Interview coming up...

[MrsH23 37]

Hey so I have my interview in 2 weeks and the closer it gets the more nervous I get.. I have no idea why. I came here 2017 on esta, me and my husband got married a week before I was leaving, I then ofcourse stayed, adjusted status and since then we’ve had a baby together (he’ll be 2 in January)and we’ve been married 3 and a half years. I filed my paperwork august 2019 and I got my interview letter 2 weeks ago. I keep reading of people saying they may think you committed fraud if you got married within that 90 days.. some saying you can’t adjust from esta...(not on posts from me, just posts that other people have created on a fb group in part of). obviously I did all this research before even filing the paperwork but now I’m so nervous that they’re gonna reject my application... any words of advice? anyone else with the same experience? What do I take to the interview, how many pics/ how much other pieces of evidence do you take? Thank you in advance 

[JFH 12,191]

I don’t know why you are worried about the interview either. If I were in your shoes my biggest worry would have been during the 2 years between your I-94 expiring and your I-485 being received by USCIS - you were out of status for that whole period and could have been deported at any moment. Fortunately for you and your child, you did not come to the attention of the authorities and no action was taken on your overstay. Being deported would have been bad enough. Potentially being separated from your child would have been even worse for you and the child. 
 

But that’s water under the bridge now. Compared to the risk you were under then, the interview will be a walk in the park. Naturally there is a lot of skepticism surrounding AOS from VWP and B-2, and it’s not without justification. Most settled people, with a job, rent or mortgage, car, bills, etc are not able to just decide never to come home from a holiday without at least some element of pre-planning so many people struggle to see how it could be genuine. But that’s not the issue here. You arrived lawfully and were admitted by a CBP officer following inspection. Even if you had intent to stay and adjust (and I’m not saying you did), that in itself is not reason enough to deny the AOS of a spouse of a USC. 

Many people have been down this road. It is a legal path under certain circumstances. I understand that people view it as “queue jumping” but in your case nothing could be further from the truth. Being out of status for two years is not an enviable position to be in and it has taken you far longer to get to being a green card holder than if you had returned to the UK at the end of your trip and followed the CR-1 process. 
 

Assuming your marriage is genuine, you have nothing to worry about. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by JFH

[MrsH23 37]

29 minutes ago, JFH said:

I don’t know why you are worried about the interview either. If I were in your shoes my biggest worry would have been during the 2 years between your I-94 expiring and your I-485 being received by USCIS - you were out of status for that whole period and could have been deported at any moment. Fortunately for you and your child, you did not come to the attention of the authorities and no action was taken on your overstay. Being deported would have been bad enough. Potentially being separated from your child would have been even worse for you and the child. 
 

But that’s water under the bridge now. Compared to the risk you were under then, the interview will be a walk in the park. Naturally there is a lot of skepticism surrounding AOS from VWP and B-2, and it’s not without justification. Most settled people, with a job, rent or mortgage, car, bills, etc are not able to just decide never to come home from a holiday without at least some element of pre-planning so many people struggle to see how it could be genuine. But that’s not the issue here. You arrived lawfully and were admitted by a CBP officer following inspection. Even if you had intent to stay and adjust (and I’m not saying you did), that in itself is not reason enough to deny the AOS of a spouse of a USC. 

Many people have been down this road. It is a legal path under certain circumstances. I understand that people view it as “queue jumping” but in your case nothing could be further from the truth. Being out of status for two years is not an enviable position to be in and it has taken you far longer to get to being a green card holder than if you had returned to the UK at the end of your trip and followed the CR-1 process. 
 

Assuming your marriage is genuine, you have nothing to worry about. 

Thank you for your reassurance. Yes that was a very stressful time. I think because it’s so official and they can decide on the spot if they want to accept you or not. And just the word “interview” in general scares me lol. Definitely a genuine marriage, I know we didn’t do things the way we should have but we are here now and loving life with our baby boy. Thank you for making me feel better. I keep seeing that a lot of interviews are being cancelled again, hoping mines doesnt.