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| Los Angeles CA |  Review on September 1, 2014: |
Dragonmermaid
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
FROM JULY 1ST, 2014:
VJers, I am so disappointed right now. Our interview was this morning and I have an RFE in my hand instead of a GC approval. I'm sorry - I just got so caught up in everyone's success stories that I believed mine would go as smoothly, especially because my husband and I have been together for close to 8 years.
We arrived at the Chatsworth, CA location around 10:20am (appointment was set for 10:30am). We popped our appointment letter into the drop box per office instructions and we sat down. My hubby got called to check in a few minutes later. We sat and waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, 2 hours later (12:20pm), we get called into the office. The IO wasn't unfriendly, but he was definitely all business. He proceeded to ask us for a variety of documents (originals of birth certificates, etc.). I showed him our SS cards with our new married name, as well as my bank cards and a bank document with our married last name. He asked for a joint bank account statement and it took me a while to locate it in my pile of copies from the papers we had already sent in with our petition. He pointed out that only my hubby makes purchases with the joint account. I told him I use my credit card for safety because it's safer with all the card-skimming going on. I do -however- pay for rent and other household bills with checks from the joint account.
He didn't even bother looking at my hubby's children's foreign birth certificates, which were a struggle to procure because one is from the Netherlands and the other is from Indonesia.
He looked at a variety photos and asked us some questions. I even supplied him with the invitation for the big wedding party we're having on July 19th, 2014 as well as a stack of RSVPs with fun, personal messages from our guests that we received. I pointed out that there's an official wedding website with online comments from friends. I really thought we were going to be okay.
But -NOPE- after 25 minutes, he sent us home with an RFE for MORE proof of bonafide marriage. We explained to him that now that we live at home with and take care of my parents, we don't have a formal rental lease anymore and my father's name is on our utility bill as well as on our car title because his credit got us 2.5% APR. He also wanted itineraries of our vacations together. Seriously???? What if we were like most people and have had NO money to fly anywhere and could only do road trips???
I know that it's not a big deal, but I'm so afraid that the documents we have scraped together won't be enough or they'll get lost in the pile of papers that disgruntled government officers are careless with, and I'm just sooooooooooooooooo tired of this whole process! I got really confident reading everyone's stories and believed we had this in the bag. I lost it on the way to the parking lot and have been crying ever since, not understanding how some couples -please don't anyone take offense- who have been together for short a time and barely know each other can get their GCs but someone I have loved since 2006 and been living with since Summer 2007 can't get one. I honestly think my IO was being a jerk because he wanted to go to lunch (his co-worker popped his head in to check up on him and our IO said he was "almost done" with us)!
We've put together what documents we could. We found old email itineraries (they'll have to do because I'm not sentimental with plane tickets - I travel for a living and I don't want the clutter), we found copies of our old lease from a house we rented from 2007-2011, we highlighted our car payment withdrawal from our monthly bank statement that matches the online car bill with my father's name and our home address, we already gave the IO a copy of our family car insurance that lists my husband as one of the beneficiaries and we're adding a copy of our health insurance acceptance letter that has both of our names on it. My hubby is going to take the papers to the office tomorrow morning instead of mailing them in (we have the option of either). The IO told us to have a copy of each thing we submit and have the front desk person date stamp each item so that in the slight chance they get lost, we have proof that we did bring them in.
So, I guess the moral of the story is: make sure you have tons of proof of bonafide marriage. If you're a unique couple like us who live with parents or with family and have no formal rental lease or utility bills under your name, maybe create a rental lease agreement and have the utilities transferred to your name. I thought this was going to be an interview where they ask you all kinds of personal questions to see if they can catch you in a lie. I felt like we were just filling in our application all over again, but in person.
Good luck to everyone who is still waiting. I hope someone can learn from my frustration. 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #15100