Siobhan

Hi there,

I came to the US in 1985 on a visitor's visa and stayed here for 15
years before being married and having my husband petition for me. I
met and dated the man who is now my husband from 1991-1992. We got
back together in 1998 and lived together in Chicago till we got
married 4/7/2001. We rented an apartment until September 2002. At that
point, we bought a house in Florida and moved here. My husband's
credit was better than mine, so the mortgage broker advised us to put
the house in his name only to get a better rate. All the house
documents are in my husband's name.

We filed the immigration paperwork immediately after we got married.
Immigration lost our application and our lawyer had to get a
congressman involved for them to find it and process. That was after
multiple letters from the congressman. That took 4 months to sort out.
After 5 months, I finally got employment authorization.

Just before our 2 year wedding anniversary, we were getting a bit
frustrated because we still hadn't been called for an interview and
they'd told us 18 months from their acceptance date -- which they
stated as 5/7/2001 -- the day they cashed our check, not the day we
applied due to the earlier mix up. Our lawyer contacted them and it
took a while for them to figure out what was going on. Eventually, he
was told the file was lost again. It had been sent back to the
archives and would be a big ordeal for them to find and return to an
office which could take several months.

Since we had moved to Florida in the interim, our lawyer thought it
made more sense to have the file moved to Florida where we live now.
It took 4 months for immigration to find the file and again, we had to
get a local congressman involved in order to get anywhere.

We were getting really frustrated and so, we made an appointment to
find out the status of where our file was. We had to wait a month for
the appointment. When we went to the appointment this past August, we
were told it would be at least another 10 months before our interview.

We were totally frustrated. We got the congressman involved again. He
contacted the supervisor of the local office and asked for us just to
be put back in line where we belonged. Our lawyer also contacted that
same supervisor. Finally, they called us for an interview. The
interview was yesterday.

I've given all the background in case it's needed and also to
illustrate how this process has not been easy for us at all. They have
lost our file 3 times and it has taken a lot of work and perseverance
to follow up and keep them on their toes. What an ordeal.

Our lawyer is in Chicago and he did not fly down from Chicago for the
interview as we all thought it would be pretty easy -- we've been
together so so so long and no one is more married than us.

We went to the interview and the interviewer was extremely unfriendly.
She stared at me for a long time and said nothing. It was very
strange. She immediately asked for my passport and my husband's ID.
She then asked my husband where he met me, and if he'd been married
before. Then, she asked if we were married at a church or courthouse,
and if we had children. After that, she asked for proof of our
marriage. It was very difficult to understand her as she mumbled and
spoke very very softly.

We brought our joint tax returns for 2001 & 2002, my husband's 2000
tax return, 3 years of our joint bank account statements with copies
of checks showing where we paid household bills out of the accounts --
some checks in my handwriting, some in his -- our checkbooks with
duplicates of checks written, our health insurance documents and
policies, title on both of our cars in both of our names, our life
insurance policies where we are each other's beneficiaries, our joint
credit card statements and the cards, cards we had sent each other for
birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. all saying
"to my wife" or "to my husband", at least 100 photos in an album .. of
both of us dating back for the 13 years we've known each other and
including our wedding photos, photos of me with his family, us in our
house, us with our pets, us on our vacations, etc.

The interview lasted an hour. I had heard from everyone else that
they would last 5-20 minutes so ours was very long. For much of the
time, the woman just sat there saying nothing and staring at us or
looking at her computer. It was very very uncomfortable.

The interviewer said this wasn't enough proof that we live together
and she said we will have to return for another interview which they
will send us a letter for it. She wouldn't be specific about when
that would happen. She said it would be about 60 days or perhaps
longer. She said that my security clearance was also not yet back and
that would take another 30-60 days. She had some other questions
about why we got married in a courthouse, not a church and seemed
distrustful of that. She really questioned why we didn't have and
didn't want children (was that the wrong thing to say?). And she had
big time questions about why our house was in my husband's name --
even though we explained about the credit. She just didn't like that
at all.

She said she did not see proof that I live with my husband and
suspects I still live in Chicago. (The brunt of all of this is that I
was the one who dragged my husband to Florida and if she knew me at
all, she'd know I can't stand winter!) She said she needs more proof
that I actually live with my husband in Florida.

I'm lost ... aren't bank statements and credit card statements enough?
We asked her what she needed and she wouldn't tell us -- just
proof???? What exactly is "proof"? Is there any way to find out?
Does anyone have any idea what "proof" is. We called our lawyer and
he said we could get affidavits from our friends that we socialize
with here in Florida. I can probably get a half dozen of those. I'm
not sure if that's enough.

I have some individual credit cards in my name only and could bring
those statements. I could bring credit card receipts from restaurants
for the last year in Florida and purchases made at grocery stores and
regular stores. I usually use my debit card though and there isn't a
signature on every purchase. Will that be a problem?

I own a business here but it's an online business -- not a retail
business so I can't get statements from customers that I am there all
the time as they all call an 800 number. (Brining statements from my
customers was suggested on a forum, so I'm mentioning it here to
clarify why that won't work.) Should I bring in all the documentation
from my business which is all listed at a Florida address?

Should I bring every single piece of mail (junk or otherwise) I get
here between now and then? On another forum, I was told to bring
envelopes of mail I received here and some envelopes showing my change
of address. Unfortunately, I have thrown most of those out over the
past year. I'm not a good pack rat, I guess.

Someone suggested that I show that I have paid Florida state income
taxes. There are no state income taxes in Florida, so I'm stuck there
too.

How else can I prove that yes, I live with my husband -- and not in
Chicago?
I have no address, no apartment, no residence, in Chicago. Is there a
way to prove that? I don't know of one. If anyone does, I'd
appreciate it.

Unfortunately, I don't belong to a health club here or a library
(suggested by another forum). Our lawyer advised me not to start
joining things now or it will look like I'm trying to phoney something
up. So, I have to find things that are backdated. He also told me not
to bother getting a Florida drivers license now as it would again look
phoney this late in the game.

On another forum, someone asked why the deed of our house isn't in
both our names. I honestly don't know. I didn't know we could do
that with the mortgage in my husband's name and I guess my husband
didn't either. No one suggested that to us until now. We asked about
it today and were told that it would take at least 6 weeks and cost us
$3,800. I don't know if that would help at all. We are thinking of
refinancing anyway and could do it then. Again, our lawyer says there
is no point in getting my name on the deed now for $3,800 as it will
just look phoney.

Our lawyer is completely baffled with all of this and the scrutiny we
are under. Our lawyer said he has been at interviews where they ask
for more proof, but generally, they ask for it to be mailed in. He
has not heard of someone being asked to return for another interview
this late in the game.

After posting something similar to this on a forum, I was told that it
is perhaps the fact that I lived here illegally for 15 years that has
triggered this scrutiny. Our lawyer disagrees with that. He says
that once you marry an American citizen, any time you spent here
illegally is basically absolved. I never left the country during
those 15 years, so according to him, they turn a blind eye on it.
When I responded about this on that forum, I was told that marrying an
American does not guarantee residency. I realize that. However, we
do have a genuine marriage. I have loved this man for 13 years now
and he loves me. Our friends say we're the happiest couple they know.
All we want to do is know how to convince immigration of this. I
only wish we could invite them to our home. There would be no doubt
in their minds.

My emotions are extremely raw right now. On another forum, someone
told me to go bark up another tree and was rude to me. I'm hoping to
find support here, and someone that might be able to suggest a way
that we can prove this. If you can help with that, I'll be very very
appreciative. However, if your intention is to be very rude or
hurtful to me, could you please think twice about that right now?
It's been a tough week .. and as I said, my emotions are very very
raw.

If anyone has had something similar to this happen to them, could you
please share what happened when you went back for the second
interview?

Thanks so much to anyone who has advice and I'm truly sorry this is so
long.

Siobhan

Poster

(Siobhan) wrote in message news:<>...
    > Hi there,
    >
    > I came to the US in 1985 on a visitor's visa and stayed here for 15
    > years before being married and having my husband petition for me. I
    > met and dated the man who is now my husband from 1991-1992. We got
    >> After posting something similar to this on a forum, I was told that
it

    > is perhaps the fact that I lived here illegally for 15 years that has
    > triggered this scrutiny. Our lawyer disagrees with that. He says
    > that once you marry an American citizen, any time you spent here
    > illegally is basically absolved. I never left the country during
    > those 15 years, so according to him, they turn a blind eye on it.

I don't know if because you HAD a visa before (or you happen to be
lucking and was born in to a 1st world country), that they didnt put
you in removal procceedings.

Your interview was not normal, you have/had all the proof you need,
perhaps you security check didn't come back yet...(I bet they ask you
for more fingerprints).

Mrtravel

Siobhan wrote:
    > Hi there,
    > After posting something similar to this on a forum, I was told that it
    > is perhaps the fact that I lived here illegally for 15 years that has
    > triggered this scrutiny. Our lawyer disagrees with that. He says
    > that once you marry an American citizen, any time you spent here
    > illegally is basically absolved. I never left the country during
    > those 15 years, so according to him, they turn a blind eye on it.
    >

I don't know if your lawyer is right or not, but I would hope they would
look with a bit more caution at someone who has been illegally in the
country for 15 years. Your lawyer disagreed that was the issue, but he
offer a more plausable one.

Manga

I'm no expert but I would write immediately to my congressman.





On 28 Oct 2003 22:35:59 -0800, (Siobhan)
wrote:

    >Hi there,
    >I came to the US in 1985 on a visitor's visa and stayed here for 15
    >years before being married and having my husband petition for me. I
    >met and dated the man who is now my husband from 1991-1992. We got
    >back together in 1998 and lived together in Chicago till we got
    >married 4/7/2001. We rented an apartment until September 2002. At that
    >point, we bought a house in Florida and moved here. My husband's
    >credit was better than mine, so the mortgage broker advised us to put
    >the house in his name only to get a better rate. All the house
    >documents are in my husband's name.
    >We filed the immigration paperwork immediately after we got married.
    >Immigration lost our application and our lawyer had to get a
    >congressman involved for them to find it and process. That was after
    >multiple letters from the congressman. That took 4 months to sort out.
    >After 5 months, I finally got employment authorization.
    >Just before our 2 year wedding anniversary, we were getting a bit
    >frustrated because we still hadn't been called for an interview and
    >they'd told us 18 months from their acceptance date -- which they
    >stated as 5/7/2001 -- the day they cashed our check, not the day we
    >applied due to the earlier mix up. Our lawyer contacted them and it
    >took a while for them to figure out what was going on. Eventually, he
    >was told the file was lost again. It had been sent back to the
    >archives and would be a big ordeal for them to find and return to an
    >office which could take several months.
    >Since we had moved to Florida in the interim, our lawyer thought it
    >made more sense to have the file moved to Florida where we live now.
    >It took 4 months for immigration to find the file and again, we had to
    >get a local congressman involved in order to get anywhere.
    >We were getting really frustrated and so, we made an appointment to
    >find out the status of where our file was. We had to wait a month for
    >the appointment. When we went to the appointment this past August, we
    >were told it would be at least another 10 months before our interview.
    >We were totally frustrated. We got the congressman involved again. He
    >contacted the supervisor of the local office and asked for us just to
    >be put back in line where we belonged. Our lawyer also contacted that
    >same supervisor. Finally, they called us for an interview. The
    >interview was yesterday.
    >I've given all the background in case it's needed and also to
    >illustrate how this process has not been easy for us at all. They have
    >lost our file 3 times and it has taken a lot of work and perseverance
    >to follow up and keep them on their toes. What an ordeal.
    >Our lawyer is in Chicago and he did not fly down from Chicago for the
    >interview as we all thought it would be pretty easy -- we've been
    >together so so so long and no one is more married than us.
    >We went to the interview and the interviewer was extremely unfriendly.
    > She stared at me for a long time and said nothing. It was very
    >strange. She immediately asked for my passport and my husband's ID.
    >She then asked my husband where he met me, and if he'd been married
    >before. Then, she asked if we were married at a church or courthouse,
    >and if we had children. After that, she asked for proof of our
    >marriage. It was very difficult to understand her as she mumbled and
    >spoke very very softly.
    >We brought our joint tax returns for 2001 & 2002, my husband's 2000
    >tax return, 3 years of our joint bank account statements with copies
    >of checks showing where we paid household bills out of the accounts --
    >some checks in my handwriting, some in his -- our checkbooks with
    >duplicates of checks written, our health insurance documents and
    >policies, title on both of our cars in both of our names, our life
    >insurance policies where we are each other's beneficiaries, our joint
    >credit card statements and the cards, cards we had sent each other for
    >birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. all saying
    >"to my wife" or "to my husband", at least 100 photos in an album .. of
    >both of us dating back for the 13 years we've known each other and
    >including our wedding photos, photos of me with his family, us in our
    >house, us with our pets, us on our vacations, etc.
    >The interview lasted an hour. I had heard from everyone else that
    >they would last 5-20 minutes so ours was very long. For much of the
    >time, the woman just sat there saying nothing and staring at us or
    >looking at her computer. It was very very uncomfortable.
    >The interviewer said this wasn't enough proof that we live together
    >and she said we will have to return for another interview which they
    >will send us a letter for it. She wouldn't be specific about when
    >that would happen. She said it would be about 60 days or perhaps
    >longer. She said that my security clearance was also not yet back and
    >that would take another 30-60 days. She had some other questions
    >about why we got married in a courthouse, not a church and seemed
    >distrustful of that. She really questioned why we didn't have and
    >didn't want children (was that the wrong thing to say?). And she had
    >big time questions about why our house was in my husband's name --
    >even though we explained about the credit. She just didn't like that
    >at all.
    >She said she did not see proof that I live with my husband and
    >suspects I still live in Chicago. (The brunt of all of this is that I
    >was the one who dragged my husband to Florida and if she knew me at
    >all, she'd know I can't stand winter!) She said she needs more proof
    >that I actually live with my husband in Florida.
    >I'm lost ... aren't bank statements and credit card statements enough?
    >We asked her what she needed and she wouldn't tell us -- just
    >proof???? What exactly is "proof"? Is there any way to find out?
    >Does anyone have any idea what "proof" is. We called our lawyer and
    >he said we could get affidavits from our friends that we socialize
    >with here in Florida. I can probably get a half dozen of those. I'm
    >not sure if that's enough.
    >I have some individual credit cards in my name only and could bring
    >those statements. I could bring credit card receipts from restaurants
    >for the last year in Florida and purchases made at grocery stores and
    >regular stores. I usually use my debit card though and there isn't a
    >signature on every purchase. Will that be a problem?
    >I own a business here but it's an online business -- not a retail
    >business so I can't get statements from customers that I am there all
    >the time as they all call an 800 number. (Brining statements from my
    >customers was suggested on a forum, so I'm mentioning it here to
    >clarify why that won't work.) Should I bring in all the documentation
    >from my business which is all listed at a Florida address?
    >Should I bring every single piece of mail (junk or otherwise) I get
    >here between now and then? On another forum, I was told to bring
    >envelopes of mail I received here and some envelopes showing my change
    >of address. Unfortunately, I have thrown most of those out over the
    >past year. I'm not a good pack rat, I guess.
    >Someone suggested that I show that I have paid Florida state income
    >taxes. There are no state income taxes in Florida, so I'm stuck there
    >too.
    >How else can I prove that yes, I live with my husband -- and not in
    >Chicago?
    >I have no address, no apartment, no residence, in Chicago. Is there a
    >way to prove that? I don't know of one. If anyone does, I'd
    >appreciate it.
    >Unfortunately, I don't belong to a health club here or a library
    >(suggested by another forum). Our lawyer advised me not to start
    >joining things now or it will look like I'm trying to phoney something
    >up. So, I have to find things that are backdated. He also told me not
    >to bother getting a Florida drivers license now as it would again look
    >phoney this late in the game.
    >On another forum, someone asked why the deed of our house isn't in
    >both our names. I honestly don't know. I didn't know we could do
    >that with the mortgage in my husband's name and I guess my husband
    >didn't either. No one suggested that to us until now. We asked about
    >it today and were told that it would take at least 6 weeks and cost us
    >$3,800. I don't know if that would help at all. We are thinking of
    >refinancing anyway and could do it then. Again, our lawyer says there
    >is no point in getting my name on the deed now for $3,800 as it will
    >just look phoney.
    >Our lawyer is completely baffled with all of this and the scrutiny we
    >are under. Our lawyer said he has been at interviews where they ask
    >for more proof, but generally, they ask for it to be mailed in. He
    >has not heard of someone being asked to return for another interview
    >this late in the game.
    >After posting something similar to this on a forum, I was told that it
    >is perhaps the fact that I lived here illegally for 15 years that has
    >triggered this scrutiny. Our lawyer disagrees with that. He says
    >that once you marry an American citizen, any time you spent here
    >illegally is basically absolved. I never left the country during
    >those 15 years, so according to him, they turn a blind eye on it.
    >When I responded about this on that forum, I was told that marrying an
    >American does not guarantee residency. I realize that. However, we
    >do have a genuine marriage. I have loved this man for 13 years now
    >and he loves me. Our friends say we're the happiest couple they know.
    > All we want to do is know how to convince immigration of this. I
    >only wish we could invite them to our home. There would be no doubt
    >in their minds.
    >My emotions are extremely raw right now. On another forum, someone
    >told me to go bark up another tree and was rude to me. I'm hoping to
    >find support here, and someone that might be able to suggest a way
    >that we can prove this. If you can help with that, I'll be very very
    >appreciative. However, if your intention is to be very rude or
    >hurtful to me, could you please think twice about that right now?
    >It's been a tough week .. and as I said, my emotions are very very
    >raw.
    >If anyone has had something similar to this happen to them, could you
    >please share what happened when you went back for the second
    >interview?
    >Thanks so much to anyone who has advice and I'm truly sorry this is so
    >long.
    >Siobhan