AOS Interview Experience in San Antonio, TX

[Fifth Echelon 6]

Yesterday, we had our AOS interview at the San Antonio, TX field office. I thought I'd share the experience.

We live in Austin, so we drove down to San Antonio the night before, and spent the night at the Four Points by the Riverwalk. Our interview was scheduled for 9:00 am on 2/21, and we were all set to leave the hotel at 8 am, when I ended up on a 30 minute work call that I just could not get off of. We left at about 8:30, and with some morning rush hour traffic, reached the Field Office and walked in about 3 minutes late.

The security was fairly easy. We handed over the appointment notice and went through the metal detector. They didn't make us hand over our cell phones (as some have reported at other FOs). We had barely gotten through security when a middle aged man wearing a suit and tie greeted us by name. He seemed to have been waiting there a few minutes specifically for us.

Him: "Looks like you guys get the red carpet treatment, with me waiting for you here!"

Me: "You waiting here could either be a good thing, or a really, really bad thing."

We laughed and he escorted us upstairs in an elevator, and walked us into his office. I didn't quite pick up on it at first, but he was the IO interviewing us. I fully expected the interviewer to be a CBP style law-enforcement officer, complete with uniform and sidearm. A 'civilian' in a suit seemed a lot less threatening, and made me feel like I didn't over-dress (I wore a suit jacket myself, but no tie). He swore us in and we got seated to begin the interview.

Things started with a lot of small talk, most of which seemed irrelevant (the city of Austin, the weather, etc), and some of it more relevant (how we met, our common friends who introduced us). He then had me hand over my passport, my EADs (the current one and my older OPT-based one), and my social security card. He asked me fairly detailed questions on my immigration history (first came here on F-1, followed my OPT, then the initial H-1B, followed by an H-1B extension when I switched employers). He asked my S/O if she still worked where she did, and went through her passport. He commented on her recent travel stamps to Dubai and we talked a little about that trip.

He then talked to us about conditional residency, and told us what supporting documentation he would recommend when filing the I-751. He also said that if we had children by then (pretty unlikely!), the burden of proof is lower if we provide copies of their birth certificates. This was followed by some more small talk about our Dubai trip, our other trips while we were together (Hawaii, San Francisco, Barcelona, Colorado), our friends who introduced us (a recently married couple who went through this same process since the husband was from Australia), and our families. He then asked us about how we got married, and we told him we had a small ceremony officiated by a pastor who was a friend of ours, and it was held at a cliff overlook (the Highway 360 bridge overlook for anybody from Austin!).

He then asked us if we had photos or any other documents for him. She handed over a stack of about 80 photos arranged in chronological order that he started going through. He asked us a question about every single one of them, which was quite impressive. When we reached the last 20 pictures, and he saw the first picture with either of our parents, he said "that's what I've been waiting to see in these". Luckily the last 20 pictures contained a lot of family from both sides, from both Austin and Dubai. At the end of it I offered to show him other documentation (I had bank statements, credit card statements, credit cards, insurance, copies of boarding passes, you name it), but he didn't want to see any of that. He said he was a pictures guy, and if the pictures sufficiently tell the story, that's all he needs.

He then started stamping "APPROVED" on our I-130 and I-485, and stamped my passport with the temporary I-551 stamp and seal. I was going to ask him for this stamp anyhow, since it looks like they don't automatically issue it anymore, but he went ahead and did so without prompting.

There was some more small talk after that as he escorted us downstairs, and we were on our way. Overall a very, very smooth process! Good luck to all of those of you still waiting.

[S_R 148]

Yesterday, we had our AOS interview at the San Antonio, TX field office. I thought I'd share the experience.

We live in Austin, so we drove down to San Antonio the night before, and spent the night at the Four Points by the Riverwalk. Our interview was scheduled for 9:00 am on 2/21, and we were all set to leave the hotel at 8 am, when I ended up on a 30 minute work call that I just could not get off of. We left at about 8:30, and with some morning rush hour traffic, reached the Field Office and walked in about 3 minutes late.

The security was fairly easy. We handed over the appointment notice and went through the metal detector. They didn't make us hand over our cell phones (as some have reported at other FOs). We had barely gotten through security when a middle aged man wearing a suit and tie greeted us by name. He seemed to have been waiting there a few minutes specifically for us.

Him: "Looks like you guys get the red carpet treatment, with me waiting for you here!"

Me: "You waiting here could either be a good thing, or a really, really bad thing."

We laughed and he escorted us upstairs in an elevator, and walked us into his office. I didn't quite pick up on it at first, but he was the IO interviewing us. I fully expected the interviewer to be a CBP style law-enforcement officer, complete with uniform and sidearm. A 'civilian' in a suit seemed a lot less threatening, and made me feel like I didn't over-dress (I wore a suit jacket myself, but no tie). He swore us in and we got seated to begin the interview.

Things started with a lot of small talk, most of which seemed irrelevant (the city of Austin, the weather, etc), and some of it more relevant (how we met, our common friends who introduced us). He then had me hand over my passport, my EADs (the current one and my older OPT-based one), and my social security card. He asked me fairly detailed questions on my immigration history (first came here on F-1, followed my OPT, then the initial H-1B, followed by an H-1B extension when I switched employers). He asked my S/O if she still worked where she did, and went through her passport. He commented on her recent travel stamps to Dubai and we talked a little about that trip.

He then talked to us about conditional residency, and told us what supporting documentation he would recommend when filing the I-751. He also said that if we had children by then (pretty unlikely!), the burden of proof is lower if we provide copies of their birth certificates. This was followed by some more small talk about our Dubai trip, our other trips while we were together (Hawaii, San Francisco, Barcelona, Colorado), our friends who introduced us (a recently married couple who went through this same process since the husband was from Australia), and our families. He then asked us about how we got married, and we told him we had a small ceremony officiated by a pastor who was a friend of ours, and it was held at a cliff overlook (the Highway 360 bridge overlook for anybody from Austin!).

He then asked us if we had photos or any other documents for him. She handed over a stack of about 80 photos arranged in chronological order that he started going through. He asked us a question about every single one of them, which was quite impressive. When we reached the last 20 pictures, and he saw the first picture with either of our parents, he said "that's what I've been waiting to see in these". Luckily the last 20 pictures contained a lot of family from both sides, from both Austin and Dubai. At the end of it I offered to show him other documentation (I had bank statements, credit card statements, credit cards, insurance, copies of boarding passes, you name it), but he didn't want to see any of that. He said he was a pictures guy, and if the pictures sufficiently tell the story, that's all he needs.

He then started stamping "APPROVED" on our I-130 and I-485, and stamped my passport with the temporary I-551 stamp and seal. I was going to ask him for this stamp anyhow, since it looks like they don't automatically issue it anymore, but he went ahead and did so without prompting.

There was some more small talk after that as he escorted us downstairs, and we were on our way. Overall a very, very smooth process! Good luck to all of those of you still waiting.

Thanks for sharing. Wishing you guys more happy days ahead.

[Kristal 0]

Congrats

[Camo 5]

You got the red carpet treatment as the IO mentioned. So happy for you both.. Hope the rest of us will soon share such great news.

[Leatherneck 693]

Congratulations!

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Congrats!

[jojolicious 38]

Congrats!

[PinkMelody 1]

Thank you so much for sharing this. We live in Austin as well and our interview will be in San Antonio in March.

Congratulations and can I send you PM maybe later for more questions?

Edited February 23, 2012 by PinkMelody

[Fifth Echelon 6]

Thank you so much for sharing this. We live in Austin as well and our interview will be in San Antonio in March.

Congratulations and can I send you PM maybe later for more questions?

Absolutely, I'd be happy to help.

[vq35hr 0]

Thank You very much for posting your experience Fifth Echelon, I have my interview scheduled for March 27th and I was wondering how they did things there in San Antone. Hopefully it will go on smoothly for me too. Congrats and good luck to your family.

Edited February 25, 2012 by vq35hr