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Interview Experience Newark Feb. 14th, 2018! Approved!
Timeline:
04/03/17 - Application filed
04/04/17 - PD/Application received
04/15/17 - Check cashed
04/24/17 - NOA via mail
04/30/17 - Biometric NOA
05/09/17 - Biometric done
07/05/17 - Lawyer submitted SR
07/19/17 - New card is being produced (EAD)
07/24/17 - EAD delivered by mail
01/11/18 - NOA for Interview
02/14/18 - Interview date
02/14/18 - I485 Approved by Interviewing Officer (3hrs after we left the office)
02/14/18 - New card is being produced (GC)
Today Feb. 14th, 2018 we had our interview for AOS. Our interview was appointed for 2:15 pm. We arrived at the building around 1:45pm and going through the security check point at the entrance it made me feel like I was going through the TSA at the airport thinking in my mind that there will be an agent yelling "all the shoes, belts, rings, computers, phones, and all other electronics have to be placed in the bins!" They made me take my shoes off because my shoes had the pointy toes, and the belt as well. My wife went through the security check with everything on except her handbag. We go through and were on our way to the 14th floor of the building where we met another security guard asking for our IDs and NOA I-797, 5 second look at the IDs and the Notice and we were told to go to the window number 4 (thats the only window that accepts Adjustment of Status I-485 all others are N400 which is the citizenship). After waiting in the waiting area for good 45 min, we got called in by an interview officer at 2:44pm (try and listen to them calling you because some of them yell your name, some of them just say it, and some of them say it like they were talking under their noes and you aren't able to hear anything).
We walked up to the officer, shook his hand, the officer was very friendly and you could feel his kind and positive energy, and we also asked him how his day is going and we were on our way to his office for the interview. After we got into the office, we put our things down in the chair behind us and stood up with our right hand up to take the oath. We sat down in the chairs in front of the officer and i position myself on the angel to my wife, in order to see her better and him when I respond to questions. My wife move herself closer to me so she wouldn't be hidden behind his big computer screens and that he wouldn't think she is hiding.
His first questions to us were about showing him our passports. My wife showed her US passport and I showed him my passport with my expired VISA and my I-94 as well as my current passports.
Then he asked us for our marriage certificate and our birth certificate with approved translations if it wasn't in english. He asked for some proof or relationship such as utility bills, bank statements, credit card statements, lease agreements, etc. I hand him a pocket with all those information and much more, trips that we have taken together itinerary for plane tickets/hotel/car rental, renters insurance, costco membership, etc. Then I hand him over our picture albums... we had 3 big albums, one full of our pictures from the marriage ceremony and the dinner that we went to after, and the other 2 were full of pictures from our day to day life, such as making breakfast together, being goofballs, dressing up as a bee (me) and a bear (my wife), as well pictures from our trips to different places, and our wedding anniversary. When I was handing in the albums he asked some questions.
Questions 1: How did you meet
Wife: We met back in April 2016 at the restaurant the place I worked
Questions 2: What is the name of the restaurant:
Me: <name of the place>
Questions 3: He looked at the picture of Boston that we went to at the early stage of dating and asked "Is this Seattle?"
Me: No, it's Boston and we had a spontaneous trip there after my wife's work day we went there without even thinking about going that far.
Questions 4: Looked at the Hiking picture "Is this Harriman Park?"
Me: Yes, Do you go there?
Officer: I do, I take my dog there for walks.
Me: Where exactly? We hike next to Tuxedo area.
Officer: <around the area next to the bridge>
Me: That's awesome. What kind of a dog do you own?
Officer: Australian <dont remember the breed now>
Me: We want to get a dog as some point in our lives...
Wife: When we move to Seattle!
Question 5: Then he looked at another picture from our trip and asked... Where is this?
Me: Colorado, Garden of the Gods... If you ever get a chance to go to Colorado go to that place, it an amazing place to visit.
Officer: Just a smile on his face and said "I will recommend the case for approval, you guys are good, I don't see any issues here"
Me: Perfect.
He looked through the applications form that we have submitted back in April of 2017 and went through some sections of it marking with his pen "this is good, this is right, this and that..."
Question 6: He stopped at the marriage date and said "When did you get married?"
Me: Jan 28th, 2017
Officer: Ahhh OK, Thank You
He kept looking more through the applications and stopped at another part of it
Questions 7: "You live at...?"
I notice that he left out the apartment number and I didn't know if it was on purpose or just an accidental omission but I told him the Apt. # because I was wondering if this is another way of him checking us out.
One random question that he has asked us was "What are your plans for the V-day?"
Wife and I: "We are going to the restaurant, made a reservation for tonight"
After that he said everything seems good and he told me to place my left index finger at the finger scanner and then to place my right index finger at the scanner, then he took my picture, explain that I will be receiving my conditional green card. He asked if we have any questions for him, but we just thanked him for the pleasant experience, shook his hand, took our stuff and left the office. After we got into the elevator and as soon as the door closed me and the wife we made our happy dance
Overall it was a good experience. Here are some pointers.
1) There is Parking past the building to the right of it and its fairly cheap, other parkings that are close are only monthly parkings or employee parkings and they won't let you in.
2) Be on time even if you going to be there an hour before your schedule interview. There was a couple who was late 20 min and the interviewing officer got frustrated and gave a 2nd interview NOA to their lawyer.
3) Dress up well. I seen people going into the interview in their day to day cloths and that doesn't look good because you might show that you don't give respect to the process.
4) Buy yourself a folder with min. 4 dividers because you will need all of them for all the paperwork and bring copies of the applications that you send just because they might lose them and you will be able to give them copies so they can move your case instead of rescheduling for you until they find the packet you send.
5) Don't bring any food or water, they won't let you drink or eat there.
6) Bring a book, phone, laptop to make time go faster.
7) Be respectful to the officer no matter what he says to you and even if he pushes your buttons.
Other than that good luck to all and I hope some of this can help most of you that are in the process of going to the interview.
04/03/17 - Application filed
04/04/17 - PD/Application received
04/15/17 - Check cashed
04/24/17 - NOA via mail
04/30/17 - Biometric NOA
05/09/17 - Biometric done
07/05/17 - Lawyer submitted SR
07/19/17 - New card is being produced (EAD)
07/24/17 - EAD delivered by mail
01/11/18 - NOA for Interview
02/14/18 - Interview date
02/14/18 - I485 Approved by Interviewing Officer (3hrs after we left the office)
02/14/18 - New card is being produced (GC)
Today Feb. 14th, 2018 we had our interview for AOS. Our interview was appointed for 2:15 pm. We arrived at the building around 1:45pm and going through the security check point at the entrance it made me feel like I was going through the TSA at the airport thinking in my mind that there will be an agent yelling "all the shoes, belts, rings, computers, phones, and all other electronics have to be placed in the bins!" They made me take my shoes off because my shoes had the pointy toes, and the belt as well. My wife went through the security check with everything on except her handbag. We go through and were on our way to the 14th floor of the building where we met another security guard asking for our IDs and NOA I-797, 5 second look at the IDs and the Notice and we were told to go to the window number 4 (thats the only window that accepts Adjustment of Status I-485 all others are N400 which is the citizenship). After waiting in the waiting area for good 45 min, we got called in by an interview officer at 2:44pm (try and listen to them calling you because some of them yell your name, some of them just say it, and some of them say it like they were talking under their noes and you aren't able to hear anything).
We walked up to the officer, shook his hand, the officer was very friendly and you could feel his kind and positive energy, and we also asked him how his day is going and we were on our way to his office for the interview. After we got into the office, we put our things down in the chair behind us and stood up with our right hand up to take the oath. We sat down in the chairs in front of the officer and i position myself on the angel to my wife, in order to see her better and him when I respond to questions. My wife move herself closer to me so she wouldn't be hidden behind his big computer screens and that he wouldn't think she is hiding.
His first questions to us were about showing him our passports. My wife showed her US passport and I showed him my passport with my expired VISA and my I-94 as well as my current passports.
Then he asked us for our marriage certificate and our birth certificate with approved translations if it wasn't in english. He asked for some proof or relationship such as utility bills, bank statements, credit card statements, lease agreements, etc. I hand him a pocket with all those information and much more, trips that we have taken together itinerary for plane tickets/hotel/car rental, renters insurance, costco membership, etc. Then I hand him over our picture albums... we had 3 big albums, one full of our pictures from the marriage ceremony and the dinner that we went to after, and the other 2 were full of pictures from our day to day life, such as making breakfast together, being goofballs, dressing up as a bee (me) and a bear (my wife), as well pictures from our trips to different places, and our wedding anniversary. When I was handing in the albums he asked some questions.
Questions 1: How did you meet
Wife: We met back in April 2016 at the restaurant the place I worked
Questions 2: What is the name of the restaurant:
Me: <name of the place>
Questions 3: He looked at the picture of Boston that we went to at the early stage of dating and asked "Is this Seattle?"
Me: No, it's Boston and we had a spontaneous trip there after my wife's work day we went there without even thinking about going that far.
Questions 4: Looked at the Hiking picture "Is this Harriman Park?"
Me: Yes, Do you go there?
Officer: I do, I take my dog there for walks.
Me: Where exactly? We hike next to Tuxedo area.
Officer: <around the area next to the bridge>
Me: That's awesome. What kind of a dog do you own?
Officer: Australian <dont remember the breed now>
Me: We want to get a dog as some point in our lives...
Wife: When we move to Seattle!
Question 5: Then he looked at another picture from our trip and asked... Where is this?
Me: Colorado, Garden of the Gods... If you ever get a chance to go to Colorado go to that place, it an amazing place to visit.
Officer: Just a smile on his face and said "I will recommend the case for approval, you guys are good, I don't see any issues here"
Me: Perfect.
He looked through the applications form that we have submitted back in April of 2017 and went through some sections of it marking with his pen "this is good, this is right, this and that..."
Question 6: He stopped at the marriage date and said "When did you get married?"
Me: Jan 28th, 2017
Officer: Ahhh OK, Thank You
He kept looking more through the applications and stopped at another part of it
Questions 7: "You live at...?"
I notice that he left out the apartment number and I didn't know if it was on purpose or just an accidental omission but I told him the Apt. # because I was wondering if this is another way of him checking us out.
One random question that he has asked us was "What are your plans for the V-day?"
Wife and I: "We are going to the restaurant, made a reservation for tonight"
After that he said everything seems good and he told me to place my left index finger at the finger scanner and then to place my right index finger at the scanner, then he took my picture, explain that I will be receiving my conditional green card. He asked if we have any questions for him, but we just thanked him for the pleasant experience, shook his hand, took our stuff and left the office. After we got into the elevator and as soon as the door closed me and the wife we made our happy dance
Overall it was a good experience. Here are some pointers.
1) There is Parking past the building to the right of it and its fairly cheap, other parkings that are close are only monthly parkings or employee parkings and they won't let you in.
2) Be on time even if you going to be there an hour before your schedule interview. There was a couple who was late 20 min and the interviewing officer got frustrated and gave a 2nd interview NOA to their lawyer.
3) Dress up well. I seen people going into the interview in their day to day cloths and that doesn't look good because you might show that you don't give respect to the process.
4) Buy yourself a folder with min. 4 dividers because you will need all of them for all the paperwork and bring copies of the applications that you send just because they might lose them and you will be able to give them copies so they can move your case instead of rescheduling for you until they find the packet you send.
5) Don't bring any food or water, they won't let you drink or eat there.
6) Bring a book, phone, laptop to make time go faster.
7) Be respectful to the officer no matter what he says to you and even if he pushes your buttons.
Other than that good luck to all and I hope some of this can help most of you that are in the process of going to the interview.
