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Timeline:
05/02 - Application filed
05/05 - PD/Application received
05/22 - Check cashed
05/23 - NOA via email
05/30 - NOA via mail
06/02 - RFIE
06/07 - Biometric NOA
06/08 - Received RFIE via mail/Send RFIE response
06/09 - RFIE delivered to USCIS
06/12 - Biometric done
06/13 - RFIE response received status updated
07/19 - SR
08/10 - SR responsed said because of RFIE, time count starting back from 06/13
08/21 - SR again lol
08/24 - New card is being produced
12/27 - NOA for Interview
02/05 - Interview date
02/06 - I485 Approved
02/07 - I485 Card was mailed status
02/08 - Received welcome letter via mail
What we brought:
1. Passports + Driver licenses + EAD + SSN + Naturalization certificate + Birth certificate
2. Marriage certificate
3. Documents for previous status which were I20, I94 for H1B status, previous EAD during the OPT time (I came as F1 student, then did OPT, then became H1B worker at the time of filing application)
4. Copy of Application: I130, I485, I693, I768, I864...
5. Paycheck of last 3 months to prove incomes + tax return
6. House contract with both names
7. Utilities bills with both names: electricity, cable, water
8. Phone bills with both names in the same plan from AT&T
9. Bank statement: saving + checking account
10. ******** post: printed out friendship timeline on ********
11. ******** chat: printed out some sample chat conversation between us
12. Postcards from friends and family
13. Gift bills: mostly online and from amazon, we don't keep bills for what we bought in store
14. Tickets/Flight tickets of where we went together
15. Insurance: car, dental, life, disability, 401k...
16. 2 photo albumns of around 300 photos
17. A sketch of us drawn in Central Park + big size photo of us on honeymoon vacation
What they kept:
1. Copy of passports, driver licenses, debit cards, marrigage certificate, birth certificate
2. Utilities
3. Bank statements
4. House contract
5. Paychecks
6. 5 photos including 2 from wedding ceremony and 3 from 3 different events
7. Insurance
Location: USCIS at Holtsville, Long Island New York
On the interview date:
Date on the appointment was 11.20AM, we arrived at 10.45AM, got called at 12.30PM, and walked out of the building at 13.00PM.
There wasn't very busy on that date, just a few people were waiting at the time we arrived. We felt a little nervous but were too busy discussing about the Superbowl match that we didn't even realize until the IO called our name.
The IO was a African American gentleman with a very long cool hair style.
He walked us in his office, had us swore and sat down. Below is the conversation:
IO: "Can I have your IDs please?"
Me: "Here you are" - then handled him our passport + drive license
IO: after took a quick look and made a copy of those - "Now can you show me all documents that have both your names on it?"
Me: pull out a huge pile of documents from backpack along with 2 big photo albums and slammed on the desk
IO: look at those docs I just pulled out and looked back at me - "...."
Me: "Yeah, I know. We thought we were a little over-prepared too"
Then I + spouse handled over documents at the same time to him.
IO: "Easy, easy, one at a time, I don't want to make my paperwork pile too big" - he laughed then took his time to look at each documents and made copy of what he would keep.
When he looked at the paychecks and realize that my spouse's address and my address are different, he asked for the reason. Well, I forgot to remind my spouse that we should give a short response and on point to what IO might ask. In contrast of that, she gave a whole presentation of our timeline to him, from how we met each other, how I proposed, why we stayed together then had to temporarily move apart because of financial situation etc... She talked and talked and talked, exciting like she was so proud of the story and as if she was telling her friends about her love life. I and the IO were speechless for the moment and just sat there watching her show till the end.
IO: after the show - "You did a great job telling the story. Can I took a look on the photo albums?"
Me: "Sure" then handed over the photo, he skimmed both then asked us to choose 5 of photos to give it to him.
Spouse: took the albums back and slowly spent her time to choose which ones are the best to give to him.
IO: after waiting for a while - "Any picture is fine" then took 5 photos from her who were still busy checking to make sure we both looked good in the photos she gave him, then he turned to me - " Now I need to ask you some questions."
Me: "Sure"
IO: went over Yes/No question and then talked about conditional green card and how to remove it.. and that's it, not even a single question for me
Spouse: jumped in - "You didn't see our postcards, do you want to see some, they are very cute" - then tried to give postcards to IO (what the hell???)
IO: *laughing* "That's enough, you guys have more than what I need to see that you guys have a life together. Congratulations. If there is no question, that's it." then walked us out of the door
Me + spouse walked to parking lot and talked about what happened in the interview. About few minutes later, the IO chased us to the parking lot to hand over the sketch and big size photo in the bag we forgot to take with us when we left his office. Then spouse, while might think her show was not enough, proudly pulled out the sketch and the photo to show to the IO and started talking about that. He and I looked at each other laughing, he complimented the sketch and said goodbye and we drove home.
The next day, we got a text from USCIS that our I485 application was approved. Hope to get the card in next few days.
05/02 - Application filed
05/05 - PD/Application received
05/22 - Check cashed
05/23 - NOA via email
05/30 - NOA via mail
06/02 - RFIE
06/07 - Biometric NOA
06/08 - Received RFIE via mail/Send RFIE response
06/09 - RFIE delivered to USCIS
06/12 - Biometric done
06/13 - RFIE response received status updated
07/19 - SR
08/10 - SR responsed said because of RFIE, time count starting back from 06/13
08/21 - SR again lol
08/24 - New card is being produced
12/27 - NOA for Interview
02/05 - Interview date
02/06 - I485 Approved
02/07 - I485 Card was mailed status
02/08 - Received welcome letter via mail
What we brought:
1. Passports + Driver licenses + EAD + SSN + Naturalization certificate + Birth certificate
2. Marriage certificate
3. Documents for previous status which were I20, I94 for H1B status, previous EAD during the OPT time (I came as F1 student, then did OPT, then became H1B worker at the time of filing application)
4. Copy of Application: I130, I485, I693, I768, I864...
5. Paycheck of last 3 months to prove incomes + tax return
6. House contract with both names
7. Utilities bills with both names: electricity, cable, water
8. Phone bills with both names in the same plan from AT&T
9. Bank statement: saving + checking account
10. ******** post: printed out friendship timeline on ********
11. ******** chat: printed out some sample chat conversation between us
12. Postcards from friends and family
13. Gift bills: mostly online and from amazon, we don't keep bills for what we bought in store
14. Tickets/Flight tickets of where we went together
15. Insurance: car, dental, life, disability, 401k...
16. 2 photo albumns of around 300 photos
17. A sketch of us drawn in Central Park + big size photo of us on honeymoon vacation
What they kept:
1. Copy of passports, driver licenses, debit cards, marrigage certificate, birth certificate
2. Utilities
3. Bank statements
4. House contract
5. Paychecks
6. 5 photos including 2 from wedding ceremony and 3 from 3 different events
7. Insurance
Location: USCIS at Holtsville, Long Island New York
On the interview date:
Date on the appointment was 11.20AM, we arrived at 10.45AM, got called at 12.30PM, and walked out of the building at 13.00PM.
There wasn't very busy on that date, just a few people were waiting at the time we arrived. We felt a little nervous but were too busy discussing about the Superbowl match that we didn't even realize until the IO called our name.
The IO was a African American gentleman with a very long cool hair style.
He walked us in his office, had us swore and sat down. Below is the conversation:
IO: "Can I have your IDs please?"
Me: "Here you are" - then handled him our passport + drive license
IO: after took a quick look and made a copy of those - "Now can you show me all documents that have both your names on it?"
Me: pull out a huge pile of documents from backpack along with 2 big photo albums and slammed on the desk
IO: look at those docs I just pulled out and looked back at me - "...."
Me: "Yeah, I know. We thought we were a little over-prepared too"
Then I + spouse handled over documents at the same time to him.
IO: "Easy, easy, one at a time, I don't want to make my paperwork pile too big" - he laughed then took his time to look at each documents and made copy of what he would keep.
When he looked at the paychecks and realize that my spouse's address and my address are different, he asked for the reason. Well, I forgot to remind my spouse that we should give a short response and on point to what IO might ask. In contrast of that, she gave a whole presentation of our timeline to him, from how we met each other, how I proposed, why we stayed together then had to temporarily move apart because of financial situation etc... She talked and talked and talked, exciting like she was so proud of the story and as if she was telling her friends about her love life. I and the IO were speechless for the moment and just sat there watching her show till the end.
IO: after the show - "You did a great job telling the story. Can I took a look on the photo albums?"
Me: "Sure" then handed over the photo, he skimmed both then asked us to choose 5 of photos to give it to him.
Spouse: took the albums back and slowly spent her time to choose which ones are the best to give to him.
IO: after waiting for a while - "Any picture is fine" then took 5 photos from her who were still busy checking to make sure we both looked good in the photos she gave him, then he turned to me - " Now I need to ask you some questions."
Me: "Sure"
IO: went over Yes/No question and then talked about conditional green card and how to remove it.. and that's it, not even a single question for me
Spouse: jumped in - "You didn't see our postcards, do you want to see some, they are very cute" - then tried to give postcards to IO (what the hell???)
IO: *laughing* "That's enough, you guys have more than what I need to see that you guys have a life together. Congratulations. If there is no question, that's it." then walked us out of the door
Me + spouse walked to parking lot and talked about what happened in the interview. About few minutes later, the IO chased us to the parking lot to hand over the sketch and big size photo in the bag we forgot to take with us when we left his office. Then spouse, while might think her show was not enough, proudly pulled out the sketch and the photo to show to the IO and started talking about that. He and I looked at each other laughing, he complimented the sketch and said goodbye and we drove home.
The next day, we got a text from USCIS that our I485 application was approved. Hope to get the card in next few days.
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