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| New Orleans LA |  Review on September 15, 2011: |
AustoUsa
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Had a great experience at The New Orleans CIS office!!
Our appointment was on a Wednesday at 8:30AM. We arrived 10 minutes early, and my husband and I made our way to the third floor of the building. We entered the security checkpoint where we had to walk through a metal detector and put our belongings through an x-ray scanner. One of the security personnel told us to drop our appointment notice in the mail slot on the door to the right. We made our way to sit down, thinking we had a wait ahead of us, considering there were about 15 other people in the waiting area. But before we could even make it to a chair, a woman opened the door and called out my husbands name.
She showed us into her office and after exchanging the usual pleasantries, had us raise our hands and swear to tell the truth. She then began asking my husband to verify his standard information: Name, address, parent's names, etc. She then asked us how we met and my husband took that question and answered with our story. Our story includes evacuating for Katrina, and the woman shared a Katrina story of her own. At this point I'm thinking, okay, this is good, she's not a hardass. Next she asked me how my husband proposed and I answered. After we chatted about Australia for a minute, because she has a friend who is an Aussie.
Next she asked for any documentation we had proving our relationship. I handed over a copy of our apartment lease, a statement from our joint bank account, and some photos taken over the last year. After glancing through the photos, she said she didn't think she needed anything more from us and that she'd have my husband's status changed by the end of the week. Wahoo!
She explained that we'd have to remove the restrictions for my husband after 2 years, and to keep EVERYTHING that proves we did things together, i.e. plane tickets, hotel receipts with both our names on them... Next she went over the procedure for applying for citizenship.
She then asked us if we had any questions, which we did. Like how long would it take to get the green card? A: 2 weeks to 3 months, depending on how long the single green card processing center took. Q: What about dual citizenship? A: She informed us that the US does not recognize dual citizenship, but many of it's citizens do hold passports to other countries. As long as when becoming a citizen my husband pledges his allegiance to the US first and foremost and enters/exits the country with a US passport, he'd be fine if he wanted to remain an Australian citizen as well. Q: What if we need to leave the country before my husband's green card arrives? A: By Friday, he should be in the system, and he can come back to the office to get a special stamp in his passport stating his permanent residency status. And we asked a few other questions I can't think of now...
Then she led us out of her office and through a side door exit, since we hadn't needed to check any phones, etc. All together from parking to exiting the CIS office, the process took 20 minutes.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8317