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Hi every one
I just wanted to share my experience with the Adjustment of status process based on my marriage to a US citizen.
Im 27 years old, met my wife in Israel in 2005 she's 24 today and has American and Israeli citizenship. we moved to live in Canada for 6 months and decided to get married in 2007 (in Vancouver) after year and a half together.
June 30th 2008 we moved to live in California USA, and I applied my papers pretty late around January 1st 2009 it was few days over my visitors visa but I had no problem with that.
30 days later I received a letter for initial evidence I didn't include 2 sponsor I-864's I sent only one, I had to send one for my wife and one for my fathers in law (which is the co sponsor) my father in law is the co sponsor because my wife didn't meet the criteria as a sponsor because she didn't live in the states for 14 years.
May 2009- received my traveling document
June 6th 2009 received interview notice for the 7th of july 2009
Interview experience
the interview hour was 14:00 we left home at 11:30 and arrived 20 minutes earlier, the interview was held in Fresno California.
went through the security, they were pretty nice asked us to put all our stuff in a basket and go through a metal detector, they joked around the idea that we are from Israel and the security is tight there yada yada.
one of the security guards escorted us to 3d floor.
we went into the waiting room it was almost empty except for few indu people and some Mexicans. we waited half an hour and then the officer called us in. he had a smile on his face so it looked pretty good, we went into the room and sat down. he explained to us what he is going to do:
confirm the documents and see if there are any changes, and ask few basic questions.
before we swore an oath he asked me did I bring any employment document with me, I replied no because it got lost in the mail and I will receive it in 45 days so he said it's not going to be valid when you receive it anyway and smiled, so then we swore an oath and he started checking all the documentation if there are any changes and asked for our marriage certificate and our baby girls birth certificate, he asked if we were ever married before, and is it our shared child.
after that he asked us where we met my wife answered him, and he asked for a proof that we are living together, so I gave him rent agreement, gas/electric bill, and bank statement of our joint bank account.
I must state that I have a small unconvicted criminal record back in Israel, I was on trial for using and shooting an air rifle without a permit, but wasn't convicted for that, instead got 100 hours of community service.
I did bring all the court paperwork to the interview though and he didn't even ask for any of them, he laughed and said I shoot with those guns at cans at home LOL.
after that he asked if we have any further questions, we said no and he took my I-94 and said that's my present and we are done.
he smiled and told me that he will approve my green card later today, and I will receive it within 4-6 weeks, and in the mean time I can set an appointment to the same office and they will stamp me a green card in my passport until I get the real one in the mail.
my wife was funny and she asked the officer hey we brought pictures! don't you want to see the pictures?? he laughed and said there is no suspicion here so no need for pictures (we laughed about that later in the car) "you got a baby girl so that's pretty darn enough" said the officer.
and that's it for the interview it lasted around 15 minutes, was very pleasant although I was ready for the worst!
I did all the paper work by myself, it was a lot of reading and studying but thanks to this website and USCIS hot line I saved $2500+ on a lawyer
ANY ONE CAN DO IT! I know it seems overwhelming at first but step by step it gets easier and easier as you get into it. just don't be afraid!
and a note, if you call the USCIS help line you have to wait a minute or two and just wait until the answering machine will say "you will be transferred to a costumer representative" I think then press 1 and you will be transferred to a representative right away ( in Spanish though) but I always say hello?? English??? and then they speak with you English
another tip on the USCIS help line representatives that not all of them are the same, some are like robots (most of them) they will read you stuff like robots and go only by the book they dont flex and check stuff and ask some one.. and some of them (few) are actually nice and will help you and guide you! you just have to try couple of times to fall on a more human like representative.
that's basically it my whole process took 7 months from sending it in January 2009 to getting green card approved in july 2009. here is just a photo of how I organized my entire case for the Immigration process, maybe it will help some one.
Cheers and best of luck to all of you!
Danny
I just wanted to share my experience with the Adjustment of status process based on my marriage to a US citizen.
Im 27 years old, met my wife in Israel in 2005 she's 24 today and has American and Israeli citizenship. we moved to live in Canada for 6 months and decided to get married in 2007 (in Vancouver) after year and a half together.
June 30th 2008 we moved to live in California USA, and I applied my papers pretty late around January 1st 2009 it was few days over my visitors visa but I had no problem with that.
30 days later I received a letter for initial evidence I didn't include 2 sponsor I-864's I sent only one, I had to send one for my wife and one for my fathers in law (which is the co sponsor) my father in law is the co sponsor because my wife didn't meet the criteria as a sponsor because she didn't live in the states for 14 years.
May 2009- received my traveling document
June 6th 2009 received interview notice for the 7th of july 2009
Interview experience
the interview hour was 14:00 we left home at 11:30 and arrived 20 minutes earlier, the interview was held in Fresno California.
went through the security, they were pretty nice asked us to put all our stuff in a basket and go through a metal detector, they joked around the idea that we are from Israel and the security is tight there yada yada.
one of the security guards escorted us to 3d floor.
we went into the waiting room it was almost empty except for few indu people and some Mexicans. we waited half an hour and then the officer called us in. he had a smile on his face so it looked pretty good, we went into the room and sat down. he explained to us what he is going to do:
confirm the documents and see if there are any changes, and ask few basic questions.
before we swore an oath he asked me did I bring any employment document with me, I replied no because it got lost in the mail and I will receive it in 45 days so he said it's not going to be valid when you receive it anyway and smiled, so then we swore an oath and he started checking all the documentation if there are any changes and asked for our marriage certificate and our baby girls birth certificate, he asked if we were ever married before, and is it our shared child.
after that he asked us where we met my wife answered him, and he asked for a proof that we are living together, so I gave him rent agreement, gas/electric bill, and bank statement of our joint bank account.
I must state that I have a small unconvicted criminal record back in Israel, I was on trial for using and shooting an air rifle without a permit, but wasn't convicted for that, instead got 100 hours of community service.
I did bring all the court paperwork to the interview though and he didn't even ask for any of them, he laughed and said I shoot with those guns at cans at home LOL.
after that he asked if we have any further questions, we said no and he took my I-94 and said that's my present and we are done.
he smiled and told me that he will approve my green card later today, and I will receive it within 4-6 weeks, and in the mean time I can set an appointment to the same office and they will stamp me a green card in my passport until I get the real one in the mail.
my wife was funny and she asked the officer hey we brought pictures! don't you want to see the pictures?? he laughed and said there is no suspicion here so no need for pictures (we laughed about that later in the car) "you got a baby girl so that's pretty darn enough" said the officer.
and that's it for the interview it lasted around 15 minutes, was very pleasant although I was ready for the worst!
I did all the paper work by myself, it was a lot of reading and studying but thanks to this website and USCIS hot line I saved $2500+ on a lawyer
ANY ONE CAN DO IT! I know it seems overwhelming at first but step by step it gets easier and easier as you get into it. just don't be afraid!
and a note, if you call the USCIS help line you have to wait a minute or two and just wait until the answering machine will say "you will be transferred to a costumer representative" I think then press 1 and you will be transferred to a representative right away ( in Spanish though) but I always say hello?? English??? and then they speak with you English
another tip on the USCIS help line representatives that not all of them are the same, some are like robots (most of them) they will read you stuff like robots and go only by the book they dont flex and check stuff and ask some one.. and some of them (few) are actually nice and will help you and guide you! you just have to try couple of times to fall on a more human like representative.
that's basically it my whole process took 7 months from sending it in January 2009 to getting green card approved in july 2009. here is just a photo of how I organized my entire case for the Immigration process, maybe it will help some one.
Cheers and best of luck to all of you!
Danny
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