 24 photos (printed in set of 4 on 8.5" x 11" letter paper - 6 papers total), flight confirmation for our trips, joint tax return, credit card statement, and utility bills. He said he would take more should I brought other things.  He commented on the big weddings we had and my husband said we spent a lot of money on them, so he was curious if we happen to print the bill as evidence; I didn't. 

 

Then, he brought up how some fraud marriages are really simple and he got nervous when he saw my husband leaned back on his chair with crossed arms as the interviewer went through the I-485 with me.  He explained that he spent around an hour reviewing our forms last night and has yet to look through the entire package (I submitted). He will need to check other things online as well to make a decision and said the next day would be when he estimated to make the decision. Should he need more evidence or has further questions, he will send RFE or request us to appear for another interview. 

 

He also mentioned the way conditional green card works and suggested we start a folder for I-751, so we can store our joint bank statement quarterly, photos from trips, flights booking confirmations, financial information, future children information, etc. He mentioned they only do interview for I-751 cases either one day a week or per month, but basically it will get really stressful if we are not prepared and will take forever to get the permanent green card after being classified a fraud level that requires interview. 

 

The interview took around 45 minutes. After the interview, my case status was changed to "Interview was completed and my case must be reviewed". 

Today at 5:45 local time, I received a status update "New Card is being produced"  

 

Best of luck to everyone !! 

 

p.s. I didn't review my forms after I completed them last year and with the nervousness, there were a couple times where it didn't go smoothly (e.g. mixed my father's first and last name, provided the wrong second digit of my phone number, etc) 

Congrats on the GC. Thanks for the detailed Interview Experience in Denver. My husband and I have our interview coming up there on November 8th. We are driving up the night before and staying overnight. I am soooo nervous. I have everything in a binder that I have collected but still I worry.

[ColoradoBeauty 79]

4 hours ago, pajobra said:

Congrats on the GC. Thanks for the detailed Interview Experience in Denver. My husband and I have our interview coming up there on November 8th. We are driving up the night before and staying overnight. I am soooo nervous. I have everything in a binder that I have collected but still I worry.

Thank you, fellow COS resident!  Best of luck for the interview! I hope my detailed interview experience could lessen your worry.

As your relationship is real, don't worry too much, your job is simply to make the officer aware of that. Be natural when you tell your story (how you met, proposal, etc) just like when you are talking to a friend.

Be sure to review the I-485 and I-130, so you don't have to worry about forgetting little details (like me lol).

 

 

[Newcron 6]

Hello all. I never actually posted in this thread, but I've been following it closely as a fellow November 2017 filer.

 

Having submitted my concurrent filing of I-140, I-485, I-765 and I-131 on November 6, 2017, the total amount of days until my AOS was approved is 352 days, so the whole process took just about exactly one year for me.
 

For this process I went through the EB2-NIW route (adjusting from F1). I'm not sure if my timeline would be useful to many people here, as for some reason I don't see many, if any, EB filer here, with most of you doing family based petitions. But nevertheless, here's my timeline:

 

November 6, 2017 Concurrent filing I-140, I-765, I-131, I-485 
December 15, 2017 Finger printing at Milwaukee office (day #39)
May 4, 2018 EAD/combo card received (day #179)
May 6, 2018 I-140 approved (day #181)
June 8, 2018 Notice - I-485 case transferred to National Benefit Center (day #214)
September 9, 2018 Notice - Interview is scheduled (day #316)
October 23, 2018 I-485 interview at Milwaukee office (day # 351)
October 24, 2018 I-485 approved (day #352)
October 31, 2018 green card received (day #359)

 

Hopefully that helps someone. Overall the process went through relatively smoothly. I do use services from a law firm to help out with all the preparation. The hardest part for me is the waiting (of course), particularly for the EAD card, which I didn't receive until the end of April, right about the 6-month mark after I submitted my petitions.

 

Congratulations for those of you who have received your green card, and good luck for those who are still waiting. You will get there, soon!

[valkener 0]

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Edited November 5, 2018 by valkener