AOS Interview Questions! (Marriage Based)

[Jun2580 27]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Stokes is certainly not normal, any reason they would have suspicions?

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

[geowrian 22,337]

1) Same-sex has nothing to do with it.

2) Not a reason for a stokes interview...the public charge concern is a separate issue.

3) This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

[Jun2580 27]

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

1) Same-sex has nothing to do with it.

2) Not a reason for a stokes interview...the public charge concern is a separate issue.

3) This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

 

1) Yeah I want to hope that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated the same way in immigration. But USCIS officers are also human beings with all kinds of emotions and opinions, and I dont think everyone is in favor of same sex marriage. You know what I mean? So I think it can be possible that some officers who are against it might unconsciously treat same-sex couples more strictly than opposite-sex couples. 

 

3) Yeah this could be it, but the thing is, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of me at the USCIS interview waiting room, and they all got separated too. and I doubt all of them used the same lawyer as we did. and so I think separated interview is what they do here regardless. 

And I still don't understand why she refused to take photos if she needed the proof of bona fide marriage.

[Prof_Q 9]

It says under Filed For that you were under F1 status. Perhaps they also wanted to know that your marriage is genuine and that you're not using it to stay in the US. 

[Jun2580 27]

4 hours ago, Prof_Q said:

It says under Filed For that you were under F1 status. Perhaps they also wanted to know that your marriage is genuine and that you're not using it to stay in the US. 

I believe that a lot of couples do that though. 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

OP what country is the foreign spouse from?

[Marcelina 246]

9 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

When you said "looking over paperwork with the couple together", are you saying, normally the couple won't get separated?  If that's what you meant, that is not necessarily true. My lawyer had told me in advance that almost all couples my lawyer had seen in his clients got separated in this USCIS. It is located in Louisville Kentucky.

When I got there, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of us, and they all got separated too! Always the US spouse got called in first, and then after 10-20 min, the international spouse got called in.

In general couples with more complicated situations seek lawyer help regarding AOS so I’m not surprised most of your lawyer clients got separated during interview.

 

But thanks for sharing your experience and GL! It will be alright

Edited October 27, 2018 by Marcelina

[Kentucky123 7]

We had an AOS interview (from K1) in Louisville KY last week. We didn't get separated. We didn't use a lawyer. 

 

[NYCruiser 423]

11 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

I can chime in here. We are a same-sex couple too AND he is from a homophobic country (much much less so than other countries though).

We are no AOS interview and no I-751 interview. I know of two other couples as well. Their AOS interview was two questions in total each. They had both been together for 7 and 10 years together respectively. 

 

Not sure if these questions are normal or not. I KNOW for certain my spouse would have flunked many of these questions....wow!!. He is not a detail orientated person. I am the detained one....:-(

Edited October 27, 2018 by NYCruiser
Added

[NYCruiser 423]

3 hours ago, Marcelina said:

In general couples with more complicated situations seek lawyer help regarding AOS so I’m not surprised most of your lawyer clients got separated during interview.

 

But thanks for sharing your experience and GL! It will be alright

We used a lawyer for the K1 petition process. That was because he got his B2 refused three times and we were worried. 

[Jun2580 27]

5 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

OP what country is the foreign spouse from?

I'm the beneficiary and I'm from Japan. My lawyer even told me japanese people usually have it done easily cuz Japan isn't in the list of red flag countries. 

 

[Mrsjackson 300]

12 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

Sorry you felt hurt but don’t worry about that. A lot of officers tell people they don’t want to see their photos. That’s really common and nothing to take personally. 

 

Did you enter into your marriage for the right reasons and not for immigration purposes? If yes, then don’t freak out. Stay calm and interact with immigration in a composed manner. Just because it appears they suspect something wrong doesn’t mean they’ll come to that conclusion. If you haven’t done anything wrong it will likely work out. Focus on the next step and staying on track. Good luck! 

[little immigrant 801]

Thank you for sharing and please update once you get approved. 

[smilingsoul 3]

I don't think it's normal.

 

My husband (USC) and I (beneficiary) interviewed this week and we didn't get separated (I approached the officer by myself when my name was called. I asked him if my husband should come together and he said yes). Our questions were very basic, just about our personal info, my history in the US, and whether we have kids and what are each other's birthdays. And at the end he explicitly said "I will give you green card" and "congratulations". Another couple interviewed on the same day in the same office had very similar experience as we did. 

 

Even though my online status has never changed after the interview.... I think yours is not very normal compared to what I heard about.

[ajay007 43]

14 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

 

1) Yeah I want to hope that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated the same way in immigration. But USCIS officers are also human beings with all kinds of emotions and opinions, and I dont think everyone is in favor of same sex marriage. You know what I mean? So I think it can be possible that some officers who are against it might unconsciously treat same-sex couples more strictly than opposite-sex couples. 

 

3) Yeah this could be it, but the thing is, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of me at the USCIS interview waiting room, and they all got separated too. and I doubt all of them used the same lawyer as we did. and so I think separated interview is what they do here regardless. 

And I still don't understand why she refused to take photos if she needed the proof of bona fide marriage.

This is the main cause of stressful or stokes interview only your lawyer. This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.