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| Santa Ana CA |  Review on May 21, 2010: |
LT.Nora
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
We went through the security and came to the waiting area about 20 minutes before the interview time. By the time our lawyer looked through the documents and our wedding pictures, we were called in by a lady immigration officer. She was all smiley and looked like a nice person.
When we entered the office we had to raise our right hand and swear to tell the truth. When we sat, our lawyer advised the IO that English is not my first language (even though I speak fluently) so I need a little bit more time to put sentences together (since I was nervous!). She asked for our IDs, my birth certificate. The IO then started going through the I-485 confirming our address, name, telephone numbers and etc. Then she went through the "have you ever..." questions. She then did the same to my husband. She also asked me how did I support myself since coming here on tourist visa (May 2008 to May 2009 when I got married). Then she started asking questions about our relationship, where did we meet (I started telling her our story and she seemed to be confused, so I had to repeat and clarify it maybe three times and then our lawyer wanted to clarify it to her too, but she looked at my lawyer and said that the lawyer should not be answering questions (which she wasn't!) and that my lawyer's job is just to sit there (awkward!)! And then the IO wrote everything down what we said. Then she asked when was the next time that we met, when did we become exclusive, when did our relationship got serious, when did my husband proposed to me. As we were talking she kept writing everything down. She asked my husband when did he introduced me to his parents, if I met any of his siblings; if he met any of my siblings; also if we went to honeymoon.
Then she asked to see some evidence. I had everything organized in two folders, one where I kept all the originals and the other one where I had copies for the IO. So my lawyer just handed over the copies to her that were in the immigration folder and the IO started going through it and she looked confused as to what was where (so I told her: this is the renter's insurance, this is the agreement and etc). She skipped through utility bills and wasn't happy that BOTH of our names were not there (some had my husband's name, and the others had my name on it), so we told her that the utility companies don't put two names on the bill, it is one name primary and the other one authorized (not shown on the bill). The IO then told us that she saw other people that had both names on it. So my husband just said that probably some utility companies put two names on it and the other ones don't. So she just kept the copies that had both of our names on it and joint account bank statement. She asked if we filed joint taxes (we didn't).
Then she asked to see pictures. I presented her with our Wedding Picture Book (about 100 pictures) and also another album that had pictures of us throughout the relationship (about 60 pictures). So she quickly skipped through it and I offered that she is welcome to keep any pictures that she wants, so she kept the whole bunch of the extra pictures that I had from our wedding.
Then she asked me how was I able to open a bank account with no SSN, so I told her the story. And then she started typing something on the computer and then printed a paper. I couldn't really see what was written in there but I just saw "Congratulations" and I knew that we were approved. The IO then went to make extra copies of the approval letter and when she came back she said that we were approved and told us about the next step of the condition removal process.
So I would say our interview was about 15-20 minutes and we were out of the building by 10AM.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6115