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| Sacramento CA |  Review on August 31, 2015: |
theanswerisdance
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
I'm surprised how few reviews there are for the Sacramento office! My husband and I had my marriage-based GC interview on 08/28/2015 at 8:45am. We live in the area but still left the house at 7am because of all the traffic heading to business I-80 at that time of morning (so non-Sacramentonians who have your interviews here, beware of morning rush hour traffic!). We arrived downtown at 7:45am and parked a couple of blocks northwest of the USCIS office (650 Capitol Mall) on L street & 3rd in the downtown plaza west garage. I have heard there's free two-hour and three-hour street parking south of Capitol Mall but we didn't want to chance driving in circles to score a spot and wind up being late.
The interview notice states to arrive no more than 30 minutes early for the interview but when we walked up to the building at 8am for our 8:45 interview, the friendly security guard smiled and waved us in. DO NOT FORGET YOUR INTERVIEW NOTICE! You'll need it. I was pleasantly surprised by the security here as it had been such a major ordeal at the embassy in Vancouver when I went for my K1 interview (e.g. not even hotel room key or car key were allowed in the building, let alone cell phones, purses, etc.). Here, cell phones ARE allowed, as are wallets and purses; you have to take off your shoes and show government-issued photo ID, but it is an even simpler process than standard airport security.
After security, you head up the elevators to the second floor (room 2-220); when you come off the elevators, you turn right to go to room 2-220 (there are signs) and follow the hallway down. There are bathrooms outside the waiting room but I would recommend using them before you enter the waiting room, as your name could be called at any point once you've handed over your interview notice. In the waiting room there's a window with a sign that instructs you to slide your interview notice through the slot; even if the blinds are closed, slide your notice through as someone will come by and grab them on the other side periodically. The waiting room was pretty large but close to empty when we were there, only about 6 other people waiting.
When my name was called we were greeted by our IO who took us to her office, asked us to remain standing while we swore to tell the truth, and then instructed my husband and me each where to sit. She was very business-like but as the interview went on we could tell she had a good sense of humour as well (e.g. when she asked my husband why he proposed to me in the first place, she said, "Besides the fact that she's gorgeous, I mean, look at her, so give me your other reasons too" and we all laughed). We were quite surprised at the questions asked as we had received an RFE regarding our Affidavit of Support and had to add a co-sponsor before they'd proceed with our case, so we thought for sure that financial questions would be asked, but they weren't. I had brought our entire folder of paperwork dating from the K1 process as well as two large photo albums; I'm glad I brought them as just the sight of it was helpful to her to substantiate our case and our relationship. Ultimately, however, she asked only to see one of the photo albums.
Our interview lasted about 20 minutes and while I never felt we were grilled, I did feel she was doing a thorough job at, well, doing her job! Since we met online, she had us start from the beginning when we first "found" each other and chronicle our entire timeline of visits all the way up till now. She would have one of us tell the story up to a certain point and then switch to the other spouse and ask to pick up where the other left off, and she was making notes the whole time. At one point she said, "I have no doubt you are a real couple, I can see it in your eyes" and that put us a lot at ease. She then asked us each to pick 3 photos -- 2 from pre-wedding and 1 from our wedding -- that she could keep for her file. Once we had each picked our 3 separately, she gave us pens and asked us to label dates, locations, and the names and relationships of each person in the photos on the back. I thought that was a clever way of doing it because if we did have a fraudulent marriage, and she had told us PRIOR to picking the photos that we'd be asked to label them with all those details, we would have likely picked only easy photos/locations. She also noted that we had started the K1 process 20 months ago and asked why our case took so long; I explained that I had filed three extensions of the K1 process due to my mother's chronic illness that had caused me to have to stay in Canada and postpone our wedding. She was sincere in her sympathy for my mom's health problems and I thought that was the end of the topic as we moved on.
I have heard this office does not issue too many "immediate" approvals (being told on-the-spot that you've been approved), but at the end of the interview, she finished with, "how soon do you plan to go visit your mom in Canada?" I replied, "I wish I could book my flights today. I know that can't be the case, but in a perfect world, I'd do it right away." She responded, "Well, I'm going to make that happen for you." She then took us to another room and told us we might have to wait up to an hour, but she was going to go through her supervisors and get me an immediate approval and an I-551 stamp (temporary GC) so I could travel before the card arrived. I was completely blown away as I never even asked (I so wanted to but believed I'd be denied the stamp) that I started to cry. She then teared up too and shook her finger at me and said "Don't make me cry!" She told me she also has a sick parent and that we're all human and need to help each other out, and even my husband's eyes watered at that point! It was one of those rare moments in this entire immigration process where humanity transcends bureaucracy, and I was so very grateful.
We waited to receive my stamp in my passport and then left the office (I was literally skipping) at about 10am, so two hours total. When we got home my USCIS case status had already been adjusted twice before we even walked through the front door, first to say my card had been ordered and next to say that my welcome notice had been mailed. I booked my flights back to Canada the same day. My experience with this office was nothing but positive, though I'm sure it can vary depending on the IO. We filed for AOS on May 15th and I was granted conditional PR on August 28, so 3.5 months from start to finish. It was so painless that I would take this federal process over the state DMV any day!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #17703