I hope this helps...

[noraliz73 243]

Someone sent a message to me asking how our experience at the interview went.  I responded and then thought it might ease people's mind if I reported this info to anyone who was curious.  First of all, it took about ten months to get the interview...  Our interview was in Philadelphia.  We only waited 5 minutes to be seen.  The place was organized and not full of scary "detention officers" or whatever one would think from watching the news.

Here is what I answered to the message:

They saw us promptly.  Make sure you have a $20 bill to park.  It was not intimidating.  Of course, I talk to groups for a living.  I started by telling her we closed on our first home the day before and she asked to see the documents.  I gave them to her.  I gave her the address and she googled the house and looked at Trulia at all the photos.  It was just like we were having a conversation because neither of us is shy with people.  I usually store my photos on my phone on Google Photos, and I pay for a photo book every year.  I bought a photo book of our first year a couple of weeks ago and brought that and the one from last year that had photos with us in Egypt with his family.  This year's photo book had lots of photos of him with my kids and mostly my son Nolan and I.  There was one photo in regular clothes outside New Haven City Hall with the caption that we had just gotten married and that Nolan took the photo.  We did not have a wedding.  If she had asked, I would explain that my family lives in MA and I had already used most of my vacation time to go to Egypt to visit his family and to attend the immigration interview.  MA has a 3 day waiting period and I did not want to take all that time off from work.  Also, since he was not allowed to work, we just could not afford a wedding.  And, my kids were in school and I am fat and do not like dresses and it is my third marriage and on and on.  At age 43, we did not really care about a wedding, just about making a life together.  We had photos of going to Asbury and a beach in the Poconos, going to Eastern State Penitentiary and going to the amusement park.  Also walking our pet bird.  Just daily stuff.  She looked at our photo album and asked who various people were.  She was a little bit curious about his brother and sister-in-law because his brother has a beard and his wife was wearing all black and was covered.  It was not a big deal.  She asked for his birth certificate and mine, as well as our prior marriages and why they did not work out.  She asked about my children and made me write down their names and dates of birth.  He took a photo and got fingerprinted and the lady went over all of the questions that were already answered on the application.  You should not wear jeans and a tee shirt, but I think a suit and tie is not necessary.  Maybe like you are going to a nice upscale restaurant, but not a wedding or something.  People had lawyers and suitcases of papers, but I don't know what their circumstances were.   The lady was polite and not super formal or anything.  Just be yourself and be honest.  He checked that night and the USCIS computer thing was updated saying the card was being produced and he received it 8 days later.  That result is not typical, however.  They may do further security checks for people or sometimes they mail things and do not update the computer.  Remember all of us who never saw their K-1 visa status updated on the computer but received NOA2 in the mail anyway.

Hope that helps ease people's minds.  Best of luck to everyone. 

[Jenny17655 284]

Was Eastern State Penitentiary really scary????? 

[Pitaya 2,577]

If you didn't already, please be sure to write your review in the USCIS Field Office Reviews section: https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/