Local US CIS Office Review: Saint Paul MN
Review Topic: cis_topic
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
April 30, 2021 |
| Embassy Review : |
First of all, I would like to talk about PARKING since I couldn’t find a clear answer to this prior. If you don’t live in Minneapolis or not familiar with downtown Minneapolis and you’re taking a car to the interview/USCIS office, the parking is actually located to the left of the main entrance (Marquette St, it’s a one way) and you’ll see the little curved driveway to the basement parking lot.
HOWEVER, parking here is HELLA EXPENSIVE ($18 for 1-3hours as of the time of this review) so if you can find a cheaper parking somewhere I’d suggest you go for it. Scout the area a day before or just walk / take other means to get there. (If you’re not familiar with the Minneapolis Sky Ways, I suggest you take a look at them). Anyway if you decide to park in the building itself so it’d be hassle free—-You will want to go to where it says “P2†(with 6 elevators inside, apparently there’s also a separate elevator room with only 2 lifts—don’t take that) and head for the 7th floor.
Now back to the review:
Our appointment was scheduled at 8am but we got there around 7:59 but it was okay because there weren’t a lot of people inside (Covid?). As we reached the 7th floor, we headed to where the USCIS office was (the entrance is pretty obvious), and we were greeted by a couple of Security Officers. They seemed friendly but stern. A little intimidating but they mean no harm and sometimes they assure visitors who seem a bit panicky (a couple people seemed to anxious and struggling to put things into the little x-ray thing. Oh yeah, tip: you need to clear your pockets and put your stuff into the little trays including wrist watches, belts, etc but not jewelry. They also made me remove my shoes but I was wearing ballet flats ((aka easy to remove shoes)) and my spouse was wearing sneakers and they never asked him to remove his).
So anyway, one of the security officers guided us to move forward and check in with the front desk and they gave us a number (after handing our interview letter and taking our temperatures).
The longest part was basically the waiting. We waited for maybe a good 30-35 minutes (there were 3 other couples ahead of us) before we were called in for our interview.
The hallway/s that led to our interview room also accommodated other rooms (our room was towards the end) with their doors opened and inside were various applicants who I presume were also doing their interviews with their respective immigration officers (not just marriage-based, I suppose since there were a bunch of just individuals). We couldn’t really hear anything nor did anyone really have the time to eavesdrop whatsoever so it seemed the privacy was still kept. However, our IO did tell us they keep the doors open for circulation and if ever we felt uncomfortable or whenever it gets too loud, we could always close the door. (We never did. It was surprisingly comfortable).
Anyway, when we got to our room, we showed some form of identification. Swore an oath, etc. IO said they’re trying to maintain “contact†as minimum as possible (COVID) so they try not to touch the docs that we keep and informed us that the docs we submitted wouldn’t be returned (basically, they don’t wanna go back and forth with the docs because too much touching between the docs among too many people is something the health professionals strongly recommend against (because COVID)).
The immigration officer (IO) who interviewed us and worked on our case was a lovely woman—she seemed fairly young but sharp, competent and intuitive. She was friendly and we felt really comfortable talking and chatting with her, yet she was also stern and serious. There was an air of friendliness in the room but there was definitely the feeling of being on official business.
We were never separated, We were both in the room, each taking turns answering (whomever the Immigration Officer’s question was directed to). We discussed about our case—the yes and no’s in the form, the basics, how we met, etc. (Questions were mostly directed to me, the applicant: spouse’s b-day, nature of his work, how our life’s been, how we met, what’s life like while in pandemic,if either has been married, kids, criminal offense, etc). It seemed like she really knew our case by heart as she was familiar with the faces of the other people in our pictures (the ones we submitted with the application and the newer pictures we submitted during the interview) and asked about the unfamiliar ones in the recent pictures. She appreciated the “organization†of our evidence (we put dates and places/description on the back of each pictures and bookmarked the ones that have other people in it), and told us we only needed to submit the evidence that’s related to the both of us (because i-944 is basically gone now. No need for those extra requirements).
Basically what we submitted on the interview: new 2020 tax forms, new paystubs, joint financial stuff, life insurance, health insurance, car insurance, etc and pictures. Things that prove you are indeed, married, and living together and the like.
After we were done with the interview, we threw in a couple of quick questions from our side, mostly just clarifications, and then a few chit-chats in the mix, as well.
She said she would recommend our case for approval but there could be a hiccup—which isn’t really unheard of—but still assured us that our case seemed to be leaning on the positive side. Also, she reminded us that even when our case gets approved, there could be errors in IT / technical difficulties with the website so it could show up on the website 5 mins after it was posted or it could take a couple of days. And if a case gets approved, USCIS did state that the official waiting period to receive the GREEN CARD is 30 days so no need panic if we don’t get it in 7-10 days (which is the usual).
Our status changed from Interview Scheduled to New Card has been produced in an hour (after the interview—-well, we never checked earlier than that) and we were just happy and exhaled a sigh of relief.
TL;DR:
Location : The bulding itself isn’t so hard to find, but parking could be annoying. The building’s parking fee is expensive—but you can find cheaper options a couple of blocks away. Also you can walk/take a lyft, etc. 6/10
The USCIS office: 10/10. No real complaints here, I suppose. The staff, security officers, seemed respectful and friendly (also reliable).
Our Immigration Officer: 11/10. Seriously, she was great.
The interview: 8/10 Well, I have no complaints, as well. It’s all the same—they ask you the basics. You submit more recent evidence and docs. The whole “gathering/collecting-the-evidence†is a bit tedious and stressful though but it is what it is.
Overall: 9/10 (not a perfect 10 only because we had to use up a lot of ink printing stuff and lost some sanity while trying to get all the paperwork and evidence from a giant pile of mess to something somewhat presentable and comprehensible).
TL;DR of TL;DR: Get on time. Don’t be nervous. Gather up all your necessary evidence. Answer questions truthfully.
Hope this helps!
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| Harassment Level : |
Very Good |
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Siggy on 2020-12-29 said:
ver 5.0