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| Las Vegas NV |  Review on May 14, 2012: |
jdh
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
Background: AOS from Tourist status - Canadian visitor with no I-94. We crossed the border in June of 2006, were inspected and did go through secondary screening after which we were approved for entry. After we decided to give living here a shot we got an apartment, found my wife a job and got things stable. After speaking with USCIS they informed us that I could adjust my status without having to leave. We started researching and filed in February of 2012 - our case was given a priority date of February 29th.
Throughout the process I received no RFE\'s.
What I brought: I made a folder up that contained -
- copies of all our forms of ID - Passports, state ID\'s, broth certificates etc. as well as the originals.
- joint bank account info, joint insurance card, joint lease document.
- pictures spanning our 6 year marriage, correspondence, Facebook page printouts, Costco cards, honeymoon tickets, ring receipts and photography contract.
- employer letter, tax transcript for 2011, recent paystubs...and I think that\'s about it.
I did not print out all the forms I had already sent them. My logic was that if something was missing from that packet they would have asked for it via an RFE already. I focused instead on additional evidence and of course the originals from the evidence I had already sent them.
Interview:
We were booked for 9:30 AM. We showed up about 10 minutes early. There was one couple in front of us in the security line and about 20 people in the waiting room - not all of which were there for interviews (several were getting information at the windows).
We waited until about 9:35-9:40 and a gentleman probably in his 50\'s called my name.
He introduced himself as Officer Clyne and took us back to his office.
First he asked us to remain standing and take an oath to be truthful.
Second he asked for my passport and ID and my wifes state ID.
He looked through my passport and asked where my I-94 was. I had to explain to him that Canadians do not necessarily get an I-94 especially when traveling by land. He was like, \"They don\'t stamp your passport? So what do they say when you cross?\"
I told him they just as some basic questions about why you are coming over and then let you through, typically.
He flipped through some papers and was like, \"Hmm, yeah you are recorded...\"
These papers appeared to me to be arrival records as each paper had only a small amount of text on top which appeared to be time stamps.
The weird thing was he asked where Lewiston was and when I told him it was in Maine he was like, \"Oh that is why...\"
The interesting part of that is that I never crossed in Lewiston, I crossed in NY. I think he may have had just a generic printout of some time stamps that showed some of my border crossings (of which there would be dozens) the last time I would have crossed in Lewiston would have been years ago. :P. What he clearly did not have is anything regarding the secondary screening I had to go through the last couple times I crossed.
Anyhow, after that he was like, \"Ok then, let\'s get this going.\" Then turned his attention to my packet and proceeded to confirm my name, date of birth, address, parents names and quickly skimmed the yes/no communist, militia type questions.
Next was my wifes turn to answer her name, date of birth and parents name.
He asked if we had kids - basically confirming the info on the forms. Asked about when and where we were married.
He flipped through the papers some more, and when he got to the I-864 just asked my wife where she worked, and upon noticing no tax return asked if we filed for 2011 to which we answered yes and provided him with a copy. He asked, \"Is this my copy?\". We said yes and he put it aside and didn\'t even look at it.
Satisfied with the paperwork he closed the packet and focused on us.
He asked how we met - gave him the brief story. He asked if we had met each others family.
He asked what brought us here to which my answer was, \"Why wouldn\'t you want to move here?\" I chuckled and went on to explain that we loved the weather, had visited and found the people really friendly and fell in love with it overall, plus the housing market was a big draw.\"
He asked if we wanted to add anything to his file and I listed some of the things I had brought and gave him joint bank accounts, joint lease, joint car insurance and a bunch of pictures to look at.
He flipped through the pictures quickly and then handed them all back to me. The other stuff he took but didn\'t really look at them.
He asked if we had anything else and I listed some various things from dating etc. and he just said, \"No I don\'t need all that, it\'s fine.\"
The interesting thing to note here is that in many of the reviews I have read, people have mentioned that the officer needed to photocopy their ID\'s. I had copies made for him of all our ID\'s but apparently he felt that the ones I had orginaly sent were all he needed. :thumbs:
So he turned to his computer and started typing and looking at my form for info saying, \"Ok, I just need to do a little paperwork.\"
While he did this he started talking about the trip to Vancouver he and his wife took last year and by the time he was done there was a paper sitting in front of me stating I was recommended for approval!
He proceeded to outline that I would receive my ten year card in the mail within a week and be eligible for citizenship in three years.
Done! We were on our way home before 10:00
Overall great, low stress interview. Officer Clyne was professional but friendly enough. He seemed like a pretty relaxed person.
Happy dance! Overall good process experience - everything was streamlined and quick, no RFE\'s and under three months from filing to approval!
:dance: :dance: :dance:
(updated on May 14, 2012)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9671