March 2019 AOS Filers -- Part 2

[Mike E 11,739]

1 hour ago, iwir said:

Forget about massive amount of pictures. They don't care about them. 

This will vary by IO. Our IO didn’t want any photos but we had them per our lawyer’s advice who does experience IOs  who want them.  He did want the plane ticket confirmation for trips made since we filed for AOS. 
 

1 hour ago, Nicola and Jordan said:

Do they care about the beneficiary’s earnings? I mean my husband earns enough just wasn’t sure if it was worth me taking in my paystubs etc 

I think they do care about beneficiary earnings but not for the reason you think. 
 

Our IO did ask the beneficiary a couple times if she was working.  It didn’t make a difference in the decision (yes, about ten days later) but it was interesting.  On reflection I think he was fishing to see if she worked before her EAD.  

Edited January 28, 2020 by Mike E

[iwir 337]

8 minutes ago, Mike E said:

This will vary by IO. Our IO didn’t want any photos but we had them per our lawyer’s advice who does experience IOs  who want them.  He did want the plane ticket confirmation for trips made since we filed for AOS. 

What I meant was taking 100s pictures with you to the interview while forgetting that they're just secondary evidence. I don't know when you had your interview. I had it just yesterday when supreme court issued their new rulings that allow trump administration to enforce wealth test on new applicants. Whether it's coincidence or not I haven't read people on VJ got grilled a lot about it until I experienced it myself.

[NewCitizen23 313]

Hi Guys,

 

We just got back from our AOS interview about an hour ago.

Our appointment was scheduled to 7.:15 am but we got there around 6.40 and they let us into the building. At 6.40 there were already about 40 people in the waiting room. We had to go to a window and give them the appointment letter, they took a picture about me and had to give a fingerprint then we had to wait. 

We've been waiting for an hour, an older IO called my name first and then said my husband's name as well at 7:43 am. He shaked our hand with a big smile on his face then he said let's go to the copy machine so he can make a copy of my driver's licence, my EAD and my husband's drivers license and while he made the copy he was talking about the ROC. Then we followed him into his office. 

At the office there was our pile on his table but before we sat down he asked us to take an oath about we are going to say the truth. 

After we sat down he started to he asked us if we ever saw the movie called Green card with Andie MacDowell and Gérard Depardieu. I told him that I've seen it many times and my husband said he never saw that movie. Then the IO started to tell us the story about the movie. And then he was talking about that he is working for 25 years now for the USCIS and he has seen so many things, so many frauds during the years and the reason for the AOS 2 year green card is because of the lot's of frauds. He told us that unfortunately he can't give me the 10 year green card, just the 2 years and then he explained everything about the ROC. After all this he opened our file and started a few "YES" and "NO" questions. He didn't ask all of them, just a few and then he started to go over on every single page that we filed. EVERYTHING!!! He highlited our names on every page and said "for the ROC you'll need to have lots of documentation with both of your names again". When he was done with all the pages he asked us if we had filed the 2019 Tax already. I suddenly said "YES" and started to look for it and I couldn't find it and I started to freak out and looked at my husband who just smiled to me. And the IO told him "you can correct her" and my husband told me "honey, we didn't do the tax yet" and both my husband and the IO started to laugh and the IO told me to calm down and don"t panic there is nothing wrong.

After that the IO asked me if I have anything new that I want to add to our case. I gave him our 2 new cars DMV registration, the 2 insurances, my husband's 401(k) with my name on it, all the bills, phone talk activities, hotel reservations.

I asked him if he want's to see any pictures and he said "sure, I love pictures". He chose 4 of them and he said he only cares about the pictures where he can clearly see the background which is not our living room or dining table. He wanted to see the Sequoia sign behind us, and the Arizona State sign etc. He said that's all he cares about to see that we are traveling together. He also said that he has seen PHOTOSHOPPED pictures with others!!!

At the end he asked where and how we met, when did we start to date, when did we got married and when did we move in together.

Then he said we are approved, and he congratulated to us and wrote a paper by hand with the date on it (10/31/2021) when we can apply for the ROC. He gave us the approval paper (the app hasn't change yet) and a ROC paper with all the information in it.

 

We spend 35 minutes in his office but he barely asked anything from us, he was talking most of the time about the fake marriages (which freaked me out because why did he talked about fake marriages that much?????).

I feel so relieved right now and I need some sleep because I couldn't in the last few days. 

I guess I'll see you some of you at the ROC but I"ll keep reading the rest of you AOS interview experiences!!! 

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

[Nicola and Jordan 668]

1 hour ago, iwir said:

Affidavit of support I-865 is a contract between petitioner and US government. So they were grilling my husband and asking him if he made enough and had benefits. Then they warned me if I ever got public assistance, the government would charge him. They don't care if beneficiary works because if they are unemployed and need assistance, they're supposed to ask their sponsor for help, not the government.

Yeah I know what the I-865 is  he earns more than enough and has great benefits just wondered if they cared about my earnings or not lol 

[Nicola and Jordan 668]

3 minutes ago, Gigi2017 said:

Hi Guys,

 

We just got back from our AOS interview about an hour ago.

Our appointment was scheduled to 7.:15 am but we got there around 6.40 and they let us into the building. At 6.40 there were already about 40 people in the waiting room. We had to go to a window and give them the appointment letter, they took a picture about me and had to give a fingerprint then we had to wait. 

We've been waiting for an hour, an older IO called my name first and then said my husband's name as well at 7:43 am. He shaked our hand with a big smile on his face then he said let's go to the copy machine so he can make a copy of my driver's licence, my EAD and my husband's drivers license and while he made the copy he was talking about the ROC. Then we followed him into his office. 

At the office there was our pile on his table but before we sat down he asked us to take an oath about we are going to say the truth. 

After we sat down he started to he asked us if we ever saw the movie called Green card with Andie MacDowell and Gérard Depardieu. I told him that I've seen it many times and my husband said he never saw that movie. Then the IO started to tell us the story about the movie. And then he was talking about that he is working for 25 years now for the USCIS and he has seen so many things, so many frauds during the years and the reason for the AOS 2 year green card is because of the lot's of frauds. He told us that unfortunately he can't give me the 10 year green card, just the 2 years and then he explained everything about the ROC. After all this he opened our file and started a few "YES" and "NO" questions. He didn't ask all of them, just a few and then he started to go over on every single page that we filed. EVERYTHING!!! He highlited our names on every page and said "for the ROC you'll need to have lots of documentation with both of your names again". When he was done with all the pages he asked us if we had filed the 2019 Tax already. I suddenly said "YES" and started to look for it and I couldn't find it and I started to freak out and looked at my husband who just smiled to me. And the IO told him "you can correct her" and my husband told me "honey, we didn't do the tax yet" and both my husband and the IO started to laugh and the IO told me to calm down and don"t panic there is nothing wrong.

After that the IO asked me if I have anything new that I want to add to our case. I gave him our 2 new cars DMV registration, the 2 insurances, my husband's 401(k) with my name on it, all the bills, phone talk activities, hotel reservations.

I asked him if he want's to see any pictures and he said "sure, I love pictures". He chose 4 of them and he said he only cares about the pictures where he can clearly see the background which is not our living room or dining table. He wanted to see the Sequoia sign behind us, and the Arizona State sign etc. He said that's all he cares about to see that we are traveling together. He also said that he has seen PHOTOSHOPPED pictures with others!!!

At the end he asked where and how we met, when did we start to date, when did we got married and when did we move in together.

Then he said we are approved, and he congratulated to us and wrote a paper by hand with the date on it (10/31/2021) when we can apply for the ROC. He gave us the approval paper (the app hasn't change yet) and a ROC paper with all the information in it.

 

We spend 35 minutes in his office but he barely asked anything from us, he was talking most of the time about the fake marriages (which freaked me out because why did he talked about fake marriages that much?????).

I feel so relieved right now and I need some sleep because I couldn't in the last few days. 

I guess I'll see you some of you at the ROC but I"ll keep reading the rest of you AOS interview experiences!!! 

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

Congratulations!!!!

[SusannZ 111]

3 hours ago, Gigi2017 said:

Hi Guys,

 

We just got back from our AOS interview about an hour ago. 

Congrats!!! 💐🎉👏 I'm counting down the hours, I don't think I'll be able to sleep!  

[NewCitizen23 313]

1 hour ago, SusannZ said:

Congrats!!! 💐🎉👏 I'm counting down the hours, I don't think I'll be able to sleep!  

I couldn’t sleep at all... I’m so exhausted but I can’t sleep daytime. 

[SusannZ 111]

8 hours ago, iwir said:

What I meant was taking 100s pictures with you to the interview while forgetting that they're just secondary evidence. I don't know when you had your interview. I had it just yesterday when supreme court issued their new rulings that allow trump administration to enforce wealth test on new applicants. Whether it's coincidence or not I haven't read people on VJ got grilled a lot about it until I experienced it myself.

That wealth test doesn't really apply to us who filed in March 2019 bc the policy didn't go into effect until October 15th 2019. They may be more investigative about the petitioner's income but we fall under the old policy. I'm hoping they won't grill us about that and it sucks that I make more money than my husband but it doesn't really count! 

[NewCitizen23 313]

24 minutes ago, SusannZ said:

That wealth test doesn't really apply to us who filed in March 2019 bc the policy didn't go into effect until October 15th 2019. They may be more investigative about the petitioner's income but we fall under the old policy. I'm hoping they won't grill us about that and it sucks that I make more money than my husband but it doesn't really count! 

Our IO cared about my husband’s income not mine!

[HRQX 4,145]

10 hours ago, iwir said:

Affidavit of support I-865

*I-864

 

I-865 is Sponsor's Notice of Change of Address: https://www.uscis.gov/i-865

[SusannZ 111]

2 hours ago, Gigi2017 said:

Our IO cared about my husband’s income not mine!

Yes, which makes sense since he (and my husband) is petitioning for us but I wish ours would count too because then we'd be golden. Wealth test or not 😂 

[NewCitizen23 313]

Just now, SusannZ said:

Yes, which makes sense since he (and my husband) is petitioning for us but I wish ours would count too because then we'd be golden. Wealth test or not 😂 

Honestly, I have no idea what the others are talking about 😂

[SusannZ 111]

33 minutes ago, Gigi2017 said:

Honestly, I have no idea what the others are talking about 😂

The Supreme Court just allowed the government to make it more difficult to get a green card based on the financial ability to support your spouse. If the immigration officer believe the beneficiary is likely to need public assistance, like food stamps, medcaid etc, they can deny the petition. The minimum requirement for a petitioner will also be 250% of the federal poverty guide lines instead of the 125% it is now. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/supreme-court-trump-green-cards.html

 

 

[PaulaMarie 68]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:33 AM, Mike E said:

We interviewed on January 16, in San Jose, and so after @dittoditto despite what their timeline ( https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=325336 ) says (January 19, 2020). 

 

After seeing the above, I was bummed we didn't get any notice for days about the decision. But then again, this is the AoS from K-1 mega thread, and the aforementioned timeline is an AoS from a F-1 visa. A considerably different situation (when I had my AoS from F-1 status, I too was approved the same day; at the interview in fact, but that was back in the 1980s).

 

But this morning we have the attached status update and we are obviously overjoyed. Iris passed her behind the wheel test at a DMV many miles from us (thanks for your efficiency California DMV) after a 6 month wait for her appointment. So this has been a banner month for us. Much appreciation to Visa Journey for the wisdom; Iris is one of the few K-1s to have a 5 year REAL ID state ID, and that is due solely to Visa Journey.

 

And FWIW, we did use a lawyer. She was invaluable for avoiding an RFE that would have totally confused us.

 

See you in the October 2021 removal of conditions mega thread and the October 2022 N-400 mega thread. I'm betting Iris will have the latter interview first.

 

 

2 weeks after interview, still no update in my online account.😭😭😭

IO said she will just check if my husband’s income meet the 2020 guidelines. 1 week has passed since HHS released the guidelines. Still no update in my USCIS account. I am getting all anxious why. 😫

[SusannZ 111]

5 hours ago, PaulaMarie said:

2 weeks after interview, still no update in my online account.😭😭😭

IO said she will just check if my husband’s income meet the 2020 guidelines. 1 week has passed since HHS released the guidelines. Still no update in my USCIS account. I am getting all anxious why. 😫

Do you know what the 2020 income guidelines are?