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| Pittsburgh PA |  Review on March 11, 2006: |
rebeccajo
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
We arrived at the Pittsburgh office about 45 minutes before our interview. There was NOBODY else on the grounds - we went through Security and upstairs to an empty waiting room. Wes tells me there were 36 hard blue chairs in the lobby and we sat in a pair of them near the door. When we registered with the receptionist, she took our NOA (they don't give it back) and we noticed from her list that there were only SIX interviews scheduled for that day.
At right about 9, the door opened and we were greeted by a bookish young man who told us his name (Michael something-or-another). He was smiling but professional and cool. His office was meticulously neat - the appearance of a government employee with not much to do. We sat down but he asked us to rise and swore us in - he stood for this as well.
He spoke to Wes first - confirmed his name and called him by his first name (Robert) and Wes didn't correct him, but I said 'he goes by Wes'. As we recall, the next questions were as to whether or not Wes had been to America before and whether or not he had ever had another visa. Wes explained how he had been to New York on a J-1 in 1990 on an Irish passport. Somewhere along in here he also asked Wes if he had ever tried to help anyone else obtain a visa - we thought this was an odd question.
The next questions were about how we met, to which Wes responded 'yahoo chat'. He then asked about visits here to see me - we filled him in on the number and duration. Somehow it came up that we had filed the K-1 while he was here - no raised eyebrows there although Michael did repeat and confirm it back to us. I also explained that I had flown over there to attend the consulate interview. Somewhere in here we tell him the story of how on his second visit to me, Wes had difficulty actually leaving the country. On July 7, the day of the tube bombings, we had opted for Wes not to travel home. Three days later Hurricane Dennis blew his flights away, and on the THIRD pass an initial flight delay had us wondering if this attempt would be a flop. We told Michael how Wes had said to me, as we stood in the terminal - "I have tried to leave your country 3 times. If I can't get out of here today, we are getting married anyway - K1 or no - and just going to adjust status". Now you may not believe that we told this story to Michael, but you gotta know me. And Michael actually seemed to think it was quite funny.
He began to go down thru the biographical forms, querying about parents names, our dates of birth, etc. He asked Wes to answer outloud the questions from the I-485 - the ones about terrorism, prostitution, etc.
Now we get to the personal stuff. He queried Wes at least two times as to whether or not he had been married before - we still wonder if there is something coming up on a name check as our last name is common. Michael seemed satisfied though, and asked Wes if he had any children - the answer being 'no'. Michael said to me - "I see you have been married" and then asked how old my son is - age 17. He asked how Zachary is adjusting to the new family - I didn't sugar coat it - I said "they get along fine, but he also ignores Wes somedays, but then again, he ignores me as well". I got a little chuckle from Michael and he said "sounds like a typical teenager then" and we all agreed. He flat out asked us if there are any problems in the marriage - we just shook our heads to the negative and grinned.
Michael was a fairly good examiner. He seemed to be observing as well as questioning. If he was fishing for something it wasn't clear, but we must have been passing the test. In other words, just because we are white anglos and Wes is from the UK, we weren't getting a free pass.
There was a bit of a pause in the questioning now. Michael looked down at his file and dug around - he then handed me a rather thick stack of papers and said "we won't be needing this". I took the stack and recognized it as my father's Affidavit of Support. Here is where I sort of fog out and nearly lose it. On paper I qualified but only if you included my assets - I thus went with the common wisdom of this community and included the co-sponsor in with my package. To be handed back this package was not only a relief for me that my Father would not be 'on the hook' so to speak, but also a moral victory. I was lucid enough though to remember Michael saying that even though my income was short, my assets nicely covered the shortfall. I had prepared new I-864's for myself and my Father - we never needed those. In fact, I did not even need to give new pay-stubs or the employment letter.
The interview then became more relaxed and he asked if we had any proof of co-mingling of assets. We produced some utility bills (I joked with him a bit asking him if he knows how hard it is to get someone added to utilities and he chuckled and responsed in the affirmative), joint checking account statements, and our income tax return. He was especially happy with the deed to our house in both names.
He asked if we had pictures and I told him we had the wedding album. He asked to see it. We've done a really nice job on it and I was proud to hand it to him - he wanted to know who put the album together and I told him we had done it together. He took a couple of minutes to look it over - Wes says he smiled at the page we had done about my grandmother - something I didn't catch. Michael then closed the book and passed it back to me - he declined the loose photos we had brought along.
Michael then said everything looked in order, but unfortunately the FBI name check is not done so he can't say we are approved completely today. He explained though, that this is not uncommon - procedures are changing and improving all the time, but not all the 'steps' are in tune with one another yet. He said it might take 90 days or more to complete the check and he gave us an e-mail address we could use to check on the status of things in case we begin to wonder if we have fallen into 'the black hole'. I then pondered about how many things don't seem to be in tune - he smiled at that and said that was true, but to some degree it is supposed to be that way so that there are 'checks and balances'. He said Wes could keep his EAD and AP's, and for us to just be patient.
He then escorted us out. It was over in about 35 minutes.
Only giving 4 stars because we didn't get the card that day. Probably should give them a 5 though because obviously the interview was granted so early since they aren't swamped with applicants.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #472