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This website forum has helped me a lot, so now it?s time to pay it forward and share our experience!!
Field Office: Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Marriage date: June 7, 2018
Application Submitted: July 15, 2018
Priority Date: July 23, 2018
EAD/Advance Parole Received: November 15, 2018
Interview Scheduled: February 2, 2019
Interview Date: March 13, 2019 (1:30 PM)
Green Card Approved: 5:30 PM on same day as interview
Petitioner: wife (Naturalized US citizen, originally from India)
Beneficiary: husband (F1 student visa, working on F1 OPT, originally from India)
We did NOT hire an attorney. We have been married for less than one year, we have no kids, no previous marriages or divorces, no criminal record, no illegal stay in USA. I would highly advise that if you don?t have any complications, then SAVE your money and don?t hire an attorney. We are both young and managed to do the entire application and interview process on our own!
1) Parking at Mount Laurel field office is free and easily available right outside the office. Keep your ?Appointment Letter? that you received in mail handy because we had to show it to security office at the front door, and submit that letter at the ?Check In Window.? The security check is similar to airport security checks (remove shoes, no food or drink, etc.). There was a long waiting line, about 25 people in waiting room. We arrived at 12:50 PM, our appt was at 1:30 PM, our name didn?t get called until 2 PM, interview lasted 40 minutes, when we were leaving at 2:40 PM, there were almost 50 people in waiting room, and people waiting in a line outside the front door. It seemed extremely busy, not sure if it is always this busy! Everyone seemed to be there for either naturalization test or couples like us for green card.
2) The officer was serious and intimidating the first 15 minutes, but after that he opened up and was friendly. My husband had to do fingerprint and get his photo taken. We both had to take oaths.
3) First he asked us for ORIGINAL documents for BOTH of us: drivers license, passport, my naturalization US Citizen certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificate. He did notice that my ?original? birth certificate that I submitted at interview was slightly differently format than the ?copy? birth certificate that was in the application last year. I explained why and he just nodded and said he will need to make a photocopy of this new original. He returned all original documents back to us. (PS ? I wasn?t aware that an ORIGINAL birth certificate would be needed until 5 weeks before interview when we got appointment letter, I anxiously went through process of getting original from my hospital in India, and it luckily came in mail 1 week before interview).
4) He asked us if we brought any additional evidence of marriage, we had brought a lot, out of which he kept the following in the file (he reviewed them all thoroughly):
- Joint taxes filed together for 2019
- Joint lease for our apartment
- Joint bank account statements for 2 different banks
- Joint renters insurance
- Joint car insurance
- Joint medical health insurance
- Joint dental health insurance
- My husband?s 401K where I am listed beneficiary
- Our flight tickets together for 3 different trips ? he kept 2 of them
- He kept 3 photos out of 50+ that we brought; he did respectfully go through most of the photos, asked us a question about where one was taken, and a comment about another
5) Simultaneously while reviewing documents we had following questions that turned into friendly conversations:
- Both of us were asked: Full name, date of birth, birth place, current address, if we ever had any kids, or divorces, or previous marriages
- My husband was asked all the questions listed on I-485 form (ever committed a crime? Part of any terrorist affiliation? Etc.) ? he did look very directly into my husband?s eyes when asking those questions
- Our previous addresses and how long we lived there; when did we move to current address, who else lives with us, how we like the new city that we have moved to
- Why my husband went to the university he did on his student visa and how was his experience there, talked about how he has two OPT (F1 OPT and I-485 OPT)
- He asked me what I do for work right now, my career, had detailed friendly convo about different cities I lived in
- He looked straight at my husband and asked him ?Tell me about your relationship? which turned into a detailed funny convo about ?how we met? story
- He looked straight at me and asked me ?Were you surprised at the proposal? Did you guys pick out the ring together??
- Last question he asked ?Is there anything else about your relationship that you would like to tell me??
6) He walked us out of the interview and we asked when we would find out, he said he will review, see if he needs any other documents, if not, then we will know by end of the day. At 5:30 PM on the same day as interview, we got the notification that ?New card is being produced? AKA green card approved!
We are so thankful and relieved!!! Thank you to everyone that has contributed on this forum, I never wrote a thread post before this, but read sooo many of them, and today I felt like sharing! Hang in there, be patient through the process, do all your homework research thoroughly (this website is a great resource), and everything will go smoothly! GOOD LUCK!
Field Office: Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Marriage date: June 7, 2018
Application Submitted: July 15, 2018
Priority Date: July 23, 2018
EAD/Advance Parole Received: November 15, 2018
Interview Scheduled: February 2, 2019
Interview Date: March 13, 2019 (1:30 PM)
Green Card Approved: 5:30 PM on same day as interview
Petitioner: wife (Naturalized US citizen, originally from India)
Beneficiary: husband (F1 student visa, working on F1 OPT, originally from India)
We did NOT hire an attorney. We have been married for less than one year, we have no kids, no previous marriages or divorces, no criminal record, no illegal stay in USA. I would highly advise that if you don?t have any complications, then SAVE your money and don?t hire an attorney. We are both young and managed to do the entire application and interview process on our own!
1) Parking at Mount Laurel field office is free and easily available right outside the office. Keep your ?Appointment Letter? that you received in mail handy because we had to show it to security office at the front door, and submit that letter at the ?Check In Window.? The security check is similar to airport security checks (remove shoes, no food or drink, etc.). There was a long waiting line, about 25 people in waiting room. We arrived at 12:50 PM, our appt was at 1:30 PM, our name didn?t get called until 2 PM, interview lasted 40 minutes, when we were leaving at 2:40 PM, there were almost 50 people in waiting room, and people waiting in a line outside the front door. It seemed extremely busy, not sure if it is always this busy! Everyone seemed to be there for either naturalization test or couples like us for green card.
2) The officer was serious and intimidating the first 15 minutes, but after that he opened up and was friendly. My husband had to do fingerprint and get his photo taken. We both had to take oaths.
3) First he asked us for ORIGINAL documents for BOTH of us: drivers license, passport, my naturalization US Citizen certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificate. He did notice that my ?original? birth certificate that I submitted at interview was slightly differently format than the ?copy? birth certificate that was in the application last year. I explained why and he just nodded and said he will need to make a photocopy of this new original. He returned all original documents back to us. (PS ? I wasn?t aware that an ORIGINAL birth certificate would be needed until 5 weeks before interview when we got appointment letter, I anxiously went through process of getting original from my hospital in India, and it luckily came in mail 1 week before interview).
4) He asked us if we brought any additional evidence of marriage, we had brought a lot, out of which he kept the following in the file (he reviewed them all thoroughly):
- Joint taxes filed together for 2019
- Joint lease for our apartment
- Joint bank account statements for 2 different banks
- Joint renters insurance
- Joint car insurance
- Joint medical health insurance
- Joint dental health insurance
- My husband?s 401K where I am listed beneficiary
- Our flight tickets together for 3 different trips ? he kept 2 of them
- He kept 3 photos out of 50+ that we brought; he did respectfully go through most of the photos, asked us a question about where one was taken, and a comment about another
5) Simultaneously while reviewing documents we had following questions that turned into friendly conversations:
- Both of us were asked: Full name, date of birth, birth place, current address, if we ever had any kids, or divorces, or previous marriages
- My husband was asked all the questions listed on I-485 form (ever committed a crime? Part of any terrorist affiliation? Etc.) ? he did look very directly into my husband?s eyes when asking those questions
- Our previous addresses and how long we lived there; when did we move to current address, who else lives with us, how we like the new city that we have moved to
- Why my husband went to the university he did on his student visa and how was his experience there, talked about how he has two OPT (F1 OPT and I-485 OPT)
- He asked me what I do for work right now, my career, had detailed friendly convo about different cities I lived in
- He looked straight at my husband and asked him ?Tell me about your relationship? which turned into a detailed funny convo about ?how we met? story
- He looked straight at me and asked me ?Were you surprised at the proposal? Did you guys pick out the ring together??
- Last question he asked ?Is there anything else about your relationship that you would like to tell me??
6) He walked us out of the interview and we asked when we would find out, he said he will review, see if he needs any other documents, if not, then we will know by end of the day. At 5:30 PM on the same day as interview, we got the notification that ?New card is being produced? AKA green card approved!
We are so thankful and relieved!!! Thank you to everyone that has contributed on this forum, I never wrote a thread post before this, but read sooo many of them, and today I felt like sharing! Hang in there, be patient through the process, do all your homework research thoroughly (this website is a great resource), and everything will go smoothly! GOOD LUCK!
