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| Milwaukee WI |  Review on December 15, 2011: |
stjarna
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
[Sorry for the double-post. Got confused because my timeline said "Submit Review" and I thought maybe the first one didn't get associated with my account.]
My husband (USC) and I (German, going from F-1 to PR) had our initial interview today. It was scheduled for 8.30 am. We got to the office already around 7.40 (because the shuttle from the hotel where we were staying left at 7.30). We waited until 7.45 (because we didn\'t want to be more than 45 minutes early) and then entered the building and went through the security check. There was something in my purse that showed up weirdly on the scanner or something, so that took a couple of minutes to figure out, but all-in-all standard and polite security procedures.
We went upstairs, put our I-797C into their mail-slot and sat down in the waiting area.
We were called in around 8.45 or 8.50. The officer started out very business-like (neither super friendly nor super unfriendly, which I assume is normal). He asked us to stand up and raise our right hand and vow to tell the truth.
Then he started by looking at our passports. He was curious (as in \"That\'s cool!\") about the stamp from Iceland in my husband\'s passport (because it\'s such a long compound word). I had brought my new passport (in married name) and my two old passports with me (both have U.S. visas in them). When he saw my residence permits from Iceland he said \"I\'ve never seen an Icelandic visa before!\" (again, sounded like \"That\'s cool!\"). He took my I-94 and asked whether I had been abroad since then.
Then he simply confirmed some basic information from our application (husband: Full name, date of birth, address, place of birth, work, date of marriage / me: Full name, first names of parents, date of birth, country of origin, study program, any children, last point of entry Chicago, and the usual \"Have you ever been arrested? Are you a terrorist?\")
Then he asked how we met and we briefly told him our story.
Then he looked through our application again and read over my letter in which I explained my need to travel in order to do research for my dissertation (I submitted the letter with my request for AP). He said something like \"Oh, so we\'ve made things a little bit difficult for you and your dissertation.\" (because I had to reschedule my travel plans first because of problems with the AP [USPS\'s fault!] and then because USCIS scheduled the initial interview for a date where I would have been abroad) and I mentioned that I was able to reschedule without too many difficulties, but that I will need to travel soon. He asked when and I said January.
Then he asked whether I had been teaching Icelandic at the university (which I mentioned somewhere in my application) and how many students I\'ve had and if it was a difficult language. At that point I didn\'t really feel anymore like I was being interviewed. It sounded like he was just really interested in my studies.... then he mentioned that he had studied linguistics (which explained why he was so curious about all the Icelandic stuff in our application  )
Then he flipped through two of the three photo albums we had brought and asked us about our greyhound (and mentioned that his brother used to have a greyhound.)
Then he said that everything looked good and that we\'ll hear something within 2-3 weeks, but that things usually go fairly quickly. I asked whether I could still use my AP for travel if I shouldn\'t get the Greencard before I have to leave in January. He said, yes, or once I\'m approved and the card doesn\'t arrive in time, I could make an Info-Pass appointment and get a temporary stamp in my passport. (But it kinda sounded like he expects me to have the PR-card before I have to leave.). He asked whether we had any other questions and that was it.
We left his office around 9.05, so the interview didn\'t last more than 15-20 minutes.
The security guards downstairs at the exit allowed us to use their phone to call the hotel-shuttle (since we hadn\'t brought our cell phones).
And that was our interview experience.
We had prepared a lot of materials (bank statements, insurance cards, ... the entire check-list of things to bring to the interview, but except for the passports, my I-94, and our photo albums, he didn\'t look at anything.)
(updated on December 15, 2011)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8880