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| Charlotte NC |  Review on December 21, 2019: |
Thomas W
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Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
The Charlotte field office is right off of 1-77 near the airport. It isn't hard to find, but located in a fairly large corporate office park without much else except a gas station in sight. USCIS is its own building. We walked in and immediately had to pass security just like at airport by showing the passport/ID and Notice of Action, then the metal detector. No problems.
You check into the seating area, and the clerk gives you a number, then you take a seat along with everyone else and wait. They announce numbers over the intercom frequently. We waited maybe 20 minutes, no problems. Then you take the elevator upstairs, where the IO will greet the batch of people getting off the elevator by calling your number. You go with him/her to their personal office. It's very normal office environment, walking down a hall with typical offices every 20 feet.
Office is small, and he has a desk and a coupe of chairs. Sit at the chair, and he will ask you to swear in to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, etc etc. MAKE SURE YOUR INTERNATIONAL SPOUSE KNOWS THE RIGHT RESPONSE: "I DO" lol. Luckily we had practiced this, but she still just said "yup" the first time.
Then very normal questions as he reviews the case, flipping through pages. What is your name, DOB, parents. Mostly they asked her the questions, and I sat there quietly. Then to tell the story about how we met. Then he asks many of the terrorist, communist, criminal, prostitute, etc etc questions.
We got tripped up on the polygamy question, because he changed the wording of the questions from the document e.g. "will you have more than one husband?" instead of "do you intend to practice polygamy?" ACtually my wife later told me that she didn't quite understand his questions, and she felt badly afterward. So second advice: TEACH YOUR INTERNATIONAL SPOUSE HOW TO ASK "can you please slow down/repeat the question?" rather than bluffing.
That's basically it. At the end, he asked to see our photos and other information that we wanted to add to the file. He didn't seem to care much about that.
Here's my commentary:
These officers have to get through a lot of applications every day. Maybe he had reviewed it for a few minutes before calling us, because as he was reading it, I felt that it was the first time he was seeing it. I also felt that he already had his mind made up, for the most part, and was just cross-checking and verifying. I guess because my wife is South Korean, he didn't have much hesitation. Most importantly, our relationship is real. That's what matters. He didn't ask too many hard questions.
Unfortunately, he couldn't approve us yet, because for some reason they didn't have her medical documents, which she had given at Chicago airport back in June when she arrived. The IO basically said it's a mistake. he will try to find the documents, but maybe there will be RFE to get a Civil Surgeon i-693 medical report. Please wait 1-2 months...
So, we were devastated after we left. We thought we can be approved, but now its more waiting, and not knowing what will happen.
After a few days we recovered our feeling, and yesterday she got the AP/EAD card, so we can move our lives forward at least. Hopefully, the IO can find the medical, but I'm not hopeful. So, until next year... hang in there!
(I gave 4 stars just because of our results, but otherwise, I had no problem with Charlotte USCIS. The officer was friendly, it was quick, and not intimidating). Thanks!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #27708