Mike

Hi Group,

I lost my post from a few weeks ago (I sent it from one of my two computers at work)
regarding my pre-interview jitters, so I'm sorry if I missed anyone's replies.
Needless to say, my AOS Interview took place Friday morning, July 6th, at the L.A.
District Office in downtown Los Angeles. We arrived at about 9:15 for our 9:35
appointment and was called in at approx.
10:00 am. We went straight into the woman's little office (they're no bigger than a
jail cell and there must be 60 of them back there, joined by a VERY long corridor.
Luckily our interview room was right next to the door to the waiting room) and sat
down. Despite the fact that the appointment letter stated that "THIS INTERVIEW
WILL BE VIDEOTAPED", there was not a video camera to be seen anywhere. The woman
was polite, but short, and to the point. She didn't seem to want to engage in any
conversation, which was fine by me.

She started off by getting the Affidavit of Support and the tax returns. The tax
returns were a problem for us, as we discovered last week that we did not have them
anymore. The IRS managed to mail us a hand-written summary for the last three years,
which arrived in the mail on Thursday. This seemed to satisfy the INS woman. (Whew!!
One obstacle down...one more to go...). Next, she wanted four pieces of paper (lease
agreements, utility bills, etc) that had both of our names on it. This was no
problem. Next, she started going over the I-485 and asked questions to verify the
information as it was on the form. She got to the last page and my heart sunk when
she asked "Have you ever been arrested?" Some of you may remember that I was
arrested in 1997 and given a conditional discharge in 1998, meaning that although I
pleaded guilty, a conviction was never entered on my record. Those of you familiar
with INA 212 know that this is irrelevant to the INS; the only thing that matters is
how long the maximum jail sentence COULD have been for that particular offence, and
if sentenced to jail time, how much time was ACTUALLY spent behind bars (it's
actually more complicated than this, but...). The magic number for the INS is one
year, and six months, respectively. Anything over that and you're screwed. Anyway,
of course I answered "yes" to her question at which point she said I would have to
provide the court disposition. I thought this was going to be a problem, because
although I did have the disposition, it was a fax copy and I wasn't sure if that
would fly. She looked it over and asked me to explain to her how the Canadian way of
charging people (Summary and Indictable) compared to the U.S. way (Misdemeanor and
Felony). I explained to her that basically a Summary offence was equivalent to a
Misdemeanor and an Indictable offence was the same as a Felony (this is not always
the case, but for the sake of this discussion it was accurate enough). I went on to
explain that I was charged with a Summary offence which carried a maximum jail
sentence of six months, and that I had not been given any jail time. She repeated
this back to me to make sure she had understood me and wrote some notes in the file
like "see attached documentation". At this point she pulled out a stamp and went to
the I-130 and stamped "Approved" on it. I breathed a sigh of relief as I now figured
we were on our way. She went back to the I-485 and stamped it as well, and explained
to me that I was being granted Conditional Permanent Residency (we've only been
married 1 1/2 years), and how I would need to file paperwork with the CSC 90 days
prior to the expiration of the Conditional Green Card. At this point she had
lightened up considerably and my wife and her were talking about various cities in
the San Gabriel Valley and the quality of the schools and such. A supervisor had
walked by and was yelling at another employer because she had not been processing
cases fast enough, and there were no floaters there on Friday to pick up the slack.
I was able to see our Interviewers schedule for the day and by 10:40 or so when our
case was done, she had already adjudicated five cases. She went on to stamp my
passport with the stamp that reads (I love this): "Processed for I-551 Temporary
Evidence of Lawful Admission for Permanent Residence. Valid Until xx-xx-2002.
Employment Authorized". She then took my EAD card, since I wouldn't be needing that
anymore. That was it!

A few things I want to mention here as I thought it was a bit odd: At no point did
she ask to see any pictures of both of us together. Nor did she ask us how we met,
where/how/why we got married, or how it came to be that I ended up in the U.S. in
the first place. I also don't recall her looking at the medical exam results. This
interview was all about the formality of paperwork, and I could tell that by the way
couples were entering and exiting that they were moving things along quite fast.
They are allotting 35 minutes per case. The L.A. INS is/has been extremely
back-logged and right now they are cleaning up. It is my impression that anyone
going for their AOS anytime soon in L.A. will have an easy time, as long as your
documentation is complete.

Here is our timeline. If anyone who is about to go through L.A. or is waiting to do
so and has any questions, feel free to ask me here or Email
me. I know I have missed something here.

Sept. 99 - Canadian (me) enters the U.S. across land crossing destined for extended
CA holiday. Dec. 99 - Proposes to, and subsequently marries, U.S. Citizen. March 00 -
Files I-130/I-485/I-765 April/May 00 - Receives EAD and SSN June 00 - Gets Job! June
00 - Apply for AP Aug 00 - Receive AP Dec 00 - Travel to Canada for Christmas Mar 01
- Renew EAD April 01 - Receive EAD June 01 - Receive letter for fingerprinting June
01 - Receive letter for AOS appointment June 01 - Go get fingerprints done July 01-
AOS Interview; AOS approved.

Thanks for all the help this newsgroup has been, although because of my quietness you
wouldn't have even known I was here...

Mike.

Rete

Congratulations Mike on your adjustment and for going well prepared. May I ask you to please post your AOS results on the site below for future generations.

Update AOS filing: http://www.kamya.com/aos/

Thanks

Rita

mjones

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Ritas reply to your post of 6-13-01 was most appropriate. I followed your entire
case, as it was one of the most discussed cases in the newsgroup during its time.
Documented the entire thing, and I was awaiting the outcome. Your post here is
included in an old dusty archive file. And I personally appreciate you following up
to the group and letting us know how it turned out. I am sure there are a few
regulars who learned something from it. I wish you well in your future. Mike

Mike

Thanks...I will be submitting the post to the AOS site that Rete mentioned so others
can see and I will also try to pop in on a regular basis and answer any questions I
can, especially if they regard Los Angeles INS and/or the marry here/stay here
scenario. All in all I am happy with the process and have no complaints about my
dealings with the INS here.

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[usenetquote2]> >I lost my post from a few weeks ago (I sent it from one of my two[/usenetquote2]
computers
[usenetquote2]> >at work) regarding my pre-interview jitters, so I'm sorry if I missed anyone's[/usenetquote2]
[usenetquote2]> >replies.[/usenetquote2]
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t

Congrats...

tim.. with a recent LA office AOS success as well.......