interview in 22 days

[Son of Clyde]

I just got the sealed envelopes from the medical exam I probably did not have to have done again.

Just wondering how thorough I need be with the interview. Jet was saying the immigration officer will have everything I have sent thus far so is there need to bring the same documents again?

I spoke with an attorney who suggested I bring a number of photographs since their arrival, my 2005 tax returns and anything that will have our names, such as my application adding them to my health insurance policy, my updated car insurance with my wife added and her US drivers license. He said the interview with my stepson will be incidental and we will probably all be in one very small room together.

Anyone else from Maryland been through the interview here at the Fallon Building?
 
Only 3 weeks to go.

The attorney told me that the interviewer will not divulge whether the AOS has been approved and the temp green card may not arrive for months.

Apparently Baltimore is extremely backed up.

[catzenmouse]

SoC,

 With them is it always better to be safe and bring everything with you. Anything and everything showing joint anything. Overkill is the best way to describe it. I know that there are some good people at these places but I do not (and will never) trust them to do the job the right way the first time. We've already had too many delays because of what they did or how they did it.

Best of luck!

Ken

[jb]

Clyde,

All of the advice given here is good stuff, read and heed.

Understand that the general underlying purpose of the interview is to make sure the marriage is a real one, not a sham marriage for the purpose of immigration subterfuge.  Your's and your wife's physical demeanor, as in, how well you relate to one another, how good is your home life, how are you getting on with your stepson, etc., will be evaluated by the interviewer who will ultimately make a decision based on what he or she sees.  Our interviewer was a lady, who after a few minutes of conversation, noted out loud that she was sure we were really "married", as far as she was concerned the Green Cards were a done deal after that.  She did go through the formality of reviewing all the documents in our "package", (I was amazed at how fat the file had become), and correcting any small mistakes.  I expected her to look more closely at our finances than she did, but she only gave a cursory 2 second look at the 3 years worth of tax returns and other supporting documents, she made sure our latest tax returns were "Married, Filing Jointly", but other than that, I don't think she was actually interested in anything else.  She was more interested in how well my wife was adapting to life in the USA than anything else.  The fact that Etna already had a Texas Drivers License, was listed on the joint bank accounts and insurance policies, was employed as a teacher, knew a lot about local politics and customs, and was sincere in wanting to make America truly her home, was what impressed the interviewer.

As an aside, and this is certainly not directed at Clyde, because I don't think he would have one, but if you are a man who insisted on getting a pre-nuptial agreement protecting assets from your new wife, I wouldn't mention it during the AOS interview, I got the impression that would not have sat well with this BCIS agent.

[Son of Clyde]

No pre nup for me. Good or bad I decided it was not for me and would be construed as my not trusting her from day one. One thing we have is mutual trust.

[jb]

Clyde, I view that as a good thing.  FWIW, I don't have a pre-nup either, and after 5 years together I haven't regretted it. 

Trust is everything.

[BC]

Yes jb.. trust is indeed priceless.

After my divorce hearing in Germany (alimony/support etc are decided as a separate issue) my ex-wife and her lawyer confronted me after the hearing and mentioned support proceedings.  I told them 'either trust me or fight me'.

They trusted and I was fair. Never heard from the lawyer again.

Someone will certainly mention a Beatle as example for the need for prenups but I'm quite confident their experience is similar.



 

[catzenmouse]

We did not do a prenup. I read all about how you need one but I feel like jb, SoC, and BC here. If I am to spend my life with her then to show right off that I don't trust her is a signal that there is nothing to build this on. I've always felt that if things went South with us then I would give her whatever she needed to have a successful life. After all, she gave up everything she ever knew to be with me to begin with. If that does not show faith and trust then I don't know what does.

Ken

[David1963]

I just got the sealed envelopes from the medical exam I probably did not have to have done again.

Just wondering how thorough I need be with the interview. Jet was saying the immigration officer will have everything I have sent thus far so is there need to bring the same documents again?

I spoke with an attorney who suggested I bring a number of photographs since their arrival, my 2005 tax returns and anything that will have our names, such as my application adding them to my health insurance policy, my updated car insurance with my wife added and her US drivers license. He said the interview with my stepson will be incidental and we will probably all be in one very small room together.

Anyone else from Maryland been through the interview here at the Fallon Building?
 
Only 3 weeks to go.

The attorney told me that the interviewer will not divulge whether the AOS has been approved and the temp green card may not arrive for months.

Apparently Baltimore is extremely backed up.

Good luck on your interview Clyde.

My wife had hers last week and the lady said her GC should arrive within 2 months.

I brought 2005 tax returns and soome bills for dental expenses to prove there was a relationship.  No extra photos though but it went well.

My wife knows enough English that she could understand the interviewer and answer the questions without my help.

We did the medical again also, good thing, the shot records were not up-to-date.

The file she had on us had all the paperwork I had sent previously and the lady organized it and added the updated info we brought.

[Son of Clyde]

Thanks David, and congratulations to you. I feel a bit relieved now.
The civil surgeon said I have a type A personality because I am so organized.
If he only knew how nerve wrenching this all is.
Actually, the doctor was an immigrant from China, 43 years ago. He stayed at the same location for all these years because he wants to help other immigrants. He actually was trying to make sure I really needed the medical exams or only an updated list of their vaccinations. I told him it was better safe than sorry.
.

[catzenmouse]

 Here's an interesting tidbit. We got a letter today from Idiot Central (read that as USCIS) that Sergei (who will be 6 in a few weeks) will have to go for an interview for his green card. Elena was issued a green card without an interview.

 I guess that they are more worried about kindergarden green card scammers now. Wonder how many have been arrested and deported lately.

 Honestly, there are two things that boil my blood: 1 is idiots with their cell phones trying to kill me while they are driving, and 2 is anything to do with Idiot Central.

 Ken

[Son of Clyde]

IRS is the number two idiot central after they screwed up my tax return. Still waiting for my $5,023.00 refund check. They lost my W-2 because I reworked my return to exclude my stepson and they did not take the W-2 off of the erroneous return from my CPA and staple it onto the corrected return I had completed. And both returns were in the same envelope. I gave IRS the option to pick the return they wanted to use. The CPA did not even know my stepson could not be included so he actually prepared the form incorrectly. It's also my fault for not making an extra copy of the W-2.

[Voyageur]

Ken,

Our family has a situation similar to yours. It seems to be taking a long amount of time to process my wife's daughter's Advanced Parole and Green Card.  My wife arrived here first. She went back to Russia to get her daughter in January, 2006.  She is 6 years old. My wife was also issued a Green Card relatively quickly without any interview.  My wife's process took about two months.

We had our kiddie biometric appointment in mid-April, but have not heard anything yet. Can you please tell me what your timeline was for Sergie?

Thanks in advance.

[catzenmouse]

Voyager,

 The AP and AOS were submitted the second time (don't ask) in December. So it was about 5 months to get the AP.

Ken

[Son of Clyde]

Only 6 days and I am getting nervous. I was told immigration will most likely question us about the biographical information we submitted.

I have a copy of my marriage license, 2005 tax return and the updated medical exams ready to take with me, along with 3 pounds of documents.

Hopefully, the immigration officer will be fair. We should definitely appear to be a married couple. I sometimes feel as if we have been married for 5 years.

[Vaughn]

Only 6 days and I am getting nervous. I was told immigration will most likely question us about the biographical information we submitted.

Clyde, relax. First, nobody knows more about your marriage than you and your wife - you're the experts, so to speak. By virtue of having the required documents you have proved all you have to prove. The burden of proof that your marriage is not a valid one - is on them. From the several conversations we've had, there are no skeletons in your marriage closet....

Unless your stepson jumps up on the interviewer's desk and hangs a moon you're going to be just fine. There are no trick questions. I remember our interviewer wound down saying, "OK - now the easy part's over..."

"Huh?" I replied - "What's the hard part?" She answered, "The hard part was when you toiled over all these forms and stood in line a few times to check our progress on your AP and EAD. Congratulations !!

20 to 1 says you'll all walk out of there smiling.

Vaughn

[Son of Clyde]

Unless your stepson jumps up on the interviewer's desk and hangs a moon you're going to be just fine.

Vaughn, you have heard about my stepson's antics?

[Vaughn]

No, but tell him if he'd like to meet our Lenara one day, he'd better be on his best behavior in her presence and at that interview.

[Son of Clyde]

Less than 24 hours now. I will update tomorrow.

[Jet]

Good luck tomorrow Clyde.
It's not much different than the Embassy gig. I'm sure everyone is stressing a little now, but by tomorrow night you'll wonder why you all had so much aprehension.