My ROC, RFE, and interview story.

[Aztec&Taino 144]

The following post is for information only, in case anyone is experiencing the stress of receiving a RFE or an interview. This is what happened to us...

I-751 sent September, 2013.

NOA 1 and Biometrics pretty soon after, within weeks.

RFE received a few months later.

After RFE paperwork sent back our case was transferred to our local office (Chicago).

Interview date: May 13, 2014.

10 year permanent residence card received: May 29, 2014.

I mailed the I-751 the very same day that my husband's conditional residence expired. We received NOA 1 within two weeks of submission and the Biometrics appointment was scheduled in less than two months. Then, the long wait began for a response... I was nervous about our evidence since we don't have financial ties. I already owned my own home and all the bills are on my name. I didn't see a need to change all of this since it had all been settled for years and my husband has no experience paying bills, banking, writing checks, etc. When my husband needed his own car for transportation I simply bought it because I hate owing money (hate paying interest). Before anyone begins to think that I am loaded, I want to clarify that I bought my husband an older but reliable car. My house was cheap when compared to home prices in other areas of the country. I am frugal by nature and my paycheck is not large at all, but I have always tried to live within my means. Most of my furniture came from the Salvation Army and I only buy from clearance racks at the Department store. So, even though I knew that financial ties would be important when collecting evidence of a bona fide marriage I did not change bills to include my husband nor did we get a loan together. We don't have children together. What we did have for evidence I included in my original packet, which included copies of life and car insurance policies together, copies of our health insurance (my husband is on my plan), joint taxes, a common credit card, and affidavits from friends. I made my best effort to submit all of the evidence we had, but I was nervous since I knew that there wasn't much. So, after months of waiting, we received a RFE letter. First of all, they asked for a letter explaining why we had not filed within the proper timeframe. I figured that it was "technically" filed timely since it was posted on the same day the conditional residence expired. Also, they asked for additional evidence. The first thing listed on the letter as evidence was birth certificated of children born to the marriage. Well, I couldn't simply pop out a child for evidence purposes. Then, they listed joint mortgage or rental agreements, joint loans (cars, major purchases, credit cards, etc.) and other such financial ties that we do not have. So, I tried to gather some more evidence, but I simply sent repeats of evidence along with a few pictures and additional affidavits from other friends close to us. Not surprisingly, our case was transferred to our local office for an interview. By this time, both my husband and I were very nervous (admittedly, at times, freaking out) about the interview. However, I was in a way confident that everything would be okay since our marriage is real, even though we do not have children or debt together. The letter clearly stated that if an interpreter was needed we needed to bring one along since one would not be provided. So, I asked a friend of mine to come along to serve as my husband's interpreter. We arrived to Chicago pretty early, went out for breakfast, and then got lost trying to find the place and a close-by parking lot. We finally arrived to the building on Congress Parkway right on time. I brought along evidence that comprised most of what I had already submitted along with printed pictures and a copy of our joint 2013 taxes. I asked two new friends to write affidavits and I brought those to the interview. We did not have to wait too long to be called. From the beginning, the officer seemed overly relaxed. He asked who we were and I introduced my husband and myself and my friend introduced herself as the interpreter. We were brought into the office and the officer made us swear in. From the beginning, my friend was not repeating everything as an interpreter should and the officer had to prompt her to interpret the swearing in for my husband. After we sat down, the officer received a call and said something like, "yes, I am in an interview right now but should be done soon." I thought this probably meant good news since he was already thinking it would be done quickly and it must mean approval. Then, the officer asked my husband for our address. Again, my friend the "interpreter" was hesitant. I had told my husband that morning that he should speak slowly, clearly, and loudly so our friend could understand. Since our friend is more familiar with "Mexican Spanish" I told him, jokingly, "speak Mexican." Well, he then said our address in the fastest Dominican Spanish ever. Our friend could not understand him, so he simply said the address again in English. We were asked when we got married. I asked for clarification, is this a question for my husband or for me? "Either," the officer said in a relaxed way. I told him the date. Then the officer asked my husband how we met. Luckily, our friend seemed to get into interpreter moder at this point and actually repeated the question and the answer. We were then asked to show our wedding pictures. "We don't have wedding pictures," I said, to the surprised face of disbelief of the officer. I explained that our house had been broken into and our computers and camera were stolen. "You have on Facebook," my interpreter friend interjected. Then I said, "yes, but I have some other pictures here of the both of us" and handed the officer the envelope. Those were old pictures of my visits to DR, which were the pictures I had made for the fiance visa interview. He quickly looked at them, skipping most of the pictures as he said something like "it is not that these are not nice pictures, but I do these a lot, so I can see quickly." By this point, the officer's relaxed way had gotten even more relaxed and, for some reason, he seemed amused at us or the situation because I could swear that he was trying to hold in his laughter. By the way, our pictures were not inappropriate, just a lot of me and my husband hugging and kissing at different places and sceneries. Then he said that was all he needed and that we should get a response in the mail within a few weeks. He asked us if we had any questions. I interjected, yes, I have a copy here of our 2013 taxes which we had not filed yet when I sent the RFE response. He looked at the papers quickly and gave them back to me. "I will make a note of that," he said. "I also have two additional affidavits," I said as I attempted to handed these to him. "You already have affidavits," he said. At some point, he followed up with "I will make a recommendation for approval." At this point, I was more relaxed even though I wanted to give him some additional evidence that he clearly was not interested in adding to the ream-size file. He then said, I will escort you out. My friend did not interpret any of these interaction to my husband. So, when we got up and exited the room the poor thing kept asking, "where are we goind? what is going on?" I told him in Spanish, teasingly, "they are taking you to jail for being a liar." Then, annoyed, I told him, "ask your interpreter what the officer said." My friend then told my husband a summary of what had been said. Overall, the interview experience was uncomplicated and unnecessary. It was clear to me that from the get-go, the officer had already made up his mind about our case and was just following up with the interview as a formality. Even though he was surprised by us not having wedding pictures to show, we were able to overcome this by showing other pictures. Since I am a frugal and practical person, our wedding was nothing more than a small get together at a friend's house, anyway. Not at all the traditional fortune-costing ordeal that so many people seem to prefer. I hope this post helps people to overcome their fear of the interview, particularly if they lacked finacial evidence as we did. Do not be nervous! Just be honest and bring your evidence to the interview. Particularly, bring your wedding pictures!

Best wishes to all!

[DC85 113]

Congrats on the approval. and Thank you for sharing

[muñequita y osito 2]

I am so glad you got your approval!!! Our journey was long and crazy with my husband's GC as well. Eventually it was all taken care of. The reason they sent you a RFE was because you are supposed to file 90 prior to your conditional status expiring. My husband received a letter at POE and the immigration officer also advised him of this. His conditional status expired Dec 16 2013 and in August of 2013 we received another letter reminding him he had to file in the next 30 days. We were lucky and didn't receive an interview. I guess they thought they had harassed us enough!!! lol!!!

Glad everything went well!!!

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

OP: You are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!! Freaking your husband out like that...referring him how you told him the officer is taking him to jail for being a liar. LOL You are sooooooooooooooooooooo mean, poor guy! Haha Poor thing! Good to hear though that you guys got approved, I think they just were confused as to why you still haven't sent in the evidences they were asking for, and at the interview it was clear to the officer what is the situation and was relieved. Sometimes, just seeing the plan documents, and just getting a response to an RFE where they would go "That's totally not what we were asking for" kind of makes them think either you're a class clown idiot and did not get what they were asking for, or you are trying to hide something (such as visa fraud). But then when they see you in person, and how you handle your poor hubby (just kidding!) they see, you guys will be fine. Congratulations again!!! All the best to you guys!

[Esmeralda715 8]

Congrats on the approval and thanks for sharing! I'll keep all of this in mind.

[Kaskada 1]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I sent out my husbands ROC in the beginning of May. Like you, I am extremely frugal and have control of all of our finances. I'm hoping that my other evidence is sufficient for an approval.

[Aztec&Taino 144]

OP: You are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!! Freaking your husband out like that...referring him how you told him the officer is taking him to jail for being a liar. LOL You are sooooooooooooooooooooo mean, poor guy! Haha Poor thing! Good to hear though that you guys got approved, I think they just were confused as to why you still haven't sent in the evidences they were asking for, and at the interview it was clear to the officer what is the situation and was relieved. Sometimes, just seeing the plan documents, and just getting a response to an RFE where they would go "That's totally not what we were asking for" kind of makes them think either you're a class clown idiot and did not get what they were asking for, or you are trying to hide something (such as visa fraud). But then when they see you in person, and how you handle your poor hubby (just kidding!) they see, you guys will be fine. Congratulations again!!! All the best to you guys!

Yes, it was a little mean but I should have added that as soon as I said that he laughed and said something like "yeah, right" so he knew that everything was fine since he knew I was joking. I did send additional evidence with the RFE, mostly new affidavits because we had already sent in what we had... Again, to me it was plain to see that he had already made up his mind about our case before talking to us and it was clear to me also that he had reviewed the file as he knew what proof it contained. Good luck to you, too!

[Aztec&Taino 144]

I am so glad you got your approval!!! Our journey was long and crazy with my husband's GC as well. Eventually it was all taken care of. The reason they sent you a RFE was because you are supposed to file 90 prior to your conditional status expiring. My husband received a letter at POE and the immigration officer also advised him of this. His conditional status expired Dec 16 2013 and in August of 2013 we received another letter reminding him he had to file in the next 30 days. We were lucky and didn't receive an interview. I guess they thought they had harassed us enough!!! lol!!!

Glad everything went well!!!

Yes, I knew that we had to file 90 days prior to the expiration but for a variety of reasons, among them evidence gathering and procrastination, we didn't file earlier. I thought that "technically" it was still filed on time though. To other people approaching the ROC stage: "Do as I say and not as I did!" Anyways, that is all behind us now. Congratulations on your approval, too!

[bob72601 13]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience. We just filed for AOS this week.

[DarlingNikki 7]

Thank you for posting your experience. This really made me breathe a little easier! I'm in the exact same situation that you are with probably the exact same documents and evidence that will be turned in. I'm filing in the coming months and hoping that it goes as smoothly as yours!

Congratulations