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Chicago Marriage based AOS Experience
I had my interview on November 13 and were approved on the spot. I will try to give as much details about the interview.
Just a little background, I am from India, came in H1B visa and entered US on November 2013. My wife is a US citizen of Indian decent born is US. We met through online dating (EHarmony) and dated for over a year. She was from Sharon MA and I was living is Piscataway NJ. We got married October 2018.
So, to avoid hassle I used an Attorney, the documentation is not complicated but mistakes would have made things worse. We submitted papers on June 28 but USCIS received them on July 3rd. rest of the details are in the timeline. We submitted 693 with application and did not front load the evidences.
Therefore, for the interview we had a lot of stuff to show, attorney was confident but I was still nervous. Here is a list of what we took.
Exhibit 1: Joint Residence details
A. Lease Agreement of Bridgewater NJ apartment (2018 May - 2019 April)
b. Lease Agreement of Schaumburg IL Apartment (2019 May - Ongoing)
c. IP and Timestamp of IL lease sign agreement from Our NJ apartment we both used the same laptop
Exhibit 2: Joint bank account
a. Last six-month Bank statements.
b. YTD running account summary for 2019.
Exhibit 3: Joint Tax Return
a. Tax Transcript for 2018 filed as married filing together
Exhibit 4: Joint Health Insurance from Cigna
a. Insurance cards
b. Certificate of Insurance.
Exhibit 5: Joint Utilities
a. PG&E bills (3 months) from NJ apartment.
b. FiOS Bill for 1 month in NJ apartment
c. ComED bills for last 3 months for IL Apartment
d. AUM Bills for water 3 months for IL apartment
e. Att DirecTV bills for IL apartment last month
Exhibit 6: Joint Purchases.
a. Title papers of 2014 Dodge Charger car
b. Ashley Furniture Receipts.
c. Samsung TV from Costco
d. Google Pixel 3 XL for wife’s birthday last year with me invoiced and delivered to her
e. Wedding and Engagement ring receipts.
Exhibit 7: Joint pet ownership
a. Details from PetSmart about our pets.
B. Prime recurring delivery screenshot of pet foods at our IL address
Exhibit 8: joint Credit card
a. YTD running total of City Credit cards from Costco both 2018 and 2019 with names and purchases.
Exhibit 9: Joint Correspondence
a. USPS address change proof when we moved from NJ to IL for both
b. IL Organ donor letter
c. Marriage invitation letters and save the dates letters from Family and Friends.
d. Capital one Card offers (please use something better than this one lol)
Exhibit 10: Joint renters insurance.
a. Renters insurance for NJ apartment 2018 mentioning both of us as insured
b. Renters insurance for IL apartment 2019 mentioning both of us as insured
Exhibit 11: Joint Travel details
a. Expedia Travel statements for Chicago O’Hare to Boston Logan and back 2019.
b. Expedia Travel Statements for Newark Liberty intl. to McCarran Intl and back 2018
Exhibit 12: Beneficiary Designation
a. My 401K beneficiary Details (she is the beneficiary)
b. My Life insurance Details (She is the Beneficiary)
Exhibit 13: Joint Auto Insurance
a. Geico insurance proof for 2018 and 2019 for both of us
b. Geico Latest insurance card.
Exhibit 14: Pictures - We added 40 pictures from our entire timeline since we started dating to celebrating out first marriage anniversary. All trips and special occasion like the one where I proposed and our marriage ceremony were arranged chronologically and with mentioning of the location date and people in it in the back.
Overall, we have 178 pages worth of documentation. With the amount of stuff we had yeah it was kind of overkill.
So for the interview we were called at 2:10 pm and we were there around 1:30, good thing about Chicago is there is a huge lobby in the second floor where you can sit. We were waiting for attorney and she showed up right at 2 pm. we checked in and then had to wait.
We were finally called at 3:05 pm; we were the third last couple waiting. A young male IO called us; he was looking pretty nice and friendly. He took our IDs (DLs), verified the identity, asked us to take the oath, and then asked to sit together. He took our passports but did not ask for Birth Certificates.
Then he first asked me my name, wife’s name, marriage date. Then asked the wife the same. He then started asking wife the questions about my birthday and profession, where I work and how much I make, she knew everything (yeah women know people even if you do not tell them). He also asked her about my family a little. Technically, I was supposed to get those questions. Next he asked me how we met (gave a quick history of our love story), he also asked me why you needed a sponsor when you people make over six figures, he saw that from our last tax transcript.
In addition, that is the end of questions, next he went through the mandatory i 485 questions (yes/no). He then asked for any additional documents you want to share since we did not front load. The attorney dropped the evidence bomb on the table with a big thump. He opened the index page and went through the index for around a min, did not even turned the other pages.
he then looked at me and asked if I ever used any public benefit or do I intent to use any, I said no. then he said there’s nothing wrong with this application and he is going to approve it, then he explained the 751 ROC details that I need to go through since our marriage is only a year old.
And that is that. The online status changed to new card being produced the same day, on Friday 15th both 130 and 485 was approved. 765 is still fingerprint review complete and 131 case received. Today I see the approval notices in the mail.
Hope this will help everyone, best of luck to people who are waiting for EAD and/or Interview.
Just a little background, I am from India, came in H1B visa and entered US on November 2013. My wife is a US citizen of Indian decent born is US. We met through online dating (EHarmony) and dated for over a year. She was from Sharon MA and I was living is Piscataway NJ. We got married October 2018.
So, to avoid hassle I used an Attorney, the documentation is not complicated but mistakes would have made things worse. We submitted papers on June 28 but USCIS received them on July 3rd. rest of the details are in the timeline. We submitted 693 with application and did not front load the evidences.
Therefore, for the interview we had a lot of stuff to show, attorney was confident but I was still nervous. Here is a list of what we took.
Exhibit 1: Joint Residence details
A. Lease Agreement of Bridgewater NJ apartment (2018 May - 2019 April)
b. Lease Agreement of Schaumburg IL Apartment (2019 May - Ongoing)
c. IP and Timestamp of IL lease sign agreement from Our NJ apartment we both used the same laptop
Exhibit 2: Joint bank account
a. Last six-month Bank statements.
b. YTD running account summary for 2019.
Exhibit 3: Joint Tax Return
a. Tax Transcript for 2018 filed as married filing together
Exhibit 4: Joint Health Insurance from Cigna
a. Insurance cards
b. Certificate of Insurance.
Exhibit 5: Joint Utilities
a. PG&E bills (3 months) from NJ apartment.
b. FiOS Bill for 1 month in NJ apartment
c. ComED bills for last 3 months for IL Apartment
d. AUM Bills for water 3 months for IL apartment
e. Att DirecTV bills for IL apartment last month
Exhibit 6: Joint Purchases.
a. Title papers of 2014 Dodge Charger car
b. Ashley Furniture Receipts.
c. Samsung TV from Costco
d. Google Pixel 3 XL for wife’s birthday last year with me invoiced and delivered to her
e. Wedding and Engagement ring receipts.
Exhibit 7: Joint pet ownership
a. Details from PetSmart about our pets.
B. Prime recurring delivery screenshot of pet foods at our IL address
Exhibit 8: joint Credit card
a. YTD running total of City Credit cards from Costco both 2018 and 2019 with names and purchases.
Exhibit 9: Joint Correspondence
a. USPS address change proof when we moved from NJ to IL for both
b. IL Organ donor letter
c. Marriage invitation letters and save the dates letters from Family and Friends.
d. Capital one Card offers (please use something better than this one lol)
Exhibit 10: Joint renters insurance.
a. Renters insurance for NJ apartment 2018 mentioning both of us as insured
b. Renters insurance for IL apartment 2019 mentioning both of us as insured
Exhibit 11: Joint Travel details
a. Expedia Travel statements for Chicago O’Hare to Boston Logan and back 2019.
b. Expedia Travel Statements for Newark Liberty intl. to McCarran Intl and back 2018
Exhibit 12: Beneficiary Designation
a. My 401K beneficiary Details (she is the beneficiary)
b. My Life insurance Details (She is the Beneficiary)
Exhibit 13: Joint Auto Insurance
a. Geico insurance proof for 2018 and 2019 for both of us
b. Geico Latest insurance card.
Exhibit 14: Pictures - We added 40 pictures from our entire timeline since we started dating to celebrating out first marriage anniversary. All trips and special occasion like the one where I proposed and our marriage ceremony were arranged chronologically and with mentioning of the location date and people in it in the back.
Overall, we have 178 pages worth of documentation. With the amount of stuff we had yeah it was kind of overkill.
So for the interview we were called at 2:10 pm and we were there around 1:30, good thing about Chicago is there is a huge lobby in the second floor where you can sit. We were waiting for attorney and she showed up right at 2 pm. we checked in and then had to wait.
We were finally called at 3:05 pm; we were the third last couple waiting. A young male IO called us; he was looking pretty nice and friendly. He took our IDs (DLs), verified the identity, asked us to take the oath, and then asked to sit together. He took our passports but did not ask for Birth Certificates.
Then he first asked me my name, wife’s name, marriage date. Then asked the wife the same. He then started asking wife the questions about my birthday and profession, where I work and how much I make, she knew everything (yeah women know people even if you do not tell them). He also asked her about my family a little. Technically, I was supposed to get those questions. Next he asked me how we met (gave a quick history of our love story), he also asked me why you needed a sponsor when you people make over six figures, he saw that from our last tax transcript.
In addition, that is the end of questions, next he went through the mandatory i 485 questions (yes/no). He then asked for any additional documents you want to share since we did not front load. The attorney dropped the evidence bomb on the table with a big thump. He opened the index page and went through the index for around a min, did not even turned the other pages.
he then looked at me and asked if I ever used any public benefit or do I intent to use any, I said no. then he said there’s nothing wrong with this application and he is going to approve it, then he explained the 751 ROC details that I need to go through since our marriage is only a year old.
And that is that. The online status changed to new card being produced the same day, on Friday 15th both 130 and 485 was approved. 765 is still fingerprint review complete and 131 case received. Today I see the approval notices in the mail.
Hope this will help everyone, best of luck to people who are waiting for EAD and/or Interview.
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