davidAW

Hi again,

One of the requirements in the AOS interview letter states:

"If you have children, bring a Birth Certificate for each of your children"

Can anyone tell me if that requirement concerns any children my USC Wife and I may have had together (none) or my children from my previous marriage?

I have two children by my previous Wife, they are all UK citizens but are also LPR's in their own right from her marriage to a USC! They live with her not me.

(Having just read that back to myself it seems like a script from "Eastenders" )

So do I have to take their Birth Certificates? I am thinking not but would like a pointer if possible!

Noorah101

One of our long-time poster couples, Secret Garden & Mr. Pink, had to bring birth certificates of ALL their children...even his from a previous marriage in the UK.

Might be a good idea to be "better safe than sorry" on this one, if you can get their BC's before the interview.

Rene

davidAW

OK thanks Rene. Yes I can get their birth certificates, they only live in the next neighborhood (my youngest Son walks over to see me, its that close)
I will call the ex and get them!

David

meauxna

It might be overkill but if you can get their A#s that might do it. CIS likes to know about family members and where they are (for future immigration benefits.. this would be in your favor).

davidAW

OK, that can be done. In fact I could take their passports and their Green Cards as I have them in my safety deposit box!

davidAW

UPDATE:

Despite three e-mails from USCIS with different days that they had requested production of my EAD card, (it was either requested July 30th, August 4 or August 5th - you take your pick!), my card arrived in the mail today.

Whichever way you look at it, that is damn good service.

David

davidAW

Hi everyone, I just wanted to revisit a topic from earlier in this thread and canvass opinions if I may (?)

That topic concerned taking the Birth Certificates of my two children with me to the AOS interview in a couple of weeks.

At this time I have only managed to obtain a copy of one of them but in addition I have got copies of their Social Security cards, "Green" Cards and passports.

It may be that I am unable to get the other Birth Certificate but my question is whether a competent interview officer, should he/she request and be shown what I have taken with me, realize immediately that if my children are already approved, USCIS must have seen their Birth Certificates when they were granted full LPR status - they are lucky, their Mum (my ex-wife) was married over two years when they got status.

I can try and get the missing one; however the mood in the "enemy" camp is not conducive to face to face communications at the moment and I am loathe to enter into any dialog with her for fear of getting my face ripped off!

Thanks in advance.

David

ian-mstm

I'm sure this will be fine. At worst, you'll be allowed time to get the BC and submit it.


I feel your pain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj9lbFHb5o.

Ian

davidAW

OMG! Its like reliving the past 15 years

davidAW

I managed to obtain the outstanding birth certificate without too much pain so I am good to go now!

We have even booked a hotel for the night before the interview, its only half a mile from the USCIS offices. The last thing I need is to start driving up at 5.00am on the day and then finding traffic jams or the car breaks down or something equally frustrating.

I must admit to becoming more and more nervous as the the days go by!

David

florida4

David, congrats
Let us know your interview experience. I am filing for my sister, and the time line is quite close to yours,
filed 5/20/09, EAD 7/30/09, Interview, at Tampa DO 9/3/09...
She is quite excited/nervous, but very positive....
Dont worry everything will be fine.
The USCIS timeline is amazing...we thought it would take at least another year...awesome

davidAW

Yes, her interview is the day after mine!

I will try and post something just as soon as I get back, sometime in the afternoon as we are 2 and half hours from Tampa, and let you know how it went.

I agree about the time line, amazingly fast. Even though I screwed up my initial submission's, looking at other time lines, I don't think I have lost any significant amount of time.



(My Wife is loving this; go to Tampa the day before and she wants to hit the Hard Rock Casino that evening! Actually I don't have any real objection - we were in there before the Def Leppard concert a couple of weeks ago and I put $10 in a machine and cashed out $160! Result. )

David

davidAW

Florida4,

I know you are concerned about the interview tomorrow (Sept 3), here is a brief synopsis of this mornings interview in Tampa.

Well the bottom line is that I am approved so that's a relief, but here's my take on this mornings little adventure.

We arrived at 7.45am for an 8.00 appointment. Be prepared to wait outside as they only allow one group through the doors at a time (this is to avoid a queue building up for the full body scanner and x-ray machine) At this point they take your original appointment letter.

AOS people get to sit along a corridor and watch a muted TV until their allotted interview. They call you by name. Some of the IO's spoke to the applicant first before calling in the USC. With us' they called us in together.

That maybe because each IO has a different approach to the interview although to be honest, it seemed to me that IF there was a clear question mark over the couple (mixed race, huge age differences etc) they may try and weed out the obvious "convenience" marriages as quickly as possible by asking pertinent questions of the applicant alone and then trying to get the USC to confirm those answers afterwards.

I may be way off base here but including myself and my Wife, there was only one other same race couple, a USC wife and a UK husband and neither they nor we were separated, every one else was!

The interview itself was painless; the IO swore us in and then asked us to supply certain documents that he already had in the file (I guess he was just checking to make sure that we actually had them) He checked our ID's, asked for a few more bits of paper and then asked me the standard questions about whether I intended to try and overthrow the Government, was I involved in dog fighting or bear baiting (!), was I a terrorist etc (Does anyone actually answer yes to any of these ? )

Absolutely no questions whatsoever were asked of my Wife except what town in Indiana did she come from and that was only because that was were he came from!

And that was it!

Be prepared for a wait, our appointment was for 8.00 and we were seen at 9.15, out by 9.40ish! Take a magazine or a book.

I hope that helps in some way, good luck for tomorrow!

David

leopards

Hi david I recently filed an AOS through my wife and like your wife her 08 taxes were below FPL we sent pay stubs hoping that would suffice but after reading your story I have a feeling it won't be enough. Any advise?

davidAW

Hi leopards,

Well even the IO today mentioned that 2008 was a brutal year and that if he had had the option, he would have allowed my Wife's 2008 income to count when taken in series with 2005/06/07 and her current earnings for 2009. But, its not their call to make; as you are probably aware that is part of the processing that goes on at the Service Centers prior to any Interview.

On balance, and if your wife is employed rather than self employed, and can show income for 2009 above the minimum already, they may accept it. In my case I really believe that the "self-employed" status was the main issue and when I received an RIE where the USCIS staff member had highlighted in yellow marker pen "Obtain a Joint Sponsor" I quickly got the (less than subtle) suggestion

Others on here may give you better guidance but the Service Centers seem to be sticking to the letter of the law/rules so to be safe, get a Joint Sponsor lined up.

Hope that helps in a little way at least!

David