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| New York City NY |  Review on January 24, 2020: |
MikeNYC
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Interview for AOS from TN to permanent residency for my wife. We were married Aug 2019 and submitted the files mid-September and received the interview notice in December for interview date 3rd week of January. We filled out the forms and compiled everything ourselves based on the instructions included with the forms (and of course visajourney).
10:30AM Appointment at Manhattan Federal Plaza office. Be aware that google maps might direct you to the wrong side of the building, entrance on Duane street is employee only. The correct public entrance is on Worth St. Arrived at 10:00 and went through security, up to 9th floor to check in then down to 4th floor to check in again and wait.
Waited on 4th floor for 1.5 hours and checked at the window again and was told to expect to wait 2 hours. There is a water fountain outside the waiting area and bathrooms but be prepared to bring your own snacks.
A few minutes later around noon we were called in for the interview. Officer said it would be a quick interview since she had reviewed our files and said everything looked like it was in order.
Officer asked the US citizen sponsor questions first: tell me about where you met, how you started living together, and how did proposal happen.
Asked to see originals of marriage certificate and the applicant's birth certificate. We didn't have an original of the birth certificate since it's located at parents home in foreign country and they were satisfied with that explanation.
Asked to see evidence of bone fides. Presented letter from apartment stating that we live together, joint cell phone bill, 3 plane ticket receipts for trips taken together, and joint checking account. Officer asked why I only printed the first page of the bank statement (I'm sure you know that most statements only the first 1-2 pages is important and the rest are notices or advertisements). Officer also asked why I only included the most recent statement and that I should've printed out every monthly statement since the account was made.
Officer asked who attended the wedding. We had a courthouse ceremony with only a photographer as the witness. We explained that later this year we're going to have a church ceremony and reception for family who all live out of town. At this point she asked to see documentation of the plans and invoices for catering and vendors for the ceremony that will happen later this year. I said we didn't have any of those documents printed since we didn't expect to need them. Officer exclaimed of course those documents are necessary to prove this is a bone fide marriage. We were able to pull up a catering invoice on the phone and show it to the officer which they accepted.
Then officer asked the applicant all questions from the I-485, spouse's birthday and age and what gift was given for birthday.
Officer said though they plan to approve the file and that as long as the background check comes back clean the green card will be sent out.
Officer did reprimanded us and told us we need to be more prepared next time when we do the second interview (to remove the conditional status). Gave us a printed out paper with more details about which forms to submit in 2 years to remove conditional status.
Interview time about 25 minutes
Total time spent in building about 3 hours
From submitting to interview was 4 months (we are in Queens county NY)
Thoughts and notes:
- Officer warned my spouse to stop nodding her head in agreement while I spoke since the question was being directed at me
- I had printed out 3 years worth of tax forms, recent pay stubs, employment verification, work ID card. They never asked to see any of this and accepted the previously submitted documents.
- Not sure why the officer wanted to see documentation for a future church ceremony and reception considering we already provided proof of a legal NY state marriage.
- We could overhear the officer in the adjacent cubicle telling the husband of the couple to stop interjecting while he was questioning the wife and that if the husband spoke again he would eject them and cancel the interview.
- Our officer was friendly and warm but did increase our stress level by asking for documentation that is outside the scope of anything that we were instructed to bring.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #27856