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| Phoenix AZ |  Review on June 12, 2008: |
jenny_roser
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
When we arrived fifteen minutes before the interview we were told that the interviews for green cards were being held in a different building four blocks away by Starbucks. So our interpreter, my brother-in-law, said we might as well just walk there seeing as parking was so hard to find down-town. Well, eventually four blocks turned into ten plus blocks and we were pour with sweat when we finally arrived at security for the interview on the second floor. We told the security guy our story and he asked us for a physical description of the officer who mislead us into thinking it was a short walk away. They made us walk thru a metal detecter and take off items like belts and turn off cellphones. After inspecting everything though they gave it back to us. We were told to drop off our interview letter in the white drop box and wait. We then took advantage of the water fountain and bathrooms while we waited to be called. We waited like a hour and half after arriving to our appt. like five minutes late. A blonde officer called out my husband's name and had us follow her down a hallway to her office. Much better than standing like we had to do for the K1 visa at the embassy in Lima. She told me my lawyer should be seated first, than my husband, then me. I told her that he was not my lawyer but our interpreter. I guess because my brother-in-law had dressed up so nice in a suit he looked like a lawyer. Well once we were all seated she asked me to sign a waiver that said I had knowingly declined presenting with a lawyer. That kind of made me double think our decision not to bring one, but it was too late at the time to do anything. She then outlined to the interpreter how he was going to interpret, such as if my husband did not understand he could look to him to interpret something. She said she knew a few words in spanish but was not fluent. She proceeded in enlish saying that this interview was being video -taped and that this was a voluntary meeting and we could leave and go at any point if we did not want to be there. She asked if my husband understood and he said yeah we can go home if we want, pretty good with no translation from James. Next, she had James, our interpreter, stand up and raise his right-hand and swear he would not lie. Then, we stood up together and made the same conviction. She then started flipping thru our case files and asking the standard questions to Fredy like has he been or will be involved with terrorism, illegal drugs, or prostitution. She then asked us basic questions like our full names and what countries we were born in. The only question she asked in the interview in spanish was to Fredy when she said "Como se llama tu madre" Well after that she asked how we met and at what point we decided to get married. I told her how we met on the mission and then how I made a post-graduation trip to get to know him and his family better. Then told her how he had asked for my hand in marriage on Sept. 12 2006 his b-day. That's were her eyes flared with joy and said indeed that is a special day. Well, it turned out her b-day was on the same day. After that I knew she was totally cool officer. She asked if we had been married before, or if I had done immigration papers for someone else before-no no. Then she asked if we had any children and Fredy was cute and said no but we want to. She told us how she was expecting a call from her 24 yr old son who was leaving on a trip during the interview. I asked if he was in college and she said no and she said no and he doesn't work either he just lives at home. She then got a mischevious look on her face and said she might be able to help us adopt her 24yr son if we were looking for children. She said he has blonde hair so he would fit in easily ( I have blonde hair). We laughed and said ok. ji ji She then went thru financials asking for a copy of our last year taxes and we offer employment letters from our work. She asked if we were still living at my dad's house like it showed in the paperwork. We said no we moved out and updated with immigrations. She said she didn't need to see our change of address paperwork if that was the same as was noted on our driver's licenses. She asked how we liked living our own, and then declared my father who is our co-sponsor was no longer necessary in the equation now that we were on our own. She did not even want to see my dad's most current taxes. She asked Fredy how he got his job as a dental tech and he told her how he had been studying denistry in Peru and had a contact thru my uncle at his current workplace. She seemed impressed. Then she asked for Fredy's EAD, APs travel documents, I-94, and slashed or threw away these items. She laughed and said if she would have told us how she was going to dispose of these items we wouldn't have so willingly gave them up. She asked if he had his TB shot and I read and showed her his shot record. Then she said she could not take that record because we could of fabricated it and that's why the medicals are sealed. After finding Fredy's medical she announced he didn't have aids or any other contagious diseases. She asked if Fredy was releived and Fredy say he already knew from when he had gone on his mission. I asked her how she managed not to get paper cuts and she showed me how she utilized a rubber thimble that could pick up one paper at a time. She then requested evidences of our jointness and Fredy unzipped our backpack full of albulms and she started looking thru the Peru adventure one. While she was looking thru that I asked if she wanted to see the wedding abulm too. She said yes, that's next. She asked where we had been married and I said at a LDS or mormon temple in Oakland CA. Then, she exclaimed while looking at our pics how her favorite flower was hydrangeas because they could be dried standing up in vase without water and sill maintain their color. Fredy said I had my own wedding boquet with hydrangeas. I asked her if she usualy gets her hydrangeas from a florist and we had a nice side conversation about hydrangeas. We then presented evidences like joint bills, rental agreements, and insurance copies in folders laid out on her desk and she picked and chose what things she wanted to punch to go in our file. She asked if we had heard bad things about immigrations, and I said I had heard it depends on the officer and how I thought she was nice. She then enter some stuff on the computer and scribbled something on a paper and said our case had been approved. We didn't know what to say so we said thanks. Then she outlined how we had to lift our conditions in two yrs and wrote the date down to send our info in on. She said not to send it in before that date and not after. She asked if there was special event around that date we could associate with the need to turn in the paperwork, and we all shrugged and she said I know Easter. She asked if our interpreter was family and we said he was our brother-in-law and that seemed not to be an issue. She told us that immigrations would not remind us to lift conditions and if we forgot Fredy would be deported. I then asked her the date when Fredy could apply for citizenship and she wrote that down for us in case we forget. She would not stamp Fredy's passport unless there was a family emergency like his mother being sick and him needing to travel for a visit within the next two wks-which was not the case. She said immigrations had problems with people selling their stamped passports on the black market. I asked if the greencard pic would be the same as the EAD and she said yes and we said shoot. She said to get a new pic and card it would cost like 390 dollars so we decided that the pic was not that important. She seemed like she need to hurry because we had been with her like forty minutes, so she closed and wished the best of luck to us. great experience
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3002