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| Houston TX |  Review on September 23, 2021: |
keeza3
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Review
Had my adjustment of status interview in the Houston office on 22 Sept 2021. Our appointment was for 230pm.
We arrived 15 mins beforehand and got in, had to go through metal detectors. We had to wear masks and wore it the whole duration of our time there. We were asked to show our appointment letter several times at different points. Then we waited about 3 mins for biometrics. They took my fingerprints and a photo. I removed my mask only to get the photo taken and the officer was behind a big glass wall.
We then waited for 30 mins and were called in at 3pm (our appointment was 230pm). We had an older short, bald gentleman who looked and sounded Hispanic. He seemed stern but when we were escorted to his office we saw he was military, which explained his demeanour. Don’t let it put you off!
He had me put my bag on the chair, and showed me where to sit and where my husband had to sit. Before we sat he made us swear to tell the truth.
We sat down and he asked for our IDs, birth certificates and marriage certificate. While I pulled it out of our folder he asked my husband where he lived and how long he had lived there. Husband confirmed our address and was asked to provide proof (lease or mortgage document) but my husband hadn’t brought it as it wasn’t jointly in our name yet. The officer asked my husband if he had any other way of showing proof of address like bank documents, which we did. I took out the bank documents and provided it to him.
The officer seemed more interested in filling out the form and typing on the computer. After a long silence where he fussed with the forms and typed on the computer he turned to me. He asked my full name, my date of birth, where I was born, consulate where I got my k-1 and confirmed our marriage date. He confirmed when I got my k-1, when I entered the country, when I got married and that I was applying for a green card. He confirmed I met all the requisite legal time frames for entering country, marriage and filing of AOS.
He then went through our bank documents I had provided earlier. I also provided additional information that the officer never asked for but I told him we had it and if he wanted it while he was examining the bank documents. He said he would take it. They were - health insurance information, life insurance info, retirement savings where I am my husband’s primary beneficiary as well as my husbands latest pay information and two years of our joint tax filing. He barely looked at these additional documents but spent a few minutes on the tax documents. He returned all ORIGINAL documents to us including certified copy of marriage certificate.
It seemed to us that he didn’t need a lot of documents apart from ID, marriage certificate and bank documents. This reinforced to us that he had made his decision before we had our interview - read to the end to find out!
The officer then went through my entire I-485 with me - asking me name of my parents, where they were from, where I was born, places I have worked, organisations I was in, all the “HAVE YOU EVER†questions. One of the “HAVE YOU EVER†questions I answered YES and gave an explanation on my form. We discussed the answer and he was undisturbed by it. He confirmed that nothing had changed on my form and he was satisfied about the contents. He then made me sign the form.
More typing and filling out forms. Printed out letters.
Then he gave us a long explanation that our application was approved, explained the temporary nature of the card and what we had to do 90 days before the expiry of the 2-yr card. He was very friendly at the end and congratulated us and said the card would arrive within 3 weeks. He then took copies of our ID and returned my passport and my husband’s DL back to us. DONE AND DUSTED.
If our interview was in 2 months my husband and I would have met the 2-yr married mark! Very sneaky of them to get it in there just before our 2-yr date where I could have gotten a standard GC!
Just FYI - I’m a brown skinned woman who wears the hijab and my husband is white. I do however have a strong British sounding accent. I felt that the officer was respectful and thorough. I was very nervous going in and wondering if we might face someone with preconceived ideas but appreciated the no nonsense attitude of the officer.
Good luck!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #30168