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San Francisco CA USCIS Office Reviews
Average Rating: 4.3
/ 5
123 Review(s)
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| San Francisco CA |  Review #4913 on August 29, 2009: |
enno4eva
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
We met with the Head of Adjudications as our case has been going on for 7 years. The interview was short and to the point. The adjudicator was training another employee while conducting our interview. We all chit chatted about movie genres and why our AOS was not done back in 1994. Our answered concurred with their info and he approved us on the spot!
| | | San Francisco CA | Review #4804 on August 2, 2009: |
rubyred
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
we filed for AOS after i came to the US on a J-1 visa and married my american boyfriend.
after many days of stress and paperwork-gathering, we arrived at our interview appointment feeling very very nervous. the building is very easy to find, and is only a 10min walk from the montgomery BART station. we didn't want to worry about traffic or parking so we caught the train in from oakland.
our interview was scheduled for 9.30am, but since we had read that there are often queues outside the main doors, we arrived early, around 8.50am. the waiting room on the 2nd floor was virtually empty, but we didn't get seen till about 20mins after our scheduled time. a woman came out and called my name and apologised for having us wait. she led us into her office, asked us to swear an oath, and then proceeded with the interview.
she was extremely friendly, polite and did her best to put us at ease and make the whole thing feel very relaxed and casual. i was expecting an interrogation, but it wasn't like that at all. she double-checked a few details like my full name and date of birth, address, that kind of thing, and then really only asked us two questions:
- how did you meet? when?
- did you come here on the J-1 visa to be together?
that was about it! she then said that she was going to recommend us for approval, but she was still waiting for my police clearance from NZ (apparently nz isn't part of some kind of interpol database, so USCIS has to go directly to the police department of nz, which makes the clearance really slow) but since i know i have a completely clean record, that's nothing to worry about.
we were concerned that not having a joint lease agreement would be a problem, but she wasn't worried and was happy to accept a ton of bank statements/phone bills/utilities/etc showing a shared address over an extended period. we had also brought a bunch of photos, and she took a few of those. i had organised A TON of evidence: about 50 pages of emails from friends and family, discussing our official wedding ceremony next year, congratulatory emails, all that kind of thing, plus screenshots of our respective email accounts, showing around 750 emails to each other over the course of our relationship; i had also brought boarding passes to demonstrate a trip to chicago we took together, plus printouts of our flight confirmations for 3 other trips; i had the receipt for our wedding rings; she didn't look at ANY of it. we'd also gotten about 7 people to get notarised affidavits of support for us, which she said aren't useful at this stage and are better for the lifting of conditions part in 2 yrs. so yeah: of the 4" thick binder of paperwork, she probably looked at about 10 pages. she didn't even ask to see original birth certificates or tax returns (which kind of surprised me).
the whole thing was totally painless! almost anti-climactic, in a way. all these months of constant stress and worry, wondering if we'll be separated, and it all boiled down to a brief, harmless interview. i think the whole thing took about 40mins, but that included her doing photocopies of everything and also explaining some stuff about the lifting of conditions to us. it felt like only about 10mins!
i think if you're immigrating from a country like NZ, you pretty much are guaranteed an approval: basically, i think they realise that the only reason someone would so desperately want to move to the US from NZ is for love (it sure as hell is not for 'ease of living'!!)
| | | San Francisco CA | Review #4710 on July 9, 2009: |
Winterjade_SF
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Appt. was at 10am. We got to the reception area on the 2nd floor of 630 Sansome about 5 minutes 'til 10am - puppy troubles in the morning (wouldn't 'potty'), unusual traffic to the interview and a line outside the building all contributed to our almost being a bit late.
We were called in at around 10:45am.
Our adjudicating officer left the room for a moment to make copies of our IDs (CA drivers' licenses) and our attorney turned to us and said, "Don't be intimidated by her. Just answer her questions. She has a reputation for being a pain in the butt." "Great," we thought...
When she returned, she actually turned to my husband, the US Citizen, and started asking him questions first. She actually ended up questioning him more than she did me... we both think it was because his family -- younger brother and father -- has a bit of a police record (minor incidents, mostly involving his younger brother). She asked where his parents were, whether he had 2 siblings, where they lived, etc. She asked if his family knew we were married and he responded that they did not. He explained that we got married really quickly after his proposal on Christmas, 2006 (since we wanted to get the immigration process started right away) and that there was not enough time to warn his family in Florida to come out to California. He said that we were planning on having our big wedding on May 4, 2008, and that they would come then. If we had told them that we were getting married so quickly, they would have been hurt at not being able to come to the ceremony because they could not afford a trip across the country on such short notice. She asked us if we had any evidence on planning for the upcoming wedding. Though we had put down a deposit for the venue, we did not have confirmation with us, but said we could send it today.
She then turned to me and started asking me questions about how and when I came to the US (I've been here since 1984, came on a visitors' visa, switched to L-2, then F-1), where my parents were, etc. She asked me all the "no" questions. She asked when I moved in with my husband (it was March, 06, when we were still dating). Then she asked for my passports and looked through all of them (I have about 4 expired and one current one). I imagine she was checking to see whether I had left the country since 1984 (no stamps since my arrival in 1984). She took my I-194 and the papers documenting when I switched from an L-2 visa to F-1.
She then asked to see evidence of our marriage.
We gave her:
A copy of our lease
Joint bank statements: checking, savings + CD
PG&E bills with our names
Evidence of our most recent vacation - Hawaii in May, 2007 (plane boarding passes & reservations)
We told her that we had letters from friends and she indicated that she didn't take letters but would like to see pictures. I handed over our photo album of our Hawaii vacation, as well a 3 other sets of photos - some pre-dating, some while we were dating, and some after our marriage. She took a couple from each set.
After all this she said that she was "on the fence" about us, and wanted to separate us to question us further. She turned to our attorney and asked whether we preferred to be separated today or to come back for another interview. We all agreed that we wanted to get the interview resolved today and that we agreed to be separated. She escorted my husband out of the room; in the meantime, my attorney muttered to me - "This is unbelievable! Don't be intimidated, just answer her questions."
She asked me whether we had been together the night before, what we had for dinner, what we wore to bed. At that point, I said, "Oh, he's not going to remember what we wore to bed." "Even from when you woke up this morning?" "He falls asleep before me and I wake before he does to take our puppy out for a walk." "You have a pet? What's her name?" "Harlow." More questions about our recent birthdays, what we did/ gave each other.
She then escorted me out and called my husband back in.
After a while my husband came back for me and, as we walked back to her office, whispered, "We're approved!"
Back in the office, she said, "He did well. I'm approving you today. You should get a welcome letter in a few days, and your card in a few weeks. Then, you'll be able to go wherever in the world you want."
And that was that! We all shook hands, and walked out of the office, all smiles. *Whew*
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I want to thank VisaJourney and most especially all the awesome folks in this forum - March filers - for all the great support and information! Best wishes for your own speedy approvals, and congratulations to those who have already received good news!
| | | San Francisco CA | Review #4128 on March 25, 2009: |
Kang Lang
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
arrive early it takes awhile to gain entry in the building but they are very nice.
we waited about 40 minutes to be seen and were interviewed by a very pleasant female officer. who swore us in and asked the usual questions relative to subersive activities. she was kind in letting me re-explain some of her questions when my husband didn't understand her wording (still used english sometimes just using simpler phrasology). mostly interested in our comingling of asset evidence and photos of us with the other person's family. went to speak with the supervisor which took 20 minutes or so and then gave us the paper indicating approval and told us to lift conditions.
| | | San Francisco CA | Review #3852 on January 27, 2009: |
LynnandAhmed
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Our officer was super nice. Everything went smoothly. The interview lasted about 40 minutes and we had to wait about 40 minutes.
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