The last interview we had, back in May 2005, was a complete disaster; we didn't have the right supporting paperwork (like bank accounts, cards, joint leases or anything), our situation was really strange (we still lived with her ex-husband!), we forgot to bring any pictures with us, and on top of it all, I was ill. I always seem to end up dehydrated in the LA Federal building. On top of all this, my background security check had been improperly filed - apparently, a batch had problems for some reason - so we had to wait for the security check. On top of that, our interviewer didn't seem like she'd really believed our story (though really, who would try to FAKE that?)

So we waited a while. After four months, we checked about the case status and found it was still pending. After another two or three, we moved up to Lake Arrowhead, and then two months after that, we received notice of another interview date.

It was really weird, though. Firstly, we realised that my alien change of address form hadn't changed the address on the application - that was a surprise. We changed it during the interview, but I'm just glad that the notice was redirected to us fine! Next, according to the notice itself, our interview was at 12:45am - which they confirmed as really being pm. And finally, and strangest of all, it claimed to be relating to our I-130 application. We've NEVER submitted an I-130 - our I-129F application was approved back in 2004. The guy at the helpdesk couldn't explain that one, but said we should show up, since they'd at least be able to clear up the mistakes.

Our interview was actually within 15 minutes of the scheduled time (unlike the 3 and a half hours we'd waited LAST time), and it turned out that after all, the interview WAS related to the I-485, and was with the same woman as our previous interview. This time, though, we had the extra things with us that it's nice to have - our wedding photographs, our joint bank accounts, our joint lease - and we weren't living with her ex-husband anymore. Plus, I wasn't ill (yet...) After the first talk through, she separated us, asked me questions on my own, then sent me out and called my wife through to ask her the same ones - things like, when did you last kiss? (Which was easy - it had been in her office while she was copying the wedding pictures.) What day do they take the trash, what does your wife wear to bed, when did you last go to a store together, what did you get, that sort of thing.

Anyway, I guess we must have answered them pretty closely; when my wife came out (by which time I was ill again), she was bouncing and happy, and told me that we'd been approved - and that the woman who'd interviewed us said that the LAST situation was just so weird it really HAD to be true.

One snag, though - the background security check has still not been finished, so while we've been approved by the interviewer, it's officially approved pending the FBI background check. That SHOULD be perfectly clean, though - the interviewer said we should hear back about the case within the next two months or so, so we're just waiting for the letter to show up!

Phew!

---
Rough timeline :

Oct 2003 - I-129F Submitted
Feb 2004 - I-129F Approved
May 2004 - K-1 Visa Approved
Aug 2004 - Entered USA
Oct 2004 - Married, submitted I-485 application
May 2005 - First I-485 interview, went badly, resubmitted background security check
Sep 2005 - Requested update, security check still pending
Feb 2006 - Received interview date
Mar 2006 - Second I-485 interview, approved pending another resubmitted background check.

What did they tell you after the first Interview? did they request more
Documents to be Mailed?...

Nope - the interview ended with not much comment, really. The woman told us that there had been a problem with the security check, and that they'd need to resubmit it in order to complete the processing, but there was no real mention of whether the claim would be approved or denied, and no request for any more paperwork. It had gone pretty badly, and we weren't very optimistic about what would happen next. Denial seemed more likely than getting approved at that point.

In the second interview, she seemed very happy to have the extra document copies we provided, though. I was a lot more optimistic after we got the second interview date, mind you, as even though it was odd, it didn't seem likely that they'd drag us into an interview just to tell us that it'd been denied.

    > The last interview we had, back in May 2005, was a complete disaster;
    > we
    > didn't have the right supporting paperwork (like bank accounts, cards,
    > joint leases or anything), our situation was really strange (we still
    > lived with her ex-husband!), we forgot to bring any pictures with us,
    > and on top of it all, I was ill. I always seem to end up dehydrated
    > in
    > the LA Federal building. On top of all this, my background security
    > check had been improperly filed - apparently, a batch had problems for
    > some reason - so we had to wait for the security check. On top of
    > that,
    > our interviewer didn't seem like she'd really believed our story
    > (though
    > really, who would try to FAKE that?)
    > So we waited a while. After four months, we checked about the case
    > status and found it was still pending. After another two or three, we
    > moved up to Lake Arrowhead, and then two months after that, we
    > received
    > notice of another interview date.
    > It was really weird, though. Firstly, we realised that my alien
    > change
    > of address form hadn't changed the address on the application - that
    > was
    > a surprise. We changed it during the interview, but I'm just glad
    > that
    > the notice was redirected to us fine! Next, according to the notice
    > itself, our interview was at 12:45am - which they confirmed as really
    > being pm. And finally, and strangest of all, it claimed to be
    > relating
    > to our I-130 application. We've NEVER submitted an I-130 - our I-129F
    > application was approved back in 2004. The guy at the helpdesk
    > couldn't
    > explain that one, but said we should show up, since they'd at least be
    > able to clear up the mistakes.
    > Our interview was actually within 15 minutes of the scheduled time
    > (unlike the 3 and a half hours we'd waited LAST time), and it turned
    > out
    > that after all, the interview WAS related to the I-485, and was with
    > the
    > same woman as our previous interview. This time, though, we had the
    > extra things with us that it's nice to have - our wedding photographs,
    > our joint bank accounts, our joint lease - and we weren't living with
    > her ex-husband anymore. Plus, I wasn't ill (yet...) After the first
    > talk through, she separated us, asked me questions on my own, then
    > sent
    > me out and called my wife through to ask her the same ones - things
    > like, when did you last kiss? (Which was easy - it had been in her
    > office while she was copying the wedding pictures.) What day do they
    > take the trash, what does your wife wear to bed, when did you last go
    > to
    > a store together, what did you get, that sort of thing.
    > Anyway, I guess we must have answered them pretty closely; when my
    > wife
    > came out (by which time I was ill again), she was bouncing and happy,
    > and told me that we'd been approved - and that the woman who'd
    > interviewed us said that the LAST situation was just so weird it
    > really
    > HAD to be true.
    > One snag, though - the background security check has still not been
    > finished, so while we've been approved by the interviewer, it's
    > officially approved pending the FBI background check. That SHOULD be
    > perfectly clean, though - the interviewer said we should hear back
    > about
    > the case within the next two months or so, so we're just waiting for
    > the
    > letter to show up!
    > Phew! :)
    > ---
    > Rough timeline :
    > Oct 2003 - I-129F Submitted
    > Feb 2004 - I-129F Approved
    > May 2004 - K-1 Visa Approved
    > Aug 2004 - Entered USA
    > Oct 2004 - Married, submitted I-485 application
    > May 2005 - First I-485 interview, went badly, resubmitted background
    > security check
    > Sep 2005 - Requested update, security check still pending
    > Feb 2006 - Received interview date
    > Mar 2006 - Second I-485 interview, approved pending another
    > resubmitted
    > background check.
    > --

Congratulations on your approval !

My husband (USC) and I were interviewed on 3/13/06.
I can't say the interview went totally great. The evidences
we brought didn't seem enough to convince the officer,
also I was so damn nervous (I know I shouldn't have been!),
I was far cry from being myself.....:(

At the end of the interview, the officer wrote " I-485 Pending"
on my passport. She didn't give us any further indication,
but said we will receive the decision from them within 90 days.

We were so upset, so we went to a congressperson's office
to submit a letter to ask for her help the next day.
I don't know how it will work on our case in this timing,
I just couldn't help doing something for this situation.
The person in the office said they will contact USCIS,
then get in touch with us in about 2 weeks.

I hope we have just being paranoid, but still can't be optimistic.

Dynamo, thank you for sharing your story.
Here I got to know they give us a second "interview" chance.

Thank you.

--
Posted via http://expatforums.com

Hi:

Its a pain when a case gets called for further interview and you get held up again. [If you had an attorney, then you would have someelse to blame! After all it couldn't be DHS's fault could it? ]

However, something seems not quite right with your description. However, in my continuing efforts to keep my eye on what is happening in "my" district, can you say which room you were interviewed in?

I'm trying to get a handle on your posting. It may be that you simply got the DAO on a bad hair day the first time.

The "IP" is a continuing problem. There are certain patterns to what causes even worse experience. But I don't know if they are there.

If you would be so kind, further detail might be helpful in this "conversation."

I wish I could give more info about the room! In both cases, they took the interview letter from us, so I don't know exactly which room was being used. I know that the last one was on the 6th floor, and seemed to be mostly related to people obtaining I-130 visas rather than I-485 applications. The previous time, we're pretty sure it wasn't the 6th floor, and it was definitely a different room - she mentioned something about the whole section being moved. Last time, too, we could see the Hollywood sign from her office, though I don't imagine that helps you much. :-)

In our first interview, though, everything seemed to go wrong. When we arrived we were tired, and then we didn't get into our interview for over three hours. By the time we did, I was exhausted, nauseated and generally out of sorts, and my wife ended up very emotional and broke down in the interview. In a (hopefully rare) show of stupidity, my mind drew a blank and I didn't know how to respond at all - so she just sat there and cried while I sat there like an idiot, not sure what to do next. I don't imagine that made me appear like the most loving husband and partner she'd ever seen.

By the time we left, we thought the whole interview had been a disaster. Trying to explain that yes, we live with her ex husband, and yes, everyone is comfortable with this, and yes, he's our co-sponsor, and no, there's nothing funny going on officer, would have been an interesting task even if we'd been on good form. Add in the large age gap (she's 15 years older than I am) and forget to bring even the usual supporting documents you'd expect in a marriage, and the whole situation looks strange at best.

Neither of us was particularly surprised to hit a couple of bumps on the way, really. But this last day just went perfectly - we woke up dead on time, we were in a good mood, we got good weather, the traffic was light, even the Federal building wasn't crowded, and the interview landed pretty close to dead on time. My wife told the interviewer afterward that she almost thought we HAD to get approved this time, as our day was already going so well.