Rete

> Hi everyone,
> Heres some info on me and my husbands interview today in Detroit in
> case it is of interest or help to anyone. Lots of details so sorry for
> the rambling on..lol
> We had an appointment at the immigration service on Mt. Elliot street
> today in Detroit for my husband to get a greencard. I am a US citizen
> and he is from England just FYI. I was well prepared and brought
> along
> a big file full of all the things that the interview appointment
> letter
> asked us to bring. I brought birth cert. for both, marriage license
> <which I was up half the night looking for cause I missplaced it>,
> both
> our passports and SS cards, my last 3 years tax returns, W2's, pay
> slips for both of us incuding letters from our employers, evidence of
> our relationship such as copy of apartment lease, bills with both our
> names on them, copies of joint bank account statements, pictures,
> cards, etc, a notorized affadavit of support, and copies of any
> letters
> we have recieved from the INS. I brought the originals along as well.
> Ok well I was up pretty much all night getting this all prepared. Our
> appointment was at 8am, and we live about an hour away from Detroit.
> There is alot of construction going on and apparently the traffic is
> horrible, and on top of that, we dont know our way around the area. So
> we left the house around 5:45. There was really very little traffic
> and
> we found our way there pretty easily so we were early. We had some
> breakfast and got to the immigration place at about 7am. As soon as
> you pull up, they ask to see your appointment letter, told us they
> open
> the doors at 7:30am and showed us where to park. We went in at 7:40am,
> had to show our appointment letter again, and walk through the metal
> detector thing. The place is really small, alot smaller than I had
> expected. At 7:50 my husbands name was called. We were greeted by a
> friendly officer who introduced herself as Officer Sullivan. We
> followed her into her little cubicle and had a seat. She had us raise
> our right hands and swear to tell the truth, etc. She then asked us
> for
> our ID's, we handed her both of our passports and drivers
> license/state
> IDs. She had both of us state our names and address, and then asked
> David a series of questions from a check off sheet she had, just all
> 'no' questions like "Are you a terrorist?" "Do you plan to engage in
> espionage or to overtake the US government?" which i had to laugh at.
> Just easy routine questions. She asked David his date of birth,
> address, phone number, moms name, dads name, our wedding date, and if
> he was working. She already had our file from when we applied on her
> desk and was just checking things off to see if his answers match what
> she had on file. She then asked me if I had my last years tax
> return/W2
> and any paystubs. I handed them to her. Heres the thing that I was so
> nervous about....I was $400 short of the income requirment guidlines,
> so I brought along a letter from my employer stating my new wages
> since
> I have had a raise since my taxes were filed, also copies of what I
> had
> in the bank, along with an apprasial of my wedding ring as an asset.
> Also brought my husbands recent paystubs and employment letter, as he
> just got a job. She never asked for any of this. Not even the
> Affadavit
> of support form that I filled out and had notorized. Just my 2005
> taxes
> and some paystubs. She did ask how come we waited so long to file for
> AOS, a question i was expecting, because we were married in October
> 2003 and did not apply until October 2005. I just told her that that
> was my own stupid mistake, cause I recieved some bad advice and was
> told it was easier to wait until you are closer to your 2 year
> anniversary beore applying so you can skip the temp. 2 year green card
> and get your 10 year one w/o restrictions. Which is true, but I found
> that by doing so, you had overstayed are not allowed to leave the
> country, even with a travel document, or you will incure a 10 year
> ban.
> So my husband has not visited home to see his family in almost 3
> years.
> She just laughed and was like 'ooooh ok'. She then stamped Davids
> passport, said he will recieve his actual greencard in the mail in
> about a month and told us to have a great day. We were like..."is that
> it?" and i laughed and commented that I had brought so much stuff with
> me. She just laughed and was like "Well if you really want me to I
> could file it for ya". We thanked her and left. We got home at
> 9am. I
> was so worried about the interview, it always sounds so scary. It
> lasted 15mins max and about half that time was spent in silence as
> she
> was typing stuff in her computer. She was also very smiley and
> friendly
> and made us feel very comfortable. So we are FINALLY done and are
> planning on spending xmas this year in England since David is free
> to
> travel. Yay!! I was surprised at how quick the process was from
> the
> time we applied, to the time we had our interview date. About 5
> months
> in all. Our timeline is below..
> 01/30/2003- Applied for I-129F, fiance visa through the slooooooow
> Nebraska center
> 07/22/2003- Recieved NOA that application was approved
> 08/21/2003- Recieved 2nd NOA that application was sent to London
> embassy
> 07/30/2003- Sent request to scotland yard for criminal background
> check
> 08/13/2003- Letter recieved from scotland yard, nothing on file
> 08/21/2003-Packet from London embassy with appointment letter and info
> 09/17/2003-Interview and medical in London at 8am. Successful, recieve
> visa
> 09/24/2003-David flies from London heathrow to Detroit
> 10/25/2003- We are married. Awww!
> 10/15/2005- Apply for AOS and EAD, send to Chicago
> 10/26/2005-Recieve NOA- they have recieved application for I-765 for
> Employment auth.
> 10/26/2005- Also have recieved application for I-485 for Adjust status
> 01/27/2006- Get appointment letter to have biometrics/fingerprints
> taken in Detroit
> 02/24/2006- Get biometrics taken, no problems
> 03/02/2006- Recieve EAD card in the mail
> 03/14/2006-Recieve NOA for greencard/AOS interview in Detroit
> with/appointment time
> 03/15/2006- Go to social security office in ann arbor. Apply &
> approved
> for SS card
> 03/22/2006-Recieve SS card in mail
> 04/28/2006-Have medical exam and shots in Westland, no problems
> 05/08/2006-Final interview in Detroit. Approved quickly, recieved
> stamp
> in passport. Actual card should arrive shortly.

Congratulations on the I-551. Now you can breath that sigh of relief
over having delayed the filing of the paperwork for so long. Nice to
know everyone is back in status again and the overstay issue was not a
problem at the interview.

Rete