Done with Interview

[Chicago1978]

I had my interview 3 days ago & my wife & I probably stayed there for about 30 minutes.

My wife was more prepared than I was. She has all copies & originals of all the documents we sent them & more.
The officer could tell I was so nervous & told me to calm down & asked if she should ask my wife the questions first. But I told her to go ahead with me to get it done & over with.
She asked me basic questions (name, birthdate & stuff like if I have children anywhere in the world, how my wife & I met & who proposed & how the proposal went).
What concerns her is that my wife & I had a short engagement & we told her, we planned on getting married this year but decided to go ahead with it last year just so her & I can travel outside of the country.
The entire 20 minutes was probably spent asking me questions of why I stayed here longer than permitted (I overstayed). My sister has breast cancer & I am her only family besides her husband to help her out besides her husband. She asked how she was doing & informed her that her cancer came back in 2015.
She asked about my parents & where they live. My father just passed away couple of months ago. She said she was sorry to hear that & updated my I-485.
I honestly don't know how I did. My wife & I answered all questions to the best of our knowledge truthfully. During the interview, I thought I forgot how to speak English. lol.

I would say, the IO was pretty nice & was joking with us at times.
She also asked for more evidence of anything with both our names in it. We got more copies of our credit cards which states that I use the credit card more than my wife. She joked about what I do all day, who does the laundry & who basically does most of the chores. Me, of course since I stay home most of the time. She also asked how I support myself, I told her I live off of my wife's paychecks.
She also took my I-94. She said she didn't need the copy & wanted the original.

At the end of the interview, she said she will mail us a letter if she needs more documents within 2 weeks.
I asked about my EAD, she said I wouldn't need it once green card is received & besides, she mentioned that those are processed from a different department.

So now, we wait, my status just says "Interview is Completed, Case must be reviewed". I am still a nervous wreck & can't sleep.

Goodluck to everyone!

[Tezza]

I had my interview 3 days ago & my wife & I probably stayed there for about 30 minutes.

My wife was more prepared than I was. She has all copies & originals of all the documents we sent them & more.
The officer could tell I was so nervous & told me to calm down & asked if she should ask my wife the questions first. But I told her to go ahead with me to get it done & over with.
She asked me basic questions (name, birthdate & stuff like if I have children anywhere in the world, how my wife & I met & who proposed & how the proposal went).
What concerns her is that my wife & I had a short engagement & we told her, we planned on getting married this year but decided to go ahead with it last year just so her & I can travel outside of the country.
The entire 20 minutes was probably spent asking me questions of why I stayed here longer than permitted (I overstayed). My sister has breast cancer & I am her only family besides her husband to help her out besides her husband. She asked how she was doing & informed her that her cancer came back in 2015.
She asked about my parents & where they live. My father just passed away couple of months ago. She said she was sorry to hear that & updated my I-485.
I honestly don't know how I did. My wife & I answered all questions to the best of our knowledge truthfully. During the interview, I thought I forgot how to speak English. lol.

I would say, the IO was pretty nice & was joking with us at times.
She also asked for more evidence of anything with both our names in it. We got more copies of our credit cards which states that I use the credit card more than my wife. She joked about what I do all day, who does the laundry & who basically does most of the chores. Me, of course since I stay home most of the time. She also asked how I support myself, I told her I live off of my wife's paychecks.
She also took my I-94. She said she didn't need the copy & wanted the original.

At the end of the interview, she said she will mail us a letter if she needs more documents within 2 weeks.
I asked about my EAD, she said I wouldn't need it once green card is received & besides, she mentioned that those are processed from a different department.

So now, we wait, my status just says "Interview is Completed, Case must be reviewed". I am still a nervous wreck & can't sleep.

Goodluck to everyone!

To be honest, it sounds positive to me. Thanks for sharing your experience and good luck. Be sure to let us know what happens!

[Standing]

It sounds like an approval to me. Sorry to hear about your sister and dad. May the Lord guide and protect you and your family during this time. Good luck!

[flyforever85]

Can I ask why you were so nervous? I mean, at the end of the day they will asks questions that you both know the answers. I'm long-winded, I can't wait to tell the IO the story of how I met m husband, when we moved etc. My problem in that case will be the depth of details I should say, my husband might not remember that many.

Anyway, at the end of the day what it counts is the proof of a continuous relationship and correct answers. Best of luck and come back to tell us how it did go!

[Chicago1978]

It sounds like an approval to me. Sorry to hear about your sister and dad. May the Lord guide and protect you and your family during this time. Good luck!

Thank you. Your kind words are very encouraging.

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To be honest, it sounds positive to me. Thanks for sharing your experience and good luck. Be sure to let us know what happens!

Thank you for your kind words!

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Can I ask why you were so nervous? I mean, at the end of the day they will asks questions that you both know the answers. I'm long-winded, I can't wait to tell the IO the story of how I met m husband, when we moved etc. My problem in that case will be the depth of details I should say, my husband might not remember that many.

Anyway, at the end of the day what it counts is the proof of a continuous relationship and correct answers. Best of luck and come back to tell us how it did go!

I was nervous because of the short engagement & the fact that I overstayed. Thank you & Good luck to you as well!

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Thank you. Your kind words are very encouraging.

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Thank you for your kind words!

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I was nervous because of the short engagement & the fact that I overstayed. Thank you & Good luck to you as well!

I absolutely get it. See... I've recently gotten into the show "criminal minds", and have definitely noticed how nervous or defensive people get when the FBI agents or someone in uniform is asking them to elaborate on a fact that is obvious but the officer needs the person to state it. It can't come from the officer. It's the same case here. The Immigration officer saw the mountain of evidence and noticed the short engagement. It is not the officer's job to extrapolate and think "well, it's clearly fine. They're obviously building a life together" That's what we, regular humans would do. They are trained differently, and have to prompt you to address any inconsistencies. They have to justify their approvals and denials.

In my humble opinion, the officer was prompting you to elaborate on the short engagement so that he could document your statement, then state "and the intending immigrant's statement is consistent with the substantial evidence of bona fide marriage provided".

You get the idea. I woke up one day in the summer and said "let's get married today". Called the court. They said they had no slots. So we changed plans and decided to play tennis instead - I swear. As we were leaving, the court clerk called and said she'd gotten a hold of a judge who would gladly do it. So we put on our Sunday's best and rushed over there. We got the wedding bands AFTERWARDS. That's our story. It does not fit any mold. But it's our story. We did not file right away, though. We filed 7 months later as my spouse was a student.

Anyway, today's system maintenance ends 6:00pm Eastern time. There might be an update for you. Or maybe tomorrow. Have you checked the IVR line? You just call 1-800-375-5283, punch in your receipt number. My status on the IVR line was different than the status on all other accounts. So it's worth checking.

It's natural to be nervous but remember that this is round 1. That's why you get a conditional permanent resident card. The real deal is when you remove conditions. 66% of I-751s are denied. BUT no one despair please, we will go through that TOGETHER.

The system is so backlogged, they should just hand out the conditional green cards right after biometrics and a quick "meet & greet". Come back in 2 years for a nice long chat.

Congrats! Treat yourself! You did great.

[Chicago1978]

Totally agree with you. On our way to our interview, my wife & I talked about how we met & our short engagement. She wasn't nervous. I asked her why. She said because "that's our story & that's really what happened".

IO even mentioned "You knew I was gonna ask you about this". Yes, we did know she was gonna ask.
We didn't come up with anything else because there's no anything else. Because that's our only story. That's what has transpired & that's the truth to our story. They may not like the timeline but we were truthful.

One more thing, I have no way of knowing my case status involving my I-485. It always shows up as "validation error". Meanwhile, My I-131 shows up as "Interview is Completed, Case Must be Reviewed".

Thank you. You are very kind & have a way with words to calm people down. I wish you the best!

I absolutely get it. See... I've recently gotten into the show "criminal minds", and have definitely noticed how nervous or defensive people get when the FBI agents or someone in uniform is asking them to elaborate on a fact that is obvious but the officer needs the person to state it. It can't come from the officer. It's the same case here. The Immigration officer saw the mountain of evidence and noticed the short engagement. It is not the officer's job to extrapolate and think "well, it's clearly fine. They're obviously building a life together" That's what we, regular humans would do. They are trained differently, and have to prompt you to address any inconsistencies. They have to justify their approvals and denials.

In my humble opinion, the officer was prompting you to elaborate on the short engagement so that he could document your statement, then state "and the intending immigrant's statement is consistent with the substantial evidence of bona fide marriage provided".

You get the idea. I woke up one day in the summer and said "let's get married today". Called the court. They said they had no slots. So we changed plans and decided to play tennis instead - I swear. As we were leaving, the court clerk called and said she'd gotten a hold of a judge who would gladly do it. So we put on our Sunday's best and rushed over there. We got the wedding bands AFTERWARDS. That's our story. It does not fit any mold. But it's our story. We did not file right away, though. We filed 7 months later as my spouse was a student.

Anyway, today's system maintenance ends 6:00pm Eastern time. There might be an update for you. Or maybe tomorrow. Have you checked the IVR line? You just call 1-800-375-5283, punch in your receipt number. My status on the IVR line was different than the status on all other accounts. So it's worth checking.

It's natural to be nervous but remember that this is round 1. That's why you get a conditional permanent resident card. The real deal is when you remove conditions. 66% of I-751s are denied. BUT no one despair please, we will go through that TOGETHER.

The system is so backlogged, they should just hand out the conditional green cards right after biometrics and a quick "meet & greet". Come back in 2 years for a nice long chat.

Congrats! Treat yourself! You did great.

[Vinnie8736]

Did they ask you the question together or separate you in rooms? Just curious did you come by B1/B2 visa? My wife will have her interview tomorrow.

I had my interview 3 days ago & my wife & I probably stayed there for about 30 minutes.

My wife was more prepared than I was. She has all copies & originals of all the documents we sent them & more.
The officer could tell I was so nervous & told me to calm down & asked if she should ask my wife the questions first. But I told her to go ahead with me to get it done & over with.
She asked me basic questions (name, birthdate & stuff like if I have children anywhere in the world, how my wife & I met & who proposed & how the proposal went).
What concerns her is that my wife & I had a short engagement & we told her, we planned on getting married this year but decided to go ahead with it last year just so her & I can travel outside of the country.
The entire 20 minutes was probably spent asking me questions of why I stayed here longer than permitted (I overstayed). My sister has breast cancer & I am her only family besides her husband to help her out besides her husband. She asked how she was doing & informed her that her cancer came back in 2015.
She asked about my parents & where they live. My father just passed away couple of months ago. She said she was sorry to hear that & updated my I-485.
I honestly don't know how I did. My wife & I answered all questions to the best of our knowledge truthfully. During the interview, I thought I forgot how to speak English. lol.

I would say, the IO was pretty nice & was joking with us at times.
She also asked for more evidence of anything with both our names in it. We got more copies of our credit cards which states that I use the credit card more than my wife. She joked about what I do all day, who does the laundry & who basically does most of the chores. Me, of course since I stay home most of the time. She also asked how I support myself, I told her I live off of my wife's paychecks.
She also took my I-94. She said she didn't need the copy & wanted the original.

At the end of the interview, she said she will mail us a letter if she needs more documents within 2 weeks.
I asked about my EAD, she said I wouldn't need it once green card is received & besides, she mentioned that those are processed from a different department.

So now, we wait, my status just says "Interview is Completed, Case must be reviewed". I am still a nervous wreck & can't sleep.

Goodluck to everyone!

[Chicago1978]

Hi there!
No, they didn?t separate us. We sat next to each other the whole time in the same room. I came here under B1 visa.
Goodluck to you & your wife!

Did they ask you the question together or separate you in rooms? Just curious did you come by B1/B2 visa? My wife will have her interview tomorrow.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Totally agree with you. On our way to our interview, my wife & I talked about how we met & our short engagement. She wasn't nervous. I asked her why. She said because "that's our story & that's really what happened".

IO even mentioned "You knew I was gonna ask you about this". Yes, we did know she was gonna ask.
We didn't come up with anything else because there's no anything else. Because that's our only story. That's what has transpired & that's the truth to our story. They may not like the timeline but we were truthful.

One more thing, I have no way of knowing my case status involving my I-485. It always shows up as "validation error". Meanwhile, My I-131 shows up as "Interview is Completed, Case Must be Reviewed".

Thank you. You are very kind & have a way with words to calm people down. I wish you the best!

You're welcome! You know, it takes having sat on the hot seat to know what it's like in that room. As I tell friends, having an Immigration Services Officer examine your marriage changes you. Your skin gets thicker. Once the dust settles, you will see.

Hang in there. Help May filers get those forms right so that everyone's cases move faster. It takes longer to process a case with RFEs and errors, than it takes to just process a complete and properly filed application package.

I see several cases being updated on the iphone USCIS case tracker app. Have you gotten any updates today?

All the best.