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Hello Everyone, I just wanted to give a quick update on how my Marriage-Based Green Card Interview went.
My wife and I arrived to the USCIS office 15 min before our appointment. They won't let you in the building until 15 min before your appointment due to Covid. We had to answer a few questions about if we have been exposed to Covid, then went through security without any issues. We ended up waiting in the waiting room for 30 minutes, which isn't a big deal, then our officer called us back. We were sworn in, then he immediately checked our ID's to make sure we were who we said we were. Then he went over our original I-485 application and double checked a lot of the questions to make sure the information was accurate. Then the officer asked us if we brought any supporting evidence that we live together, so I gave him joint bank statements, health insurance, car insurance, credit card statements, vehicle titles, and our rental agreement, and our joint taxes from the previous year. After that the officer asked us a couple questions about how we met and that was all.
The officer said it's important to sign up for the selective service immediately, which I had not done yet because I thought I had to be a citizen to do that. He also said that because we have not been married for 2 years yet, I will first get a Conditional Green Card for 2 years, then I will get the conditions removed and get an Unconditional Green Card for a year, then I can apply for citizenship. So in approximately 3 years from now, I will be able to apply for citizenship.
After leaving our appointment I checked my Case Status and it said "New Card is Being Produced." Today it says "On August 5 your I-485 was Approved." The officer said I should have my Green Card within 2-3 weeks.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to DRESS PROPERLY for the interview!!! I wore a nice dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. And my wife word a nice dress. There were other couples in there for their GC interviews who were dressed very casually, and It was evident that the officers were immediately more suspicious of them, and we could hear from our interview room that they were being questioned a lot more thoroughly. First impressions do make a world of difference. I also had brought a LOT of other documents and pictures as supporting evidence that the officer didn't even look at. But it's better to bring it and not need it, than to need it and not bring it.
We were originally supposed to have our interview on March 26, but it was cancelled due to Covid. All in all it took us a year to get our interview from the time we first applied for Adjustment of Status.
Hope this information is helpful to somone, and feel free to comment or message me if you have any additional questions.
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Marriage Based AOS - Kansas City and St. Louis, MO Field Offices
2019
June 20 - Got married
August 2 - Sent in package
August 9 - USCIS received package
September 4 - Biometrics were taken
September 6 - case has been updated fingerprints were taken
October 24 - Received a RFIE
October 31 - Mailed RFIE back to USCIS
November 4 - USCIS received RFIE
2020
February 12 - I485 Interview ready to be scheduled
February 18 - Interview has been scheduled
February 24 - Received appointment notice by mail. Interview Scheduled for March 26
February 27 - EAD has been approved
March 2 - EAD approval notice by mail
March 2 - EAD card has been mailed
March 5 - EAD has arrived by mail
March 7 - Returned EAD to have DOB corrected
March 13 - USCIS received returned EAD
March 13 - Appointment Notice - biometrics St. Louis, March 23rd (I-131 Travel Document)
March 18 - All USCIS field offices closed to public until April 1
March 20 - DOB has been fixed
March 31 - Got SSN by mail
April 15 - New EAD card is being produced
April 20 - Card was mailed to me
April 21 - Card was picked up by the USPS
April 23 - EAD arrived by mail
June 22 - I-485 interview has been scheduled
June 26 - interview is scheduled for Aug 4th
August 4 - interview went great and Green Card is being produced
August 5 - I-485 case was approved
My wife and I arrived to the USCIS office 15 min before our appointment. They won't let you in the building until 15 min before your appointment due to Covid. We had to answer a few questions about if we have been exposed to Covid, then went through security without any issues. We ended up waiting in the waiting room for 30 minutes, which isn't a big deal, then our officer called us back. We were sworn in, then he immediately checked our ID's to make sure we were who we said we were. Then he went over our original I-485 application and double checked a lot of the questions to make sure the information was accurate. Then the officer asked us if we brought any supporting evidence that we live together, so I gave him joint bank statements, health insurance, car insurance, credit card statements, vehicle titles, and our rental agreement, and our joint taxes from the previous year. After that the officer asked us a couple questions about how we met and that was all.
The officer said it's important to sign up for the selective service immediately, which I had not done yet because I thought I had to be a citizen to do that. He also said that because we have not been married for 2 years yet, I will first get a Conditional Green Card for 2 years, then I will get the conditions removed and get an Unconditional Green Card for a year, then I can apply for citizenship. So in approximately 3 years from now, I will be able to apply for citizenship.
After leaving our appointment I checked my Case Status and it said "New Card is Being Produced." Today it says "On August 5 your I-485 was Approved." The officer said I should have my Green Card within 2-3 weeks.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to DRESS PROPERLY for the interview!!! I wore a nice dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. And my wife word a nice dress. There were other couples in there for their GC interviews who were dressed very casually, and It was evident that the officers were immediately more suspicious of them, and we could hear from our interview room that they were being questioned a lot more thoroughly. First impressions do make a world of difference. I also had brought a LOT of other documents and pictures as supporting evidence that the officer didn't even look at. But it's better to bring it and not need it, than to need it and not bring it.
We were originally supposed to have our interview on March 26, but it was cancelled due to Covid. All in all it took us a year to get our interview from the time we first applied for Adjustment of Status.
Hope this information is helpful to somone, and feel free to comment or message me if you have any additional questions.
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Marriage Based AOS - Kansas City and St. Louis, MO Field Offices
2019
June 20 - Got married
August 2 - Sent in package
August 9 - USCIS received package
September 4 - Biometrics were taken
September 6 - case has been updated fingerprints were taken
October 24 - Received a RFIE
October 31 - Mailed RFIE back to USCIS
November 4 - USCIS received RFIE
2020
February 12 - I485 Interview ready to be scheduled
February 18 - Interview has been scheduled
February 24 - Received appointment notice by mail. Interview Scheduled for March 26
February 27 - EAD has been approved
March 2 - EAD approval notice by mail
March 2 - EAD card has been mailed
March 5 - EAD has arrived by mail
March 7 - Returned EAD to have DOB corrected
March 13 - USCIS received returned EAD
March 13 - Appointment Notice - biometrics St. Louis, March 23rd (I-131 Travel Document)
March 18 - All USCIS field offices closed to public until April 1
March 20 - DOB has been fixed
March 31 - Got SSN by mail
April 15 - New EAD card is being produced
April 20 - Card was mailed to me
April 21 - Card was picked up by the USPS
April 23 - EAD arrived by mail
June 22 - I-485 interview has been scheduled
June 26 - interview is scheduled for Aug 4th
August 4 - interview went great and Green Card is being produced
August 5 - I-485 case was approved
Thank you so much for the detailed account of the interview. Ours is in a couple of weeks at the STL office and I can only hope it goes as smoothly as yours did!
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