Hello! I utilized this site a lot while we were prepping, and it has been my greatest resource. This is an extremely long post, so my apologies!
Quick background: I was born here, and my husband arrived with a B2 visa. He is a currently a DACA recipient. We met in 2014, began dating in 2015, and got married in June 2018. We filed November 2018.
We utilized a preparer as was recommended by our parents (we're both relatively young). This preparer told us that we had a simple case, and that everything should work out accordingly. Us, being naive, left all forms to this preparer, and did not extensively review prior to filing.
We received a RFIE in March asking for the I-130A, I-864 for myself, I-864 for our joint sponsor (my cousin), and additional evidence of our marriage. I knew at this point that something was probably filed incorrectly, and began compiling as much evidence as I can. We also let our preparer know, and he began working on the files. We were finally able to gather everything at the end of May (we needed to submit our response by mid-June), and this time, I wanted to be sure that the forms were correct, so I reviewed them extensively. It turns out that our preparer had no idea what he was doing, and that there were SO MANY ERRORS. I ended up filling out entirely new I-864s and the 130-A to be accurate. (example of error: the preparer thought the 130A was supposed to be for the petitioner). We ended up submitting on the last day possible, and to our surprise, an interview was scheduled the next day.
In order to prep for the interview, we contacted our preparer again and let him know that we needed the original forms (I-485, I-130, etc). When we got them, I had to call out work the next day so that I could go see a lawyer because there were so many careless errors. As in the information for the I-485 contained only my (the petitioner's!!!!) information, and not my husband's, beyond his name. It was laughable because it was so wrong. The immigration lawyer that we met informed us that it was too late, and that the only thing we could do was bring corrected forms, a letter of explanation stating what was wrong, and basically pray that we received a nicer IO.
The actual interview was today, at 2 PM. We got there at 12 (being late gives me anxiety), and we asked my sister to drop me off so we wouldn't have to worry about parking. Everyone was extremely courteous -- there was no line, and we were told that we could wait in the cafeteria if we liked, and that we probably shouldn't check in until 30 minutes prior. We did exactly this. My husband and I hung out in the cafeteria, reviewed our files, and prayed. At 1:30, we checked in, and at 2 pm on the dot, we were called in.
Our IO was super friendly, and I truly appreciated how polite and even warm? he was. We talked about how we were thinking of moving to a different city, and he gave us his insights and what not. We swore in, and the process started. I wanted to be really clear and honest, so I informed him about our findings, (APOLOGIZED A TON), and asked if he'd be able to accept amended files. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and this began the process of correcting the errors that were on the files. We started out with the I-130, and the questions he had for me were primarily about how I met my husband, when we first began dating, what we did for our first date, when I felt like he was the one, what our wedding was like, who was there, who proposed, where our legal marriage vs. our actual wedding was at, and generally questions just about the longevity of our relationship. These questions were really easy to answer, and definitely felt more like a conversation than an interview.
However, when we got to the I-485, there was a little more tension in the air, just because there were so many things he had to correct (31.. 31!!!!!! errors). Again, he was very polite, but I could tell he was getting annoyed (which was definitely not his fault). I'd say the only things that kind of caught us off guard were the Yes/No questions surrounding employment (husband's EAD expired while his DACA renewal was pending for one month) and citations (we couldn't remember the exact date he received a traffic ticket). Other than that, because we had a list of things that we needed to correct, in addition to having corrected forms, it went relatively smoothly.
Our IO admitted that he was aware that our original files were showing a ton of inconsistencies, and that's why the RFIE had been issued. Luckily, as the forms requested in the RFIE were filled out by me, those were "approved." It was so frustrating because he literally told us that if the forms had just been correct, he would have approved us on the spot because we had so much evidence that we had sent (I will post my table of contents below). Now, because there were so many corrections that needed to be made, we would have to wait at least a week because he would be going on vacation. My husband and I told him we were incredibly appreciative of him giving us feedback, and for taking the time to go through the forms with us. We also mentioned that we completely understood if he had to deny the application based on the errors because that was as much on us as it was on our preparer for not being vigilant.
Despite this, I didn't feel hopeless (?) per say, or that the interview went badly. It honestly went really well, when taken into consideration how terribly things could have gone. Now it's the waiting game, but I feel that he might approve us just because when he was going over the I-864 with me, he told me that I would be responsible for my husband unless he became a citizen in the next 3 years. Obviously I didn't read too much into it, haha. I'm not too worried over what will happen because my husband's DACA is current, so he does have an EAD, and if we do have to refile, we plan on refiling after our second marriage anniversary.
tldr; preparer messed up our forms, but our table of contents and evidence was A+++
Quick background: I was born here, and my husband arrived with a B2 visa. He is a currently a DACA recipient. We met in 2014, began dating in 2015, and got married in June 2018. We filed November 2018.
We utilized a preparer as was recommended by our parents (we're both relatively young). This preparer told us that we had a simple case, and that everything should work out accordingly. Us, being naive, left all forms to this preparer, and did not extensively review prior to filing.
We received a RFIE in March asking for the I-130A, I-864 for myself, I-864 for our joint sponsor (my cousin), and additional evidence of our marriage. I knew at this point that something was probably filed incorrectly, and began compiling as much evidence as I can. We also let our preparer know, and he began working on the files. We were finally able to gather everything at the end of May (we needed to submit our response by mid-June), and this time, I wanted to be sure that the forms were correct, so I reviewed them extensively. It turns out that our preparer had no idea what he was doing, and that there were SO MANY ERRORS. I ended up filling out entirely new I-864s and the 130-A to be accurate. (example of error: the preparer thought the 130A was supposed to be for the petitioner). We ended up submitting on the last day possible, and to our surprise, an interview was scheduled the next day.
In order to prep for the interview, we contacted our preparer again and let him know that we needed the original forms (I-485, I-130, etc). When we got them, I had to call out work the next day so that I could go see a lawyer because there were so many careless errors. As in the information for the I-485 contained only my (the petitioner's!!!!) information, and not my husband's, beyond his name. It was laughable because it was so wrong. The immigration lawyer that we met informed us that it was too late, and that the only thing we could do was bring corrected forms, a letter of explanation stating what was wrong, and basically pray that we received a nicer IO.
The actual interview was today, at 2 PM. We got there at 12 (being late gives me anxiety), and we asked my sister to drop me off so we wouldn't have to worry about parking. Everyone was extremely courteous -- there was no line, and we were told that we could wait in the cafeteria if we liked, and that we probably shouldn't check in until 30 minutes prior. We did exactly this. My husband and I hung out in the cafeteria, reviewed our files, and prayed. At 1:30, we checked in, and at 2 pm on the dot, we were called in.
Our IO was super friendly, and I truly appreciated how polite and even warm? he was. We talked about how we were thinking of moving to a different city, and he gave us his insights and what not. We swore in, and the process started. I wanted to be really clear and honest, so I informed him about our findings, (APOLOGIZED A TON), and asked if he'd be able to accept amended files. Unfortunately, he wasn't, and this began the process of correcting the errors that were on the files. We started out with the I-130, and the questions he had for me were primarily about how I met my husband, when we first began dating, what we did for our first date, when I felt like he was the one, what our wedding was like, who was there, who proposed, where our legal marriage vs. our actual wedding was at, and generally questions just about the longevity of our relationship. These questions were really easy to answer, and definitely felt more like a conversation than an interview.
However, when we got to the I-485, there was a little more tension in the air, just because there were so many things he had to correct (31.. 31!!!!!! errors). Again, he was very polite, but I could tell he was getting annoyed (which was definitely not his fault). I'd say the only things that kind of caught us off guard were the Yes/No questions surrounding employment (husband's EAD expired while his DACA renewal was pending for one month) and citations (we couldn't remember the exact date he received a traffic ticket). Other than that, because we had a list of things that we needed to correct, in addition to having corrected forms, it went relatively smoothly.
Our IO admitted that he was aware that our original files were showing a ton of inconsistencies, and that's why the RFIE had been issued. Luckily, as the forms requested in the RFIE were filled out by me, those were "approved." It was so frustrating because he literally told us that if the forms had just been correct, he would have approved us on the spot because we had so much evidence that we had sent (I will post my table of contents below). Now, because there were so many corrections that needed to be made, we would have to wait at least a week because he would be going on vacation. My husband and I told him we were incredibly appreciative of him giving us feedback, and for taking the time to go through the forms with us. We also mentioned that we completely understood if he had to deny the application based on the errors because that was as much on us as it was on our preparer for not being vigilant.
Despite this, I didn't feel hopeless (?) per say, or that the interview went badly. It honestly went really well, when taken into consideration how terribly things could have gone. Now it's the waiting game, but I feel that he might approve us just because when he was going over the I-864 with me, he told me that I would be responsible for my husband unless he became a citizen in the next 3 years. Obviously I didn't read too much into it, haha. I'm not too worried over what will happen because my husband's DACA is current, so he does have an EAD, and if we do have to refile, we plan on refiling after our second marriage anniversary.
tldr; preparer messed up our forms, but our table of contents and evidence was A+++
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