I-130 interview experience

[soila]

I had an I-130 interview yesterday. Basically it was a near disaster because we had a discrepancy in about 5 questions out of 80.

All I can say is that the officers grill you like you have a **** marriage even though it is real.

The lawyer had to jump in a few times to clarify issues so I would say please take an attorney to such an interview.

They will not tell you what this interview is about but it is a marriage fraud check interview.
We had our first I-485 interview a month prior and it seemed to go well. The officer did not ask for much except that he took my I-94 from the passport.

2 days later we receive a notice to appear for an i-130 interview in a month.
The notice for this interview lists a different office to report to and to ask for an officer X,Y or Z.

On the day of the I-130 interview You will be called in separate and asked a series of almost 80 questions each and the officer will write/type your answers.
The officer will then cross check your answers when your spouse is called in next.
We had discrepancies in 5 to 8 questions out of 80.





Here is a summary of events:

entered on tourist visa: Dec 07
Filed I-94 extension which was approved (good through September)
Married May 08
Filed I-130/I-485 petition August 08
Advanced parole approved Feb 09
EAD approved March 09
I-485 interview May 09 (result:wait for communication in mail)
Notice to appear for I-130 interview received
I-130 interview June 09(result:few discrepancies in q's, asked to wait for mail response)

So I am sitting here waiting for the BIG JUDGEMENT.

has anyone been through such drama?

[savoy]

Wow! That's terrible. What do you think made them grill you so much about whether your marriage is valid or not?

what kind of questions do they ask anyways?

[soila]

age difference and filing while on B1 visa extension

I suspect that the I-130 interview is because of the 10 year age difference and filing the petition while on a B1 visa extension.

However, prior to this filing I had lived in the US for 12 years on different visas without overstaying and I know for a fact that my background record is clean.

Wow! That's terrible. What do you think made them grill you so much about whether your marriage is valid or not?

what kind of questions do they ask anyways?

[soila]

questions

Wow! That's terrible. What do you think made them grill you so much about whether your marriage is valid or not?

what kind of questions do they ask anyways?

Some of the sample questions:
1)how many siblings you and your spouse have, where they live, their marital status and their children's names.
2) any nicknames you may have?
3) Do you get paid weekly or biweekly?

They will then cross check your answers with those of your spouse.

The challenge is if one spouse adds more information than you gave such as you give one nickname and he says two nicknames, they will question that.

Basically they expect you to know your spouse and to know his/her entire life history including his criminal record from when he was caught smoking pot in high school. Because they question you while scheming over both your background check records. And if you say you did not know of his arrest many years back, then you are lying to the immigration officer

[tinas]

hi, what happened next, did you get your GC finally
what questions u had discrepency in??

[daphne1122]

Basically they expect you to know your spouse and to know his/her entire life history including his criminal record from when he was caught smoking pot in high school. Because they question you while scheming over both your background check records. And if you say you did not know of his arrest many years back, then you are lying to the immigration officer

That's unreasonable! Even the closest ones have secrets, that's common. How can they expect you know everything? For example, I know nothing about my husband's ex-girl friends, I don't care about them at all! Will (Is) that a problem? Why do I have to know his every little thing??