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Category >> Immigrant Matters (Green card and related) >> Family Based Green Cards - Through Marriage or a Relative

Family Based Green Cards - Through Marriage or a Relative
 
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1) Comments: My husband and I had our interview on April 9th 2009. It was a stokes interview at 26 Federal Plaza NY, and I couldn't understand why they scheduled us for stokes in the first place. Never the less we passed the interview. The only error we had was the time my husband took our daughter to my Mother's house? I couldn't remember exactly,so I said sometime after 8.30 but my husband said 9.10. The officer said that was fine with her because everything else was in order. The only thing was our taxes needed to be amended as my husband's income wasn't enough and I got my W-2 the day before the interview,plus my biometrics needed to be redone. I made an infopass appointment like she suggested and took the amended taxes into the office for her. I'm paranoid about if she got it. Waiting on the Biometrics notice now. She was a very nice woman,she made us feel relaxed and comfortable. It was like having a conversation with the new neighbor next door. I was interviewed first for about 45 minutes and my husband for less than me. Just go prepared,its a nerve wrecking experience and it can go either way. She didn't tell us that we were approved on that day,but she gave us a clue that since our marriage is for more than 2 years I'll be getting a permanent card. She said that way there's no need for us to come in to have it renewed anytime soon.
Name: R. Ilutiza
Location: New York, United States
Posted on: Apr 16, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
2) Comments: hello i did apply to remove the condation on my green card last year and since then i havent heard any this is what say On December 31, 2008, we received this CRI89 PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow any instructions on this notice. We will notify you by mail when we make a decision or if we need something from you. If you move while this case is pending, call customer service. We process cases in the order we receive them. You can use our processing dates to estimate when yours will be done. This case is at our VERMONT SERVICE CENTER location. Follow the link below to check processing dates. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register
Name: ismailysi
Location: tx, United States
Posted on: Apr 13, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
3) Comments: I had my interview back in November, at the Buffalo (NY) DO. It was so quick we were in and out of the office within 10- 15 mins. We had a very nice woman officer.

She asked us to swear the oath, she asked us 3 questions and wanted to see our utility bills.

Once she had photocopied them, she came back in the room and said my GC had been approved. She said i should recieve it within 2 weeks, which i did.

Hope everyone's GC interview could be so quick and easy.
Name: Bumblebee76
Location: NY, United States
Posted on: Mar 4, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
4) Comments: Consular Processing Experience
category: IR5 (parents)

Interview Date: Feb 2009
Consulate: Chennai, India

Jan 28, 2009: Called panel doctor Vijayalakshmi and fixed an appointment for Jan 31st, 11 AM.

30th Jan 2009:
Reached Lister Labs at 6:30 AM and no one was there. Security opened the gate and gave us the first token. We were out by 8:30 AM. Collected Sealed envelope at 4:30 PM. X-Ray, blood test cost: Rs 810.

31st Jan 2009:
Visited panel doctor Vijayalakshmi. She asked my mom about childhood illnesses (chicken pox), health history, current prescriptions, etc. Conducted thorough medical examination, looked at my mom's vaccination record and administered 2 shots. We had to wait for half an hour for the vaccines to arrive - delivery problems

She asked us to make 2 copies of her medical report and then gave us the report in an unsealed envelope. We asked her about sealing the envelope. Apparently, this is not needed since it is an all-clear report.

13th Feb 2009, 8 AM: Interview at the consulate.

Folks queue up from 6:30 AM. We reached the consulate by 7:45 and there were 50 ahead of us (including other non-immigrant visa applicants with 7 AM appointments)

2. Normal security checks at the entrance. All documents in a clear folder, no cell phones etc

3. We were seated in building 2, after one of the VFS folks checked our appointment letter. We were told to wait until our name is called. No tokens at this stage. We waited until 10 AM (2 hour wait)

4. Interview was in 3 stages.

First, an Indian officer calls you and checks all the documents, and gets the medical certificate from you. The Indian officer spoke Tamil and asked my mom a few questions (number of children, prior visits, whether my mom intends to immigrate,etc.

I had with me 2 affidavits re: my mom's name discrepancy between her passport and my birth certificate and produced it when asked about it. My mom also signed DS-230 Section II at this point in front of the IO.

We got a token at this point.

At the second stage, an American officer took my mom's finger prints and asked no questions. This happened about 10 minutes after the first interview.

At the third stage, about 10 minutes after the second, my mom was called for the interview by an American Immigration Official (woman IO). I requested a Tamil interpreter, since I'd been told earlier that I can't translate for her. This was in an email from the IV section of the US Consulate.

The IO smiled and told me to translate!

My mom was administered the oath, was asked about number of children, who is in India and who is in the US, whether my mom understood the nature of "permanent residency", number of trips to the U.S., visits to any other country, any stay longer than 6 months in the U.S etc.

The 3rd stage IO called the first stage IO and they had a conversation, flipping back and forth the passport pages, apparently looking for entry/exit immigration stamps/dates. She looked at DS-230 as well for the dates of visits. They were counting the months using their fingers My mom had stayed for less than 6 months during her previous trips on visitor visa and so no harm done.

The IO was smiling during the entire time. She asked me what I did, when I reached India, what was my first US visa. She flipped through I-864, my U.S passport (and remarked that I travel a lot), and asked me if I had made travel arrangements for my mom, and arranged with VFS for passport delivery. I told her I am waiting for immigrant visa approval before buying tickets and that I did pay the courier fees at VFS for passport delivery. The IO mentioned that it may take up to a week to get the passport and the sealed envelope.

Finally, she said every thing looks fine and "Congratulations and welcome to the United States. Enjoy your stay" to my mom. She returned the original birth certificate, marriage certificate etc to me at this point.

All this took about 20 to 30 minutes. All three interviewing officers were cordial (not just with us). All in all, a very pleasant experience.

Since our interview was on a Friday, I expected to pick up the passport on Monday but VFS and the consulate were closed due to Presidents' Day. Went to VFS Tuesday evening between 4 and 5 and collected the passport and papers. We were also told not to open the sealed envelope. I didn't want to wait for the courier delivery and opted to collect the stuff in person.

Came back to the U.S with mom, via SFO.

We were the first in the new immigrants queue and the finger printing and checking of documents took about 30 minutes. The actual time was more like 5 minutes but the USCIS officer was finger printing and getting the signatures of about 7 folks in the queue and then started checking the sealed envelope. So, after my mom's finger printing was done, we had to wait for 7 other guys to do the same before the officer took our sealed envelope and examined it and then stamped the passport with the date of entry. The officer told us that it would take up to 6 months for the GC to arrive.

No questions at the customs and we were waved through.
Name: user4567
Location: CA, United States
Posted on: Feb 24, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
5) Comments: We had our interview today and our case was APPROVED! It was fairly easy and straight forward interview.

We checked in at 8:45 AM for our 9:15 AM appointment. We were called in couple of minutes before 9:15 AM, pretty good!

Interviewer was a man in his late 40s or early 50s. He took us to his office and did the oath. Then he asked both of us for our IDs. He opened our file and started asking me questions about my info on I-485 form that I submitted with my application. Pretty much validating if I remember the info I entered like my residential address, home phone number, company I work for, date of birth and visa status etc. Then he did the usual NO questions.

Then he turned over to I-130 form and asked me about my wife's date of birth. And asked my wife if she still works for the state.

That's it and he then asked me if we have any proof(s) to show co-mingling of our financial resources our joint insurance etc. With that I opened my big folder and handed over my checklist to him and told him let me know what you want from this list . He started looking at the checklist. While he was still looking at the checklist, I started handing him all the proof's that I had with me (bank statements, health insurance, trust papers, auto insurance, phone & credit card bills etc.). Looking at that he said you are very well prepared and smiled!

I also gave him our wedding pictures. He went through our wedding pictures and asked if both parents attended the wedding, which he could tell from the pictures that they did. While looking at pictures he also asked us how we met.

Then he said everything looks great and I am going to approve your case. he said do you have any questions for me. I said is my name/ background check cleared. He giggled and said "you are concerned about that huh" ...he said yes it is cleared and now a days it's not that big of deal like earlier. He then told us that we will get our card in 2 weeks.

He then asked for my I-94, EAD card & AP papers. While I was handing them over; he asked me if I need the stamp on my passport? I was surprised and said sure why not. He said he will be right back with the stamp, he left the office and came back with the I-551 stamp and gave a 1 year conditional GC stamp on my passport. He then explained how he can use this to travel & employment purposes, which I already knew .

He then asked, Do I I know what I have to do before the 2 year conditional GC expires...I said yes to file I-751. He said okay then, Congratulations on becoming permanent residence.

The whole thing lasted under 8 minutes and we were out of the USCIS building by 9:25 AM.

Good luck to October filers on your upcoming interviews!
__________________
10/07/08 (Day 00) - Application Sent (I-130, I-485/I-864EZ/I-693 and I-131)
10/23/08 (Day 16) - Application Sent (I-765) [Day 00]
11/12/08 (Day 36) - FP Done (I-485 & I-765)
12/15/08 (Day 6 - IL Received
12/22/08 (Day 75) - AP Received
01/09/08 (Day 94) - EAD Received [Day 78]
02/05/08 (Day 121) - Interview Approved
Name: Gladius
Location: United States
Posted on: Feb 5, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
6) Comments: Hi,

Just wanted to update everyone and say we had our interview this morning, scheduled for 8 AM in Atlanta. We got there at 7.55, checked in at 7.59 and were called at 8.02. Interview was all done in 10 minutes and we were out of the building at 8.15.

It was very smooth, nice interviewer, made some jokes but was very professional. She didn't ask for too many documents from me. First she asked for passports and IDs and the interview letter. Then she started off with some general ID type questions from the G325A- DOB, where you were born, when we were married, where, where we met etc. Then to the Yes/No questions. Asked for evidence of relationship, I gave her copies of: Joint savings account statement, current and prior rental contracts with our names, Auto Insurance, Renter's Insurance, Life Insurance with spouse as primary benefactor, Shared credit card copies, notarized affidavit from my father in law. She circled the places on these docs where our names and common address was printed. Told her we also had photos but she did not ask to look at them.

She then said I was approved and should get my card in the next month or sooner. Should come back if I need to travel abroad in an emergency as they don't stamp passports any more (I asked), since the cards come so fast these days. She told me about the conditional GC and I will have to apply to remove conditions, keep USCIS informed about my address if it changes etc. She then escorted us out and we thanked her and left. In and out, no problems.

Edit/update: I just got an email saying card production ordered, approximately 6 hours after the end of the interview.
Name: nkumar7
Location: GA, United States
Posted on: Jan 26, 2009  Email this link to friend(s)
7) Comments: So, we had our interview in
Tampa. We waited for about an
hour and begin to get worried
when people arriving after us
started to get called in.
eventually after waiting for an
hour we were called. the officer
was nice and courteous. He asked
for our ID's then a few questions
about how and when we came about
living on this planet. Then he
went back and forth with
questions about how we met, when,
where got got married and why,
how long we had been together
before and after the marriage. He
asked questions randomly,
sometimes from the past sometimes
from the present. Then he asked
questions about my daughter
because i didn't filed for her
separately which I should have. i
told him the story about how I
had and then it all got rejected.
unfortunately I didn't have her
paperwork with me so he gave me
his number to call him when I get
home with the MSC numbers. Then
he asked my questions about ever
being arrested etc and then said
that my application was approved,
he was satisfied with everything.
After that he stamped my passport
and told me that I should get my
card in 2 weeks.
Name: moonmosaic
Location: florida, United States
Posted on: Nov 24, 2008  Email this link to friend(s)
8) Comments:
GC Interview Seattle DO

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The interview took place @ 11:45 a.m. but we had been there for over an hour. There were at least another 50 couples waiting and as some couples left new couples would arrive, so the room had about 100 people waiting at all times.

Our IO was a really nice, young, fashionable and very serious Asian lady. Very tiny too she called us to her office introduced herself, and asked us to raise our right hands and swear that we would be telling only the true today. She asked if we had our IDs and passports with us, and I presented her with the file I had prepared for the interview. She verified that the address was still valid. The questions were:
Where did you meet?
Were you a student at that time?
What school were you attending to?
What was your major?
What was the name of the school you graduated from?
Did you have an engagement ceremony?
Did you have a reception?
To petitioner: Where did you work before? (We moved to Seattle from Michigan, and that's where we met.)
What documents do you have that can prove you have common assets or a relationship?

These questions were not asked just one after the other, but as part of a very formal conversation, and they were not asked to either one of us, so one of us would start the story, and the other one would continue...

At the end she took the following documents: joint accounts bank statements, car insurance, joint Amex statement, and corporate health insurance indicating our married status (and me as beneficiary because I'm still job hunting.) Finally, she looked at some pictures, but didn't keep any with her. Her feedback was very positive, she said she didn't need the pictures because they rather see the people interacting during the interview. She said that people's behavior tells a lot more than the pictures.

It was very smooth, and I'm certain we've got approved: now the question is when will we get the notification. She said we should hear from them in 2 weeks, but I'm hoping for next Tuesday.


For more info on this topic click here
Name: Kirkland
Location: United States
Posted on: Nov 21, 2008  Email this link to friend(s)
9) Comments: Interview Experience at San Jose...

the questions I had - I am very grateful.

Now to the story about my interview experience today: My appointment was at 1:30PM but we arrived there at 1:05PM and we were called in like 5minutes later. The officer was very nice and he started off by making small talk about how deep my voice was when I answered him. This was as we walked down the hallway towards his office.
So we got to his office and he showed us to the chairs but asked us to remain standing for the oath. After the oath he started asking me what and how I will be doing to help with the cooking for thanksgiving. After that he reviewed all the biographic information we had filled in the forms and he was making notes on them while I answered. Then we went to the famous yes and no questions. The he reached for a stamp – I tried to make out what it said but I couldn’t. I thought it was something like ‘postponed’ or ‘repositioned’ or something (I really don’t know what that stamp said) but I was like I hope that damn namecheck was cleared. After that we started talking about soccer – he was a soccer fan just like me and we started talking about chances of some of the European teams for Euro 2008 and we discussed the results of today’s games. A minute later he asked my wife how and when we met which she answered. The next question he asked us what whether we were happy together. I answered that. And that basically were all questions he asked.

After that he said to my wife that if she could show him some documents we had together and he will approve my case. I took over because I was the one that arranged all the documents and know where each one was. He told me to relax and that everything was alright. I brought everything we had and he was gathering them together to make copies so I told him that I already had copies for him – he was glad to accept the copies. I had more documents than he really needed - he just told me that he’s got enough. He stapled them together and took my passport. I saw him reach for the stamp and bang! He stamped me passport for the temporary I-551. Started giving me small advice about job search and asked me to take care of my wife. All the time he was remarking about how beautiful my wife is. Finally he handed me my passport, congratulated me and told me to take my time to put my documents back into my briefcase. We had a photo album with about 50 photos or more but he never looked at any of them. Over all he was a very nice and friendly guy. I think they have a way to figure out genuine marriages in most cases and tend not to give those couples a lot of headache. We were done by 1:30PM and he walked us out again. Everything was over in less than 15 minutes. I am so happy.

For the rest of you out there yet to go for your interview, I will say prepare yourselves very well. I was very well organized. I had all my documents in 5 folders that I labeled properly with the contents on the cover. So when he asked for any document, I knew where it was and promptly handed it to him. He was impressed with that. I am not saying that will get your case approved but it will at least save the IO’s time and not frustrate him/her and also help keep you relaxed. I will remember the rest of you in my prayers. So long as your are real in your intentions, everything will work out fine.


For more info on this topic click here
Name: Danshikie
Location: United States
Posted on: Nov 5, 2008  Email this link to friend(s)
10) Comments: My interview experience

Hey guys just wanted to share my experience with everyone.I arrived 45 minutes early,didn't get called in until 30 minutes after my scheduled time.Anyway the officer was very polite,which put my wife and myself at ease,we were not nervous,just extremely anxious and ready to get it over with.First thing that was asked for was our id's(dl's) and my wife's proof of citizenship,next we swore to tell the truth.After that we were asked together where do we live,how many people live with us,how long have we lived there.Next came the infamous No questions and of course I answered no to all.Asked me when was the first and last time I entered the U.S.The io then carefully looked at all my stamps in my passport.Verified my wife's job and current position,since my wife doesn't meet the income requirements,I was asked to submit recent paystubs,employment letter from my co-sponsor which I did.Oh everytime we answered a question the io wrote some stuff on the forms we originally submitted.Then the io asked for proof that we share a life together,we gave the usual(joint bank accounts,credit cards,insurance policies,a settelment package from when we got in a accident a couple years ago(doest prove we live together,but shows a real relationship),letters from my in-laws,looked at all our pics in our albums,asked who is who in the pics.Our pics go way back to 03 so that was good.After that we got the good news that I was approved for the conditional gc,explained the removal of conditions and gave me a letter saying I was approved and I should get the card in 90 days...I was thrilled,and I felt free at last.I missed my grandmothers last years on this earth and her funeral for a life in this country,and I am just glad that my patience and sacrifice has finally been rewarded.Now I can go and at least pay my respect.To all otheres who are still fighting this fight good luck to you all...I had a lawyer but I didn't use their services for the interview,almost eveyone else had one.I say if the relationship and marriage is real you will be fine,just get as much documents together as possible,tell the truth and all will be good.This forum has been very useful and I want to thank the people resposible for this website and the members of this website for making my journey a little bit easier...Once again good luck to all!!!

For more info on this topic ,b>click here
Name: pville85
Location: United States
Posted on: Nov 5, 2008  Email this link to friend(s)
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