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| Los Angeles CA |  Review on June 19, 2018: |
raydamon
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
This is a review for AOS interview in the San Bernadino USCIS office that took place in mid June, 2018. Summary available at the end.
Posted in Los Angeles for visibility
Setting: I am the USC(Petitioner) and my wife is the applicant(Beneficiary)
Our interview time was close to 11am. We got there about 35 minutes earlier. Security line was short and quick. The interview waiting room is on the second floor where everyone is waiting. There were a lot of people waiting for their interviews and from what I can tell, they are mostly here for Naturalization interviews.
So we checked in as soon as we got there and started waiting. Many couples came after us went in to their interviews before us. I had to ask the reception desk and their canned response was "it really depends on your Interview Officer(IO from now)". In the end, we were called in after waiting for about 2 hours. Our IO was a kind-looking lady in her 60s and she brought us into her office to get ready for the interview.
Before the IO asked us to swear that we’re going to tell the truth, she found out that the previous applicant left something on her table. So she asked us to remain standing and rushed out of the room to find the previous applicant. But it was too late, she came back with the document in her hands and asked us to sit down while she tries to get ahold of the applicant by phone. She could not reach the person and decided to start the interview.
First thing was to take a photo of applicant and fingerprints of both index fingers. She then opened our files, she acknowledged that wife is adjusting from K-1 and she believed that it was a good sign. As she went through our stacked file(K1 package plus the AOS package), she asked how we met and the very standard questions. During this time, she seemed very clueless about the applicant and it occurred to me that she probably has never read about anything on the file before we came in.
As time went on, she kept on unpacking the large files and tried to organize them into some sort of order. She did ask a couple of random questions such as “so do you work now? What about you?â€. During one of the gaps, I asked her that didn’t we have to swear to tell the truth? Then she remembered that we skipped the formality because of the incident in the beginning. So we swore that we would tell the truth and nothing but the truth in the middle the interview. And she mentioned that we would have to come for the second time if I did not asked the question. A large bullet dodged. While the IO was organizing the documents. She went through all the criminal, drugs and other standard questions as well.
When the IO finished with the document organizing, she asked and used a pencil to write down a very simple timeline on how we met, got into relationship, engaged, moved to the US and married. At the end, she asked us for any evidence we have brought in this time, we gave everything to her. Without carefully looking at all of them, she just stacked them into the AOS package. Then she asked for a new medical exam which luckily we decided to do a week before the interview. I did not challenge her on the USCIS rules of filing the AOS within one year of the medical exam should keep it validated. We handed the medical exam results over and she checked the important pages and put it into the file as well.
At last the IO said she was going to grant our case and printed an approval letter for us to take home. The interview lasted about 30 minutes but I felt like 10-15 minutes of them were just random chatters regarding our home country, our jobs or even our family. She is a very kind person and I would say an easy IO. But she is very slow on everything. But we’re happy that we got our approval with ease.
As we were exiting the office, we saw that two other couples were being questioned separately. They did not look very happy and I wished them good luck inside.
5 days after the interview, we got an email saying the green card has been shipped out and we should do something if we do not see it within 2 weeks.
A summary:
Got there 30 minutes early, waited about 2 hours to get in. Interview lasted 30 minutes. No questions out of ordinary was asked. IO did ask for a new medical exam even though we filed within one year of the medical exam done in oversea and also asked for copies of passports/IDs. Took all additional evidence(recent bills, new I-864, new tax return) except photos. Did NOT take EAD even though GC was approved. Green card shipped 5 days later.
Good luck to everyone out there.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #24028