Green Card Interview Questions & FYI

[RosaMystica7 0]

We didn't have a big wedding either. Just me, hubby, and my parents in the town clerk's office. We couldn't afford anything big and didn't want anything big til later after we've settled in. And it's a good thing we didn't want anything big because we had a noreaster with torrential rain and 60mph wind!

Anyway, congrats carldecolorado!

Edited July 13, 2007 by Angilla

[Jup1ter 2]

I will say that according to our interviewer the most important thing for her was seeing pictures of the wedding with family involved. In her own words, "People will not have a fancy wedding with family and guests if the whole thing is fake." So be sure to include lots of wedding photos as well as photos with family.

I'm curious about wedding pictures. It makes sense for K-1s to show lots of wedding pictures to prove a marriage is real. But is it bad for people who suddenly decided to get married (i.e. entered the US without the intention of immigrating) to show wedding pictures? My husband and I decided to get married and threw everything together in like two months... but we did have a dress and tuxedo, and even had a small tented reception in a friend's backyard after a 'ceremony' in a public park, thanks to generous donations from both our families. I'm hesitant to take those to an interview for fear that it would look suspicious to an interview officer. I mean, it would look like we had enough time to plan so I'm worried they would ask how did we NOT plan it before my husband came into the country, you know what I mean? But we do have the contracts that show everything being reserved like one or two weeks before the wedding haha. I mean we really busted our butts to put together a semi-normal wedding in a couple months, both for our and our families' memories. But I don't want it held against our case.

I just wanted to bump up this thread and see if anyone else has any thoughts or personal experience on what I wrote above. Thanks!

[Dr_LHA 3]

Did you enter the USA with intent to marry without a K-1 visa? Or was your wedding really impromptu?

[Jup1ter 2]

My husband entered from Canada without the intent to marry, just as a visitor (visa waiver program, but he has a passport that was stamped at that entry). He had visited me back and forth for over a year before then, and a couple months after he entered the last time, we had a heart to heart talk about how strongly we felt for each other, and we decided to get married. But our wedding was like a couple months after that. So it was an impromptu decision to get married, but we took a couple months to quickly plan a small wedding (like 30 closest family/friends), as we both felt like we at least wanted the memories and celebration of a semi-traditional event adhering to the thought that "you only do this once", does that make sense? So he entered on the last day of May 06, we decided to get married in the beginning of August 06, and then the wedding was in early October 06.

[Dr_LHA 3]

I don't think you have anything to worry about then. You broke no rules, and can explain to the interviewer this if they question your "quick" wedding.

[Magnolia31 0]

Yeah for us, we had a wedding done by a justice of the peace in his home. We weren't dressed up and there was no family or friends present. In fact, we don't have photos of us with family at all. Just some photos of us with some of my friends from Canada and some other mutual friends in the U.S. The rest of the photos are just us together in various places.

Some people (like us) just aren't into the whole big fancy traditional wedding. Hope that doesn't have any bearing on my interview... I would hope not!

Hi Misa! You should be fine. We went to the Justice of the Peace also and had no family or anything present. It was a spur of the moment thing and family members live far away. We did have pictures - the little security lady there took them for us. We had 3 of those. The other pictures we took were recent ones from when we went to different places like Navy Pier, the mall, dinner, Chuck E Cheese with my daughter, etc. Nothing special LOL. We brought older pictures too which dated as far back as 2003. You see the progression through the years because I tend to dye my hair every year so on some pictures I had shorter black hair and others, long blonde hair LOL.

Anyway, you'll be fine!

[misa 2]

Hi Misa! You should be fine. We went to the Justice of the Peace also and had no family or anything present. It was a spur of the moment thing and family members live far away. We did have pictures - the little security lady there took them for us. We had 3 of those. The other pictures we took were recent ones from when we went to different places like Navy Pier, the mall, dinner, Chuck E Cheese with my daughter, etc. Nothing special LOL. We brought older pictures too which dated as far back as 2003. You see the progression through the years because I tend to dye my hair every year so on some pictures I had shorter black hair and others, long blonde hair LOL.

Anyway, you'll be fine!

Thanks for the reassurances! I always get worried (even at my K3 interview) about lack of photos. I mean, we have visited his mom a few times but never took pictures of all three of us together. We're just not "picture people". We almost always have a camera on us but never remember to take any. We'll also have letters from his brother and mom and our mutual friends that are USCs. I might also print out a few emails from his mom sent to both of us. I know they probably won't even ask but you never know!

Funny you mention about the hair. My hair was really short at the beginning of the photos and just kept getting longer and longer and longer... Heh, I've been wanting to get my hair cut again, but I think I'll wait until after my interview.

[SirLancelot 1]

I will say that according to our interviewer the most important thing for her was seeing pictures of the wedding with family involved. In her own words, "People will not have a fancy wedding with family and guests if the whole thing is fake." So be sure to include lots of wedding photos as well as photos with family.

I think photos of a big wedding with lots of family and friends can certainly add to the credibility of a genuine relationship/marriage, but by no means should the IO penalize people who didn't have a big wedding. If you had a big wedding, by all means, bring lots of photos to show the IO. But if you didn't have a big wedding, you shouldn't fret about it either.

On this topic, I'm in agreement with Dr LHA.

This is the USA, not some country where one has to practice one religion and one custom. If a couple chooses to be wed in front of a justice of the peace with no family or friends, that's their business and the IO has no justification to use this against the couple.