Interview for a Green Card in USCIS!

// WERSJA POLSKA TUTAJ //



I'm adding this post earlier than usual so if you haven't seen my previous one from Saturday, feel free to check it out HERE. I really liked this post and I'm kind of proud of it.

Yes! We made it! It was quick, friendly and I'll receive my Green Card within 10 days from yesterday. I'd like to tell you how everything went so keep reading if you're interested.


Interview deciding whether I'll get my Green Card or not was set for July 27 at 8AM. Since I'm this type of a person who prefers to be earlier and wait instead of being late, I got up at 6, Nate got up 15 minutes after me and we left home at 6:50 having 40 minutes driving ahead of us. Everything was fine, I wasn't even that stressed, I had all documents needed and everything ready. There's a list of things you need to have on a notification with a date of interview. But I took everything we sent anyway.

We got to the place, waited in line and when we got a guy who was letting people in we realized there was something wrong. He took my notification, read it a little bit longer not saying anything and then he went inside. I made a joke to Nathan that what if we were in a wrong place. He laughed and then this man came back and he told us that... we were in a wrong place. Then I laughed but it was a nervous laughter. Maybe the fact that I was tired, sleepy and stressed made me not making sure if the address I typed in my GPS was correct? I don't know. Anyway, we got into the car and we had 29 minutes to go. We got there at 8:40AM which means 40 minutes after our scheduled interview. It took a few minutes to go inside because a very nice lady was checking out stuff (bags that you can have inside, etc.) and later we had to check-in. I went to a desk, a woman checked my notification and she gave me number K19 and then we were to go to a 3rd floor. We did it and we got there 50 minutes after our scheduled interview. 

After several minutes the officer called our number so we came closer and he told us that we missed our interview so we had to wait until he finds some time to take care of us. We sat back down and waited for almost 3 hours. During this time people were called more or less every 15 minutes. I almost fell asleep with my head on Nathan's shoulder and suddenly the officer came to us and asked: are you ready? I woke up immediately ;)

Questions from the officer.
We followed him to his room and we sat down on the chairs. He asked us to raise our right hands and to swear that everything we'll say will be truthful. He looked through documentation he had (and he had everything we sent) and then he asked us to give him our evidence that we got married because we loved each other, not because I wanted to have a permission to stay legally, and he wanted to see photos as well. He saw all of them and he smiled from time to time. After that, he was checking our information by reading questions from forms and then listening to us answering them - our birth dates, address, parent's names, phone numbers, SSN (I didn't remember mine and there wasn't a problem), etc. He was checking everything one by one. Then he asked a few kind of ridiculous questions like: during last 10 years have you been a prostitute; have you even been a member of any gang; have you ever killed anyone... And so on. He didn't even have to read all of them, he remembered them already. He also asked, regarding to another form, where Nate works, if I have any biological children and who I was when I arrived to the USA. He also asked, regarding to my I-94 form, when was the last time I arrived to the United States and where. The man asked for how long I worked as an au pair, if Nathan hired me or maybe agency and also if I'm still in the agency.

If it comes to questions about our relationship, there wasn't many:
How did you meet? Here the answer made the officer smile and he said that he didn't have any case like that before ;) How did your relationship start? Nathan's answer: well, we've been living together from the very beginning... The officer said yep, yep, ok, it's obvious and he laughed again. When and where did you get married? And here I checked Nathan's memory haha

In general, I had this impression that the officer made his decision almost at the very beginning and when he looked at our documents and pictures (a lot of photos from our wedding) he said that everything was great and we were "good to go". The rest was just a formality. I need to tell you that it was pretty pleasantly, the man was friendly, we laughed a little bit, we even talked about something completely not related to our case but about what he saw in the tv. So it was pretty cool :) I had the impression that all the officers out there I saw were in good moods, they smiled and so on, so this helps to relax if someone is stressed. And how can you not be stressed if you go to talk to one person who will decide about your future life?

I smiled a lot when he put a stamp on my documents saying: APPROVED. He added that I'll receive my Green Card within 10 days from the moment of accepting this in his computer. I can't wait!
This green card is for 2 years and it has conditions on it. After these 2 years I'll have to send a form to remove these conditions. The officer said that you have to be married for 2 years to get a permanent green card.

So I don't know how it goes in different places but I personally think that USCIS in Atlanta is a nice place :) If any of you is before your interview for a green card, I'm sending you my support!


For the end, everything from the moment when we sent our application to its acceptance took only 3 months! What it usually takes is at least 6 months. I'm very happy about that! Below I'll show you how it looked in dates.

Updates:
* May 1 - application sent
* May 4 - application in Chicago
* May 12 - e-mail confirmation from USCIS about receiving our application
* May 19 - traditional mail confirmation that USCIS is working on our case; I got my Alien number
* May 20 - letter with a scheduled fingerprints visit in USCIS
* June 3 - visit in USCIS to give them my fingeprints
* June 30 - letter with a date for scheduled interview
* July 17 - accepted and issued form for Employment Authorization
* July 23 - letter with Employment Authorization and my card
* July 27 - interview in USCIS in Atlanta



Talk to you next time!
Aga