Baltimore Field Office Interview Experiences

[shintysix]

Hey everyone!

My interview has been scheduled for January 14th. And I’m really just looking for some people’s experiences from interviews at the Baltimore field office.

I’ve heard that it’s incredibly rare for them to approve on the spot here, is this true? And if so, how long did it take for you to get approved?

Any other experiences would be cool to hear too. Like, how the interviewer was, length of the interview and so forth.

Thanks in advance!

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Hey everyone!

My interview has been scheduled for January 14th. And I’m really just looking for some people’s experiences from interviews at the Baltimore field office.

I’ve heard that it’s incredibly rare for them to approve on the spot here, is this true? And if so, how long did it take for you to get approved?

Any other experiences would be cool to hear too. Like, how the interviewer was, length of the interview and so forth.

Thanks in advance!

Yes and no. I have read of folks getting approved on the spot in Baltimore. Those people tend to send a boat load of evidence of bona fide with their AOS applications. So if you did that, then you have a good chance to get approved on the spot.

You might ask why? Well, let's say that you got married on Tuesday, and filed for AOS on Wednesday. (Some people do). IF all you submit is your marriage certificate (and you are NOT a k-1 visa holder), and you do not submit any evidence that pre-dates your marriage; i.e., zero evidence from the time that you dated; then it looks like you met on Monday, got married on Tuesday and filed for AOS on Wednesday. Furthermore, officers know that you now had 8-9 months or longer to fabricate evidence. So yes, expect scrutiny and expect that they will want to spend some time reviewing that you are JUST NOW introducing to your case at the time of the interview.

Did I explain that in a way that makes sense to you?

[Teto00]

Yes and no. I have read of folks getting approved on the spot in Baltimore. Those people tend to send a boat load of evidence of bona fide with their AOS applications. So if you did that, then you have a good chance to get approved on the spot.

You might ask why? Well, let's say that you got married on Tuesday, and filed for AOS on Wednesday. (Some people do). IF all you submit is your marriage certificate (and you are NOT a k-1 visa holder), and you do not submit any evidence that pre-dates your marriage; i.e., zero evidence from the time that you dated; then it looks like you met on Monday, got married on Tuesday and filed for AOS on Wednesday. Furthermore, officers know that you now had 8-9 months or longer to fabricate evidence. So yes, expect scrutiny and expect that they will want to spend some time reviewing that you are JUST NOW introducing to your case at the time of the interview.

Did I explain that in a way that makes sense to you?

If.i would have found this forum before applying for AOS I would have provided more evidence. I filed through an attorney and he just asked for the basics. I got marry to my wife after dating for 10 months and we got married here while she was on a B-2 Visa. We honestly did not have any intention in doing so since her plans were to go back since she was still in school back in her country. So worries me a bit that we didn’t initially submit more evidence

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

If.i would have found this forum before applying for AOS I would have provided more evidence. I filed through an attorney and he just asked for the basics. I got marry to my wife after dating for 10 months and we got married here while she was on a B-2 Visa. We honestly did not have any intention in doing so since her plans were to go back since she was still in school back in her country. So worries me a bit that we didn’t initially submit more evidence

Unfortunately, not everyone reads the directions. It states on page 3/12 of the I-130 instrucitons "Evidence. At the time of filing, you must submit all evidence and supporting documentation listed in the General Requirements section of these Instructions. USCIS may issue a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) or a Denial Notice for petitions filed without the required supporting evidence." Then, the General Reqquirements include evidence of bona fide marriage.

The directions have been the same for many years now. However, with the new NTA policy, and a large wave of newly hired and trained officers, we have seen more people getting NOIDs. It is noteworthy that these folks had already been married for 2 year or longer and still got a NOID. Again, I am saying you will. Every case is different.

I would just make sure that you focus on presenting evidence since the day you met. What did you submit? Every Immigration Officer is different. Just do your best to compile your evidence. Many have found this thread very useful for that https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...428#post590428

Not everyone will run into trouble. Every case is unique, but at the same token, just because Juanita submitted an electric bill + marriage certificate and got approved, that does not mean that you will, too. However, if you get to your interview and find an "ambush" of two officers suspecting fraud, be able to recognize that without letting your nerves get to you. And simply nip it in the bud and tell the officers you have all the evidence they need. You just did not know that it had to be submitted with the AOS petitions.

Attorneys do an amazing job of misinforming people OFTEN. Up until recently (a year or so ago), many members in this forum believed that if you filed concurrently I-130 & I-485 together - that it was optional to submit the evidence with your petition OR just bring it to the interview. That is inaccurate and it took posting screenshots of the instructions for folks to realize that it is not optional.

Prepare, and you will ultimately be fine.

Best,

USCFFS

[shintysix]

Yes and no. I have read of folks getting approved on the spot in Baltimore. Those people tend to send a boat load of evidence of bona fide with their AOS applications. So if you did that, then you have a good chance to get approved on the spot.

You might ask why? Well, let's say that you got married on Tuesday, and filed for AOS on Wednesday. (Some people do). IF all you submit is your marriage certificate (and you are NOT a k-1 visa holder), and you do not submit any evidence that pre-dates your marriage; i.e., zero evidence from the time that you dated; then it looks like you met on Monday, got married on Tuesday and filed for AOS on Wednesday. Furthermore, officers know that you now had 8-9 months or longer to fabricate evidence. So yes, expect scrutiny and expect that they will want to spend some time reviewing that you are JUST NOW introducing to your case at the time of the interview.

Did I explain that in a way that makes sense to you?

Yeah, that makes total sense. When we filed we included our marriage certificate from when we got married last October (PD is April 2018) as well as some photos, but nothing else. So, I imagine we will probably get held for review, as is normal for the Baltimore office.

Thanks for the info, though!

[Teto00]

Unfortunately, not everyone reads the directions. It states on page 3/12 of the I-130 instrucitons "Evidence. At the time of filing, you must submit all evidence and supporting documentation listed in the General Requirements section of these Instructions. USCIS may issue a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) or a Denial Notice for petitions filed without the required supporting evidence." Then, the General Reqquirements include evidence of bona fide marriage.

The directions have been the same for many years now. However, with the new NTA policy, and a large wave of newly hired and trained officers, we have seen more people getting NOIDs. It is noteworthy that these folks had already been married for 2 year or longer and still got a NOID. Again, I am saying you will. Every case is different.

I would just make sure that you focus on presenting evidence since the day you met. What did you submit? Every Immigration Officer is different. Just do your best to compile your evidence. Many have found this thread very useful for that https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...428#post590428

Not everyone will run into trouble. Every case is unique, but at the same token, just because Juanita submitted an electric bill + marriage certificate and got approved, that does not mean that you will, too. However, if you get to your interview and find an "ambush" of two officers suspecting fraud, be able to recognize that without letting your nerves get to you. And simply nip it in the bud and tell the officers you have all the evidence they need. You just did not know that it had to be submitted with the AOS petitions.

Attorneys do an amazing job of misinforming people OFTEN. Up until recently (a year or so ago), many members in this forum believed that if you filed concurrently I-130 & I-485 together - that it was optional to submit the evidence with your petition OR just bring it to the interview. That is inaccurate and it took posting screenshots of the instructions for folks to realize that it is not optional.

Prepare, and you will ultimately be fine.

Best,

USCFFS

I actually only provided him with our marriage certificate and basic story on how we met. I really only paid him to submit the documentation. Up to this point, we are just waiting on our interview as the online case status shows they are ready to schedule us for an interview. I'm now worry tho like i said after reading all this, since we could have provided pictures, and anything else with it. I actually spoke to various lawyers, and others wanted to charge me 5-6k just to submit our paperwork and "prepare us" for the interview. I had no idea of the scrutiny involve in these cases.

But there is nothing really to fear as we can provide enough evidence from day 1.

I actually emailed him right now, kinda pissed as i paid him near 2k to do this and It seems like i could have done such a better job. Just hoping everything goes well and we get scheduled for an interview and show all our evidence in person.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

I actually only provided him with our marriage certificate and basic story on how we met. I really only paid him to submit the documentation. Up to this point, we are just waiting on our interview as the online case status shows they are ready to schedule us for an interview. I'm now worry tho like i said after reading all this, since we could have provided pictures, and anything else with it. I actually spoke to various lawyers, and others wanted to charge me 5-6k just to submit our paperwork and "prepare us" for the interview. I had no idea of the scrutiny involve in these cases.

But there is nothing really to fear as we can provide enough evidence from day 1.

I actually emailed him right now, kinda pissed as i paid him near 2k to do this and It seems like i could have done such a better job. Just hoping everything goes well and we get scheduled for an interview and show all our evidence in person.

And you know, officers are trained to know who is lying or not. All you have to do is say "We do have evidence since the first day we met". That will end any witch hunt right there and then.

All you can do is prepare. This is my second time adjusting status. If you read through this thread by user Helpmylife https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...-to-Deny/page2 I shared a bit of how I went through AOS 22 years ago, literally with a marriage certificate and a few bills. We were scrutinized so hard, but in the end, prevailed because we were a true marriage. We got a NOID. So did user Helpmylife.

Like I tell everyone, the worst that can happen is that they show up at your door at 5am. If you have a true marriage, what are they going to find? They are going to simply find a true marriage. So really, you have nothing to worry about. HOWEVER, often times people fall into this misconception "Oh, I have a true marriage. We don't have to show much evidence or bother gathering it because people who bring a lot of evidence or show up with attorneys are probably in fraudulent marriages". DO NOT FALL INTO THAT TRAP. The faulty logic behind that line of reasoning blows my mind.

Pictures are not really concrete evidence of bona fide marriage. I mean, sure, if you are trying to show you met way before you got married, yes. BUT if after 1+ years of marriage all you have is pictures of trips, Officers sniff fraud there and trace it. Focus on CONCRETE evidence of bona fide marriage. Get an Advanced Health Care Directive and a financial power of attorney, EVEN IF all you have in the bank is 100 dollars. It does not matter how much. What matters is that you trust each other with what you have.

Read this thread. https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...428#post590428 Open a word doc, and copy and paste onto it, things that you find useful. Use FULL and COMPLETE sentences to state what the evidence is proof of.

Don't just say "Joint lease" = GENIUS!

Say "Copy of lease between Jim James, landlord, and Petitioner Jane Doe and Beneficiary, Joe Doe, serves as evidence of cohabitation in marital union at 2900 Pennsylvania Ave Minneapolis, MN 55418 between 01-01-17 until the present date"

See how much more powerful that is? The officer is not supposed to connect the dots for you. That's your job.

[shintysix]

And you know, officers are trained to know who is lying or not. All you have to do is say "We do have evidence since the first day we met". That will end any witch hunt right there and then.

All you can do is prepare. This is my second time adjusting status. If you read through this thread by user Helpmylife https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...-to-Deny/page2 I shared a bit of how I went through AOS 22 years ago, literally with a marriage certificate and a few bills. We were scrutinized so hard, but in the end, prevailed because we were a true marriage. We got a NOID. So did user Helpmylife.

Like I tell everyone, the worst that can happen is that they show up at your door at 5am. If you have a true marriage, what are they going to find? They are going to simply find a true marriage. So really, you have nothing to worry about. HOWEVER, often times people fall into this misconception "Oh, I have a true marriage. We don't have to show much evidence or bother gathering it because people who bring a lot of evidence or show up with attorneys are probably in fraudulent marriages". DO NOT FALL INTO THAT TRAP. The faulty logic behind that line of reasoning blows my mind.

Pictures are not really concrete evidence of bona fide marriage. I mean, sure, if you are trying to show you met way before you got married, yes. BUT if after 1+ years of marriage all you have is pictures of trips, Officers sniff fraud there and trace it. Focus on CONCRETE evidence of bona fide marriage. Get an Advanced Health Care Directive and a financial power of attorney, EVEN IF all you have in the bank is 100 dollars. It does not matter how much. What matters is that you trust each other with what you have.

Read this thread. https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...428#post590428 Open a word doc, and copy and paste onto it, things that you find useful. Use FULL and COMPLETE sentences to state what the evidence is proof of.

Don't just say "Joint lease" = GENIUS!

Say "Copy of lease between Jim James, landlord, and Petitioner Jane Doe and Beneficiary, Joe Doe, serves as evidence of cohabitation in marital union at 2900 Pennsylvania Ave Minneapolis, MN 55418 between 01-01-17 until the present date"

See how much more powerful that is? The officer is not supposed to connect the dots for you. That's your job.

Great info to have, thanks. I particularly liked the idea of creating an inventory. Think I’m going to start on that ASAP. We have a joint lease, have recently applied for a mortgage to buy a home, have joint health insurance and have several bills in both of our names, so I hope that’s sufficient enough. No joint car insurance as I don’t have my licence here yet. In the meantime, I’m going to try and figure out if there’s anything else I can think of to bring on the day.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Great info to have, thanks. I particularly liked the idea of creating an inventory. Think I’m going to start on that ASAP. We have a joint lease, have recently applied for a mortgage to buy a home, have joint health insurance and have several bills in both of our names, so I hope that’s sufficient enough. No joint car insurance as I don’t have my licence here yet. In the meantime, I’m going to try and figure out if there’s anything else I can think of to bring on the day.

I strongly suggest that you create a Table of Contents. Just take a good look at #1 on the thread. That's 4EVER's Table of contents. You have to state what the evidence means even if it is obvious. You have to state it. Otherwise, USCIS may do what they did with #15 user Helpmylife; they crossed their arms and just stared at the pile of papers. Like I said... all the advice is on the thread. The wheel is on the thread already. You do not need to reinvent it.

[Emt]

Amazing info USCFFS. My interview is tomorrow and thanks to your info I was able to gather a lot of info. Thank you!

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Amazing info USCFFS. My interview is tomorrow and thanks to your info I was able to gather a lot of info. Thank you!

You are welcome! I am glad to hear you invested time preparing your evidence for your interview! If you hear the words, "I am approving you", ask for the I-551 stamp - politely - even if it means that you have to wait for the officer to wrap up the case.

All the best,

USCFFS

[gottileb]

Hello,
Wish you all the best with your interview. I'm just writing to find out about your timeline. My case is also with the Baltimore office. I filed my I-485 on July 25th2018 with interview still needing to be scheduled. I can get a better sense about when my interview would be based on your timeline. Thanks and good luck!

[shintysix]

Hello,
Wish you all the best with your interview. I'm just writing to find out about your timeline. My case is also with the Baltimore office. I filed my I-485 on July 25th2018 with interview still needing to be scheduled. I can get a better sense about when my interview would be based on your timeline. Thanks and good luck!

My timelines looks like this:

April 2nd: Packet Received.
May 7th: Biometrics Appt.
May 14th: Biometrics approved.
August 29th: RFE for Tax Returns.
November 17th: RFE Received by USCIS.
December 10th: Appointment scheduled.
Today (December 17th): EAD card ordered.

I have my interview on January 14th. I would have probably had my interview months ago if we had been able to send everything for the RFE quicker, but we’re happy with how quickly this has gone all the same.

Best of luck!

[Teto00]

Got a reply back from my lawyer after I questioned him why no evidence was submitted along with the submission of the I-130 aside from the marriage certificate. His response .


“ The evidence of good faith marriage will be evaluated at the interview and not before .”

Is this true ?

Seems contrary to a lot of people’s experience.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Got a reply back from my lawyer after I questioned him why no evidence was submitted along with the submission of the I-130 aside from the marriage certificate. His response .


“ The evidence of good faith marriage will be evaluated at the interview and not before .”

Is this true ?

Seems contrary to a lot of people’s experience.

That is inaccurate. I have explained why in detail on my previous posts on this thread and on this thread https://www.immihelp.com/forum/showt...428#post590428

Lawyers are either uninformed OR know that by failing to submit the evidence with your petition, you will have a harder interview. They probably told you about how you would be separated and that their presence would be very useful. Well, sure, but you can simply avoid the AMBUSH by submitting SUBSTANTIAL evidence of bona fide marriage with your petitions.

Trust your gut. Prepare, prepare and prepare.