Club Colombia AOS!

[paisita411 0]

Ladies & Gents,

This is the rundown of our interview.... we got there about 15 minutes early, we were called in about 5 minutes later. We sat down, I pulled out our huge folder of evidence. The interviewer introduced herself and since she had thick accent I asked her name again. Then she asked me, are you the attorney? I said no, I'm the spouse. Ok. She asked for the interview letter, oscar's birth certificate, aksed him all the 'are you a member of the communist part' and 'have you ever been a prostitute' questions...which made us giggle and then she asked for evidence of our marriage. I have her the Marriage certificate and our photo album. I also gave her our leach purchase agreement (joint), bills (all in my name), some mail for both of us. She asked me for our joint account...I didn't have it because I get my statement online and my printer decided to run out of ink this morning...(ok..I should have printed this out sooner, my bad). She asked for Oscar's I-94 and kept it (she said it was expired anyway). I said ok. She didn't keep his EAD card. She made copies of his driver's license, his block buster card. She kept our tax returns and some other junk I gave her. She asked who the children on the lease were, I told her they were mine, she didn't aske there names. She asked Oscar where a few pics were taken, one was in New Orleans last month and I gave her our boarding passes. She kept those. She asked if we could give her 6 pics to put in our file. She ended by telling us that we would get a decision in the mail in a few weeks.

THAT'S IT......

I was trembling through the whole thing and felt so unsure of everything when we left. She didn't really aske us any important questions. Nothing about our releationship, or where we lived (other than asking Oscar his address and phone number). She was emotionless and she acutally proded me to translate some questions that Oscar wasn't understanding, again she had a THICK African accent. I was surprised she wanted me to translate, so much so that she had to tell me to do it. I felt like an idiot. I don't know what to think.

Andrea

[Juan Carlos 0]

Hello, Andrea!

I know exactly how you feel. When we had our interview, I was craving for a "welcome to the U.S.", "you are approved", "you are now officially a U.S. resident. Sorry for all the emotional ride you went through, but here is an official D.H.S. letter together with a certificate with official stamps and Mr. Obama's personal assurance that your days of uncertainty are over. By the way, let me stamp your passport in case you are still in doubt".

Instead of that, we got nothing. No stamp, no letter, no congratulations. I have the feeling that our interviewing officer was friendlier than yours, but he still left me in suspense. So, once again, I started reading forums. This is a bit of what I learned:

- Normally, when they deny your residence, they immediately tell you they'll have to re-schedule the interview

- Now a days, they do not take away the EAD card and they no longer put stamps on the passport. Now we keep the EAD as a souvenir.

- Some people request an infopass appointment to request the stamp on their passport. I believe you'll need a pretty strong and sound excuse to request the stamp, but at least in the process you should learn if you were approved or not.

- In my case, it took them one week to update the on-line status (Card Production ordered); about one more week for the Welcome letter and finally one more week for the GC. Other than the Card Production ordered, there were no more touches, on-line updates or emails

Hang in there, Andrea! I am sure you'll have a pleasant surprise very soon!!!

Juan Carlos.

[NArocks 13]

Andrea,

I am hoping that you get that email or even hard copy of the welcome to America soon. You would think that after 14 months they would be able to make a decsion right then and there. Hoping to see your approval soon.

I know when my husband was put into name check they at least told us the reason we could not get approved on the spot, however 31 days later we recieved that beautiful emial. and I am sure your will come sooner.

[Harold08 0]

Ok guys,

So the interview is tomorrow. At this stage we are just going over questions they might ask, making photocopies, printing pictures. As far as translator, it is ridiculous how much they charge for something like going to the uscis office, so we are just going to go by ourselves, and demonstrate what my wife has learned in English. She understands a lot and i hope the nervousness doesn't get a hold of her. We just hope that this is over with some good news tomorrow. We will be keeping everyone posted. Any last minute tips appreciated. Thanks

-Harold.

[paisita411 0]

JC / NA

Thank you for your positivity. Last night I actually had a nightmare that we were back in the interview and it was DENIED!!! But I actually feel much better about things today. JC, thanks for going through those points for me. We really have nothing to worry about (I keep telling myself). I'll let everyone know as soon as we get the good news.

Harold.. Don't worry about the translator. Just ask the interviewer to speak slow and clear and your wife should do well. I hope you get someone like our interviewer, who let me translate for my hubby yesterday (although he really didn't need one anymore than I did, the real problem was her thick accent).

Colombia Club, I trully thank all of you for the support you've shown over the last 3 years of our journey. I don't think I EVER want to go through this process again. I don't think I could have made it through without you.

Good luck Harold!

Andrea

[Harold08 0]

Ok guys so i am officially reporting back,

The interview went really well, the guy was nice and spoke slowly for my wife. The only questions he asked her were the yes or no questions in the I-485 and one about her name, about why her name has an H in Nhora instead of being Nora lol. Other than that he asked for 2008 taxes for the sponsor and ours, which was a joint return. He told us that it could be approved the same day if we were willing to wait. So of course we waited and after about 30 minutes, her name was called and she got her passport stamped with the I-7551 and we were told that she would receive the 2 year passport in the mail in about a month. So YESSS!! I am so glad this part is over. Thanks for all the help, and OskaryAndrea i really hope you guys get the card quickly and that email confirming everything went well. Once again, thank you guys for all the help. See you around since we will be USCIS free until January of 2011.

-Harold

[bendavis 0]

Hey,

I need some help with my wife's adjustment of status for the residency. She has all her vaccinations (she submitted them with the K-1 Visa application), but I saw on this website that she will need to submit an I-693A supplementary form that is basically a transcription of her vaccination record from a "civil surgeon." Is this information correct? I have a hard time understanding why should would need to submit her vaccination information again if we already submitted it. Please email me at benjaminzdavis@hotmail.com if you can help. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

-Ben

[Harold08 0]

Hey,

I need some help with my wife's adjustment of status for the residency. She has all her vaccinations (she submitted them with the K-1 Visa application), but I saw on this website that she will need to submit an I-693A supplementary form that is basically a transcription of her vaccination record from a "civil surgeon." Is this information correct? I have a hard time understanding why should would need to submit her vaccination information again if we already submitted it. Please email me at benjaminzdavis@hotmail.com if you can help. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

-Ben

Yes Ben, she does need to submit the I693A supplementary even though she already had a medical overseas. You have to find a civil surgeon in your area who could put all the information on the form and sign it so that you can submit it to USCIS. In our case, she needed to get a couple of new vaccinations, including the 2nd papilloma virus shot, which was not required but is very important for women. So yeah that cost us 150 with the paperwork being filled out and the administration of some vaccines she needed.

-Harold

Edited April 22, 2009 by Harold08

[paisita411 0]

Ben,

If she had all of her vaccines updated in Bogota, then you only need to get the Civil Surgeon to trasfer them on to the form and sign it. Call around to the CS in your area and ask. This should cost no more thant $25. If you keep checking in VJ, there is actually a doctor who will do this for you by mail.

Good luck.

Andrea

[Bill y Bella 0]

Congratulations Harold

And keep the faith Andrea. You are almost there!

[Mononoke28 135]

Andrea, I was just checking in to see how the interview was for you guys and it really sounds good, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed you'll hear from them soon.

Harold, congratulations to you and your wife as well! Way to go!

Diana

[Mononoke28 135]

Hey,

I need some help with my wife's adjustment of status for the residency. She has all her vaccinations (she submitted them with the K-1 Visa application), but I saw on this website that she will need to submit an I-693A supplementary form that is basically a transcription of her vaccination record from a "civil surgeon." Is this information correct? I have a hard time understanding why should would need to submit her vaccination information again if we already submitted it. Please email me at benjaminzdavis@hotmail.com if you can help. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

-Ben

Ben,

Like others said since your wife already has all her vaccinations then she should be ok, unless she's under 26 years of age and has not had her HPV vaccine.

Now here's the kicker, many people have not sent their I-693 for their AOS, they simply sent a copy of the approved vaccination worksheet they got from the doctor who did their medical in Colombia and they were approved that way. With that said, very few have received an RFE requesting the I-693. So it's up to you, if she does not need her HPV vaccine, you can take your chances and send just the copy of the worksheet keeping in mind that you may or may not get an RFE for the I-693.

Diana

[margara&john 0]

Hi everyone,

We got Margarita's (my wife) greencard last week. Yesterday we got a RFE for Daniela (my stepdaughter). The RFE says we need to send the I-693 for Daniela. We sent I-693 for both of them when we applied for AOS. I don't know what to do. They had their physicals in Bogota in April 2008. When we filed in Decmber, it was still within one year of the physicals. If we resend a I693 now, the physical is more than one year old. I know we sent both sealed envelopes when we applied, and they both had all of their vaccinations up to date. How do I talk to someone at USCIS about my specific case? I'm hoping we can just pay another $35 for the civil surgeon to fillout a new I693, but I'm not sure.

thanks

john

[Mononoke28 135]

Hi everyone,

We got Margarita's (my wife) greencard last week. Yesterday we got a RFE for Daniela (my stepdaughter). The RFE says we need to send the I-693 for Daniela. We sent I-693 for both of them when we applied for AOS. I don't know what to do. They had their physicals in Bogota in April 2008. When we filed in Decmber, it was still within one year of the physicals. If we resend a I693 now, the physical is more than one year old. I know we sent both sealed envelopes when we applied, and they both had all of their vaccinations up to date. How do I talk to someone at USCIS about my specific case? I'm hoping we can just pay another $35 for the civil surgeon to fillout a new I693, but I'm not sure.

thanks

john

John,

If I were you I would give them a call and put my foot down. Just tell them that you sent the I-693 for both of them and that your wife has already been approved and that you can send a copy of the I-693 (if you still have it) but not pay for another exam or more vaccines. Don't let them tell you otherwise because it doesn't make any sense.

You can just call their 800 and talk to an agent about the RFE.

Diana

[margara&john 0]

Well everyone....I'm a wimp. I spoke with 4 diferent people at USCIS about our RFE. I got a diferent story from each person. The last person told me that they have Margarita's paperwork but nothing for Daniela. He thinks it got lost when it was transfered from Missouri to California. I'm too scared to standup for what's fair and right. I'd rather pay the extra $145 for another exam and play it safe. We went for Daniela's exam Wednesday, and I can pickup the paperwork on Monday. I just don't want to take any chances.

have a great weekend

john