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| Los Angeles CA |  Review on September 2, 2009: |
RumRunner
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
We had our interview for AOS from F-1 student visa on September 1st, 2009. Our IO was Mr. Aguilar (maybe it was Aguilara?). Anyway, our appointment was for 11:15 a.m. and we got there around 10:30 a.m. as we were driving from 260 miles away and wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time. We did wind up parking in the expensive lot right across the street from the Federal building. We were parked there less than 2 hours and it cost $15. But it's convenient and right there.
We went up to the 8th floor and had to find room 8108 (or was it 8101). Anyway, 8th floor and it's to the left of elevators. We had to go to Window #1 and leave our interview notice in a box at the window. We were called to Door 2 shortly after 11:15 a.m. Mr. Aguilar was very pleasant and easy going, he was a younger guy. He swore us in and then asked me to present all original vital documents (birth certs, marriage cert, divorce certs, etc.) He compared what I gave him to what he saw in the file. Although I had extra copies of these he did not take them as he already had them in the file. Then he wanted to see passports and id, which he did take copies of again (although they were in file). He asked a few questions about how we met, Ryan's school and major, etc. He wanted to look through our photo album and he asked some questions about the photos and what we were doing and who was in them. I told him I had extra photos if he needed them but he did not want any more photos. Then he asked for financial documents relating to our marriage. I gave him only the financial info (none of the personal info such as letters from friends/family, cards, etc.). I gave him joint bank statements, joint loan statements, joint auto insurance, beneficiary of my 401k, etc. I offered pay stubs and tax transcripts but he said he already had that in the file. He looked through the documents and asked a couple of questions. He asked if we owned or rented and I said owned. He wanted to know if I purchased the home after my divorce and I told him I did. He asked if I was the only one on title and I told him I was and that I did not add Ryan to title because I was not sure how long we'd be in that house. That lead to another conversation about Ryan's school, major, and potential jobs he might get when he is through school.
At that point I thought we were done but he said "Ok, I'm going to split you two up and ask each of you questions separately." It's funny because I was telling Ryan right before the interview about people who have to go for second interview get the Stokes interview and it entails separating the people and testing the answers, and I gave Ryan some examples of questions they asked people here on VJ. We were surprised but not worried at all. He asked Ryan questions first, then me. He spent about 10 minutes with each of us. The questions were "who drove today?", "what did you do in the car?", "what type of car does Ryan have?", "what type of car do you have?", "what was on the radio?" and other questions along that line. The final question was "when was the last time you kissed?" Then he brought us together in his office again and said we passed the test! We were so excited! He gave us the approval right away and said the card should be to us in about 3 weeks. He took Ryan's AP (that had come just the day before) and took his I-94. He asked for Ryan's EAD but it had not come in the mail so he told us to shred it when it comes.
All in all, we were in the interview about 25 minutes. We were a little nervous but not terribly so. We were surprised by the separate questions, but we are true soul mates so we weren't worried about our answers. And we were pleased we had a nice IO.  
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4923