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Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my experience with all of you since these forums helped me alot. Detail by detail.
We are a same sex REAL couple in our late 20s that had our interview June 5, 2019 at NYC Federal Plaza. This was a married based GC through adjustment of status. My wife came to the U.S from Brazil with a F-1 student visa. We then fell in love and got married and soon after, we applied for an adjustment of status.
The forms submitted are below (all these forms were submitted together):
I-485
I-765
I-130
I-131
I-131A or I-130A (cant remember.. I just know the form name had the letter ‘A’ next to it.
We hired a lawyer to fill-out our application because we really didn’t have time or patience to deal with all the paperwork. With our application, we submitted photos, my 3 year income taxes and W2, pay stubs, phone bill, copies of our birth certificates (we paid for my wife’s Brazilian birth certificate to be translated in English by a professional translator, since this is mandatory). We finally submitted all our paperwork in October 2017, she did her Biometric fingerprint and photo for USCIS in mid November 2017.
My wife received her EAD (combo) card in Late February 2018 I believe, and we reapplied for a new EAD in August 2018 (Although her card expired in December 2018). She was still allowed to work at her job 120 days after her EAD card expired. We received the second EAD card on June 2019.
On June 5, 2019, we waited 3 hours in the waiting area of NYC Federal Plaza (we also arrived on time). The officer called our ticket number and she lead us to the interview room. I was actually excited and not nervous because we’ve been waiting so long for this (1 year and 7 months). We barely practiced for the interview also. We were not separated during the interview.
She asked my spouse the following question:
Does your wife have siblings? How many?
Where does your wife work?
She asked me:
Where does your wife work?
She asked both of us:
How did you guys meet?
Did you meet each other’s parent?
We had over 50 photos in an album, in which the officer probably took 10 of them. She asked for our joint accounts(we gave her our lease, car contract (showing her as owner and me as co-owner of the vehicle), phone bill, joint Chase bank account, 401k (i added her to my 401k), and copies of our health Insurance together. We came in extremely prepared (had a binder in an organized order of documents and a separate binder for the photos).
She asked for my 2017 and 2018 income tax. She didnt ask for my W2s. I told her I can give her an updated affidavit since I switched jobs, and she said it wasn’t necessary.. because my taxes show I make well above the poverty line for the past 5 years (I submitted my 2014-2016 taxes when the lawyer mailed out the forms back in October 2017). So now the officer had my 2014-2018 income taxes.. (which showed I made well-above the poverty line, for the past 4-5 years)
The officer was very nice to us. At the end of the interview, she told us she believed our marriage was bonafide and that we provided all the documents she needed (including my wife’s medical). She said we made her job ALOT easier by bringing in colored copies of my wife social, both EAD combo card, and her NY state ID and Brazilian passport.
Finally, on July 11, 2019 (1 month and 6 days after our interview) we received the “Card is in Production” Status! The entire process took 21 months (1 year and 7ish months). We NEVER received an RFE.. everything went smoothly from start to finish.. it was all just a waiting game for us.
I think it also helped that we were only 3 years apart in age, groomed and well-kept during the interview and we also had SO MUCH evidence and neither of us were nervous. I saw a gay couple come out of the interview room disappointed.. but one of the guys looked like he was in his late 50s and his husband was in his early/late 20s.. so that was probably questionable.
We didn’t use a translator because my wife learned fluent english by that time. Overall, it was a positive experience. Luckily we had the combo EAD card, so we were able to travel internationally and she was able to work, or else.. we would’ve been super anxious for the GC. We traveled to Paris (for 1 week) and Brazil (for 3 weeks) with her EAD combo card.
I wanted to share my experience with all of you since these forums helped me alot. Detail by detail.
We are a same sex REAL couple in our late 20s that had our interview June 5, 2019 at NYC Federal Plaza. This was a married based GC through adjustment of status. My wife came to the U.S from Brazil with a F-1 student visa. We then fell in love and got married and soon after, we applied for an adjustment of status.
The forms submitted are below (all these forms were submitted together):
I-485
I-765
I-130
I-131
I-131A or I-130A (cant remember.. I just know the form name had the letter ‘A’ next to it.
We hired a lawyer to fill-out our application because we really didn’t have time or patience to deal with all the paperwork. With our application, we submitted photos, my 3 year income taxes and W2, pay stubs, phone bill, copies of our birth certificates (we paid for my wife’s Brazilian birth certificate to be translated in English by a professional translator, since this is mandatory). We finally submitted all our paperwork in October 2017, she did her Biometric fingerprint and photo for USCIS in mid November 2017.
My wife received her EAD (combo) card in Late February 2018 I believe, and we reapplied for a new EAD in August 2018 (Although her card expired in December 2018). She was still allowed to work at her job 120 days after her EAD card expired. We received the second EAD card on June 2019.
On June 5, 2019, we waited 3 hours in the waiting area of NYC Federal Plaza (we also arrived on time). The officer called our ticket number and she lead us to the interview room. I was actually excited and not nervous because we’ve been waiting so long for this (1 year and 7 months). We barely practiced for the interview also. We were not separated during the interview.
She asked my spouse the following question:
Does your wife have siblings? How many?
Where does your wife work?
She asked me:
Where does your wife work?
She asked both of us:
How did you guys meet?
Did you meet each other’s parent?
We had over 50 photos in an album, in which the officer probably took 10 of them. She asked for our joint accounts(we gave her our lease, car contract (showing her as owner and me as co-owner of the vehicle), phone bill, joint Chase bank account, 401k (i added her to my 401k), and copies of our health Insurance together. We came in extremely prepared (had a binder in an organized order of documents and a separate binder for the photos).
She asked for my 2017 and 2018 income tax. She didnt ask for my W2s. I told her I can give her an updated affidavit since I switched jobs, and she said it wasn’t necessary.. because my taxes show I make well above the poverty line for the past 5 years (I submitted my 2014-2016 taxes when the lawyer mailed out the forms back in October 2017). So now the officer had my 2014-2018 income taxes.. (which showed I made well-above the poverty line, for the past 4-5 years)
The officer was very nice to us. At the end of the interview, she told us she believed our marriage was bonafide and that we provided all the documents she needed (including my wife’s medical). She said we made her job ALOT easier by bringing in colored copies of my wife social, both EAD combo card, and her NY state ID and Brazilian passport.
Finally, on July 11, 2019 (1 month and 6 days after our interview) we received the “Card is in Production” Status! The entire process took 21 months (1 year and 7ish months). We NEVER received an RFE.. everything went smoothly from start to finish.. it was all just a waiting game for us.
I think it also helped that we were only 3 years apart in age, groomed and well-kept during the interview and we also had SO MUCH evidence and neither of us were nervous. I saw a gay couple come out of the interview room disappointed.. but one of the guys looked like he was in his late 50s and his husband was in his early/late 20s.. so that was probably questionable.
We didn’t use a translator because my wife learned fluent english by that time. Overall, it was a positive experience. Luckily we had the combo EAD card, so we were able to travel internationally and she was able to work, or else.. we would’ve been super anxious for the GC. We traveled to Paris (for 1 week) and Brazil (for 3 weeks) with her EAD combo card.
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