inquisitive40

LOL... well my wife has often said that if we got denied we would just move back to Ireland,,,, maybe we should book some flights now

Patrick

cindyabs

Congrats kiddos!!!
There are two things that would have distracted me totally-the thought that the giant flower might squirt water when she pressed a bulb so then I would stare at the flower fixedly and duck if she turned in my direction!! The other is the avuse term. I would worry that it was some new CIS terminology that we weren't aware of that so I wouldn't be paying attention to the rest of what she said !!!

sibsie

Congrats you two. It seems like only last year when Mr Pink was posting his K1 report.

SecretGarden

Hi,
She wasn't interested at all in my three children who live with us here in the US, although it did say on our appt. letter to bring birth certificates of ALL children you and your petitioner (USC) have, including those not living with you. She did take the birth certs. of Mr. P's two daughters.

Our letter also said that we needed divorce decrees for all prior marriages and CUSTODY papers for all children either living with you or not living with you. We brought my dissolution of marriage and joint parenting agreement for my kids, and his Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute and a Residency Order that his ex-wife had drawn up when he immigrated. She took all of that, for all the kids.

If your appt. letter indicates you should bring this, then do. Might want to get copies of that stuff now if you don't have it already. Hope this helps.

~SecretGarden

SecretGarden

ha! I already said I wouldn't do the Chicken Dance!

~SG

inquisitive40

I just checked my letter for my interview requirements, it makes no mention of my children's birth certs. I would have BIG problems getting that in time for next week if it is required. ??

Patrick

Rete

I'm going to take an apparently not so popular position and ask "What about this interview makes it the interview from hell?" The examiner did what she was suppose to do. She might have not been chatty and overly friendly but she did her job for all intents and purposes and did it correctly and effectively for both the department and the beneficiary of benefits.

The fact that she mentioned that the security clearance had not been completed does not go against her but rather, IMHO, in her favor as it showed her to be upfront about the status of your petition. Also that she might or might not have been throwing random curve balls to catch you in a lie is also in her favor as that is her job ... to weed out the fraudulent petitioners.

Yes she asked for documents, one after the other, but if you have a checklist of what you brought with you and a pencil you could have checked off the documentation requested and if the documentation were tabbed you then would have been able to get to it immediately without hesitancy. However, that is not a necessity. If she was to quick and you had to look for what was requested then she would have had to wait. It is as simple as that. You might have slowed her down by smiling and saying something to the effect: I have three speeds, first, second and third gear. Right now I think I'm in reverse.

Patrick, it is their ballroom, their orchestra and their party that you have asked to attend. It they want to polka and you want to waltz, do your best to get your feet moving appropriately but if you find that you can't manage the polka without tripping head first into the first row of strings, ask if they can play a waltz so that you can stop tripping over yourself in an effort to please.

Rita

Rete

A defeatist attitude always seems to be self-fulfilling.

Why not throw that attitude in the Bay, Patrick. Let the gulls feed on it instead of your worries.

Rita

inquisitive40

LOL.... I was never too good at dancing, my wife is a good dancer though

Well I suppose it will have to be "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir"

Patrick

SecretGarden

Ok.........to anyone reading this thread!

The purpose of posting our experience was *NOT* to scare all of you who are facing your interview, or to make you more nervous than you already will be, or to upset you in ANY way. I can speak for him as well when I say that if that is the effect our thread has had on you, we're both terribly sorry. This was simply meant to be a report of what happened to us, and I'm sure that you realize that every office is different and certainly every adjudicator is different. To be honest, they must get pretty damn sick and tired of people coming in there unprepared or dropping things (you wouldn't believe how many people just came in with piles of loose papers---no folder or anything!) and it's important to remember that your experience may not be like ours. The other thing is this was CHICAGO, not a smaller and perhaps "friendlier" office. Or maybe the adjudicator is just so efficient that she doesn't stop for a second. Who knows?

Either way, I'm going to attempt to answer some of the other questions that have popped up along the way, but please to all of you: don't panic. Keep in mind that we kept our cool, gave her what she asked for, and she gave us what we were there for: the prized stamp. We sincerely didn't mean to cause you all any more anguish! Ok, on to the questions then! whew!

~SG

SecretGarden

Rete,
I agree with everything you just said. The point was that even when we asked her to slow down, she didn't. It was during the miliseconds of "downtime" when we were removing things from folders that she started in with more questions. Everything was organized really well and to be honest, tabs would have slowed us down even more. The paperclips were almost too much!

But as I said to Patrick and the rest---we gave her what she wanted, and she gave us what we came for. That's what counts!

~SG

SecretGarden

Check your letter again. Our letter says this about the children, under "What else should you bring?"

--If you have children, bring a Birth Certificate for *each* of your children.
--If either you or your spouse were ever married before, all divorce decrees/death certificates for each prior marriage/former spouse
--Birth certificates for all children of this marriage, and custody papers for your children and for your spouse's children not living with you.

Does your letter mention this at all? Also, Patrick about the bank statements: you can't bring what you don't have. She simply asked for evidence of financial assets and liability and we had brought the bank statements from the last year. If you weren't on the account until this past month, don't sweat it---just bring what you have.

Does this help?
~SG

inquisitive40

Ok, well there is nothing about custody papers for children BUT now that I read the letter for the interview (not the original letter stating what we needed for the interview) it does have "Original birth/marriage/divorce certificates for you, spouse, children" ,, the question is now what to do, my son's name is under my ex-wife's maiden name and the same for my step daughter, even if someone in Ireland went first thing on Monday, the best I could produce would be a faxed copy of them and even then I do not know if they will give birth certs on the day at the local office and to whom they would give them.

Arrggghhhhh!!!!

Patrick

Rete

I knew you would be well organized SG ;-) I would expect nothing less from you.

Rete

SecretGarden

I think the word would be "anal".......anyway, thanks for your feedback! The problem now is putting all this stuff back in some semblance of order for tax time! It's always somethin'........

~SG