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| New York City NY |  Review on November 25, 2009: |
shellyalex
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Thanks to EVERYONE AT VISA JOURNEY!!
My AOS was recently approved and so I wanted to share our experience in hopes that it could help others. Everything went very smoothly from start to finish and it was definitely a result of the good advice (of a dear friend) I found on this website.
We put together our package following the visajourney guides *to the letter*. The instructions that come with the immigration forms are very confusing and if that was all we'd had to go by then I'm sure we would have messed up. So the visajourney guides were a huge help. We did everything, even if it seemed redundant or necessary. Our package contained:
Anyway, we mailed the package in late July (7/28) and received our NOA on 3 August. We never got any RFEs . My biometrics appt was scheduled 9/2/09 (btw I did an early walk-in - 8/22). I did not apply of EAD nor AP as I'm not working and taking care of our 2 year old son and yes it's tough on one salary but it goes along with a lot of sacrifice.
Our interview was scheduled for November 24th (we just had it this week)! We were shocked that it all happened so quickly- just about 3 months after they received our package. And we'd checked the processing times for our local office (New York) and based on what we saw we thought we wouldn't hear anything until early next year.
For the interview we brought a copy of our original package, our passports, some wedding pictures (only a few but they included both our families and the wedding party), some nice cards that we received (addressed to both of us), a copy of our cell phone bill and my most recent paystubs. We really don't have any joint property at all ( as I'm unemployed and no one will include my name without a SSN) so I was worried that our evidence was a bit skimpy.
But the interview went really well! Our interviewer was professional but also very pleasant. He basically just asked him to verify that he still works at the same place for the past 3 years. Then he asked me for our marriage certificate, my passport and birth certificate and he also wanted to see our son's birth certificate. He asked the yes/no questions that are on the application He never asked for an additional evidence,photos, joint accounts, nothing at all. And that was it! He said that he believed us and that we are nice people and then he stamped a big red APPROVED on our package and my passport . He said we'll get the green card in a few weeks. He also joked and said it's not green it's gold. Thats it! It took about 15-20 minutes total and we spent most.
The best advice I can give to the next person is to follow the advice on this site and be as thorough as possible. Don't make any assumptions about what you do or don't need. I felt so silly making 2 and 3 copies of the same documents to all be put into the same envelope, but in the end it was worth it because our package was well organized and we didn't get any questions about it (as he says I saw no red flags). Take the extra time to do it right the first time. Good luck to everyone! and HAPPY THANKSGIVING
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5294