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| San Francisco CA |  Review on September 21, 2007: |
reno
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Conditional Greencard Approved!
Ok here's our interview story in the San Francisco office. I'm petitioner/USC and hubby filed for AOS.
The night before the interview, we prepared the paperworks listed and made copies organized in our binder. Made sure I photocopied EAD, AP and interview letter so I have copies in case something gets messed up after they take this away. I'm a bit worried about the pictures because we had a civil ceremony and did not have any pictures during that day. I had a lot of pictures with both our families together. We also rehearsed the questions esp the weird ones like when did you last have sex, what color is the underwear, what is the color of your carpet, etc... We prepared as best we could.
Interview day: Drove to the city @10am(we were suppose to go directly to Los Angeles after for a wedding but hubby forgot his suit due to the whole immigration process). Dropped by our lawyer who filed the paperwork for us to get copies. We opted not to include lawyer in the interview since our case looks pretty straightforward. Never seen how the lawyer organized the papers since hubby worked with her, but i'm pretty impressed on how organized they were.
Parked at the front public parking. Since we will be staying for more than 2 hours, it will cost us the maximum amount $29.50. Bit of a bummer but we did not mind. We still had about 30 minutes to kill so we hung out at Specialtys coffee shop. Interview was scheduled at 12:45pm. Tried to go in an hour before but they were pretty strict so we killed more time in the nearby Starbucks.
At 12:15pm, there was a small line outside the building and we were admitted. We made sure we left the cellphone in our car. Went upstairs and gave the receptionist our interview letter. It looks like the employees were coming back from lunch.
At 1pm (15 mins after our appt time), we were called by an Asian guy (a Filipino, like us). He was very professional, curt and did not make any small talk. He directed us to his office. There were 4 chairs in his office. He specifically asked me to sit in the first chair, put our paperwork and binder on the 2nd chair and have my husband sit on the 3rd chair. He introduced himself, did the oath. He asked the following and made some notes:
1. Our driver's license
2. My US passport or Naturalization certificate
3. My husband's passport and I-94 (he wrote "cancelled" on hubby's B1 visa)
4. EAD card (did not ask for AP so I did not volunteer it)
He then pointedly asked most of the questions to my husband: When were we married, when is my birthday. He asked me when is my hubby's bday. Then focused again on my husband for most of the interview.
Where do you work? Since when did you work there? Where did you go to school (he was familiar with DLSU)? When did you graduate? What company did you work for in the Philippines? Can you provide a copy of the house deed (he just requested for photocopies, did not want to see the originals). He then proceeded to ask the NO questions like are you a terrorist, etc. (I thought it we were good and ready to go, but I assumed too soon)...
The complication of our case was hubby entered as tourist but was able to convert visa to H1B before tourist visa expired, so he was never out of status. So he asked if the original company sponsored his H1 visa (I was getting a bit nervous that the officer decided to get into this topic). He then asked the question "DID THE COMPANY CONTACT YOU BEFORE OR AFTER YOU ENTERED THE US?". Good thing hubby had presence of mind to answer AFTER. He then digged deeper, how did you get employment there? My hubby said through a friend and he asked "what is the name of your friend?" "Is your friend still working for that employer?" "Is your friend from the same school? What batch is he?" Hubby gave friend's name and just enough details. I was sitting there and really worried on the technicality of his entry, or he might start investigating hubby's friend. (They might think he entered as tourist to gain employment instead of just visiting the country ...). He then dropped the topic and just said "Oh I know someone from that batch and may know your friend". This point just surprised me because I was hoping they would focus on the marriage instead of the visa stuff since a lot of applicants I know have even overstayed and that issue did not come up during the interview.
Finally he then proceeded to request for documents with our name together so I gave copies of insurance cards and bank statements. He asked for 3 pictures he can keep in his file so I gave pix with our families together. (add: Then he took one of the pictures and asked my hubby where it was taken). He typed some things on his computer and said we would not need our EAD anymore because he was approving us today. He gave us a letter on reminder to lift conditional GC. We asked if we can get a stamp on passport (since hubby plans to fly out home in a couple of weeks) but he said they do not give that anymore unless its an emergency. He suggested we wait for card instead of getting the stamp so we don't any encounter problems in customs. If we really need to fly, he said we can always do infopass.
Before we were about to leave, the mood was a bit lighter. He said my husband has a semblance to a Filipino actor. We were really quiet, just politely smiling, because we did not want to mess up by talking too much. He then noticed my box of pictures and he thought it was a wedding album (it was a box for all the pictures, we had no wedding album). I was nervous that he may still want to look at this, but he just said that he felt bad I had to carry it around and he did not even ask for it (I don't mind, really!).
My husband's adrenaline was still shot with the visa questioning, but overall we were happy with the approval. The officer was very professional. We are excited to get the card in 3 weeks or earlier.
Thank you to everyone in this forum My first thought was to try and remember everything and make sure I report to you guys!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #2049