|
|
| Los Angeles CA |  Review on July 27, 2017: |
Scandi
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
I adjusted status from a K-1 visa, interview was on July 18, 2017 at the Los Angeles County field office on 300 North Los Angeles Street.
We parked at the Aiso Street Garage on 101 N Judge John Aiso st, only $1/hour for the first 2 hours and $5 for 3 hours. It took us 2 minutes to walk to the USCIS building from there.
The appointment was scheduled at 10.30 and we arrived at the building at 9.30. Not a single person in line, we just walked straight in and walking through security only took 20 seconds. We then took the elevator to the sixth floor and room 6024, which was just around the corner when we walked out of the elevator. The guard directed us to window 1 and the lady at the window took our appointment letter, asked if we were bringing a lawyer or translator and then told us to sit down and wait. And we waited, and waited.. When we were finally called up by an immigration officer it was already 11:20, which was 50 minutes past our scheduled appointment.
The immigration officer was a super nice guy around 35-40 years old, I don't remember his name but he said he was from Poland. If you get this guy consider yourself lucky, he's so friendly and easy-going. He apologized for the delay and told us he had had a tough interview earlier that morning that took 3 hours (that's why he was a bit behind the schedule). On the way to his office we stopped by a copy machine where he asked for both of our IDs and he took copies of them.
Before we sat down in his office we were sworn in. The first thing he mentioned after we sat down was that he had a letter I had sent to NBC back in February. I thought they didn't bother to put it in my file and just threw it away since I never heard anything back, but there it was - sitting on the desk right in front of me. The letter was about me requesting a name update as I had been informed at my biometrics appointment that my greencard would come in my maiden name, and I definitely didn't want that. So after the IO showed me that he had the letter he told me not to worry and that he would fix it. Major relief, and so glad he brought it up or I might've forgot to bring it up myself.
He then asked a few questions:
-My full name
-My address
-My DOB
-My husband's name
-The wedding date
-My nationality
-What I used to work with in Sweden
-If I had been married before
-If my husband had been married before
-If I had children
-If my husband has children
-He asked my husband what he does for a living
-What my plans are here in the US (like work and such)
-My education level
-My husband's education level
etc.....just regular normal questions
And then he asked the questions from the i-485 (if I was a terrorist, spy, prostitute, alcoholic, drug user, communist, criminal past, if I had applied for a greencard before, what date I entered the US on my K-1, if I had travelled outside the US since etc..).
He took at quick look at my medical that he already had in my file and said it looked perfect, he liked that it was marked complete and that it had the gonorrhea test done (medical was done on August 18, 2016 and the gonorrhea test was added as a requirement as of August 1, 2016, but many clinics didn't keep themselves updated with the requirements as well as "my" clinic did, according to the IO).
He asked for my SSN and an updated version of my "birth certificate" (we don't have birth certificates in Sweden so he appreciated that I had ordered a new one of whatever document we do have in Sweden with a newer date on it)
He asked for my passports (the old that contains my K-1 visa and the new that I got in my married name)
He also asked for my husband's passport (he never asked for his BC though)
All in all we were in his office for about 20 minutes. 10 of those were actual interview and the rest was him typing on his computer and talking to us as if we were old friends. Very relaxing experience. We were asking him questions about his private life too and he seemed to enjoy having a regular, normal conversation.
He then told me I had been approved and he handed me my approval notice. We were still in his office talking to him when I received text and email saying my case status had been updated to "case was approved". Very fast indeed. He told me to expect my greencard in the mail in about 2-4 weeks.
He also mentioned the importance of putting the right category code on the actual greencard, or else you will have to send the card back to get it corrected. If you adjust from a K-1 the code on the card should be CF1 (which means "Alien whose record of admission is created upon the conclusion of a valid marriage contract after entering as a fiance or fiancee of a U.S. citizen - conditional.").
I had brought tons of proof of bonafide relationship and he didn't ask for any of it. Only when I had brought it up a couple of times he gave in and said "Well, give me some of the stuff you have jointly then if you really want me to add it to your file", haha. So I handed him copies of our monthly bank statements of our joint bank account and the 2016 tax return transcript that showed we filed married jointly. He wasn't very interested in any of it, I basically forced him to take it (I brought both originals and copies of everything so he kept the copies at least). It was as if he had already made up his mind before the interview anyway.
And that was it. Very smooth and easy interview, easier than the K-1 interview and that one was super easy too.
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #22236