Adjustment of Status - I-485

Hi all, here’s my interview experience yesterday for I-485 AOS marriage to USC! Hope this helps!

Chicago FO
PD: 12/19/2019
RFE birth certificate: 02/2020
Ready for interview: 04/2020
Interview date: 01/11/2021
Green card: approved same day!!! 01/11/2021
PS. We did everything ourselves, no lawyer

Documents I brought to interview: pretty much just everything listed in the interview notice. New items I brought to interview that aren’t in the original package are: 2019 tax return which we filed together for the first time, new joint bank accounts statements, new photos. Also brought original birth certificate from the USC. My original birth certificate is still at my home country (the officer did ask for it but I told him it’s too fragile to ship and he seemed okay with it). Also photocopies of our new driver licenses with the same address.

Before interview: we arrived 15 mins before appointment. They won’t let you into the building earlier than that. We ended up waiting for almost 1.5 hour from the scheduled time before we were called. We were the last to be called from our time slot. Some people were called pretty quickly. So it seemed like it really depends if the officer assigned to your case is behind. Also we dressed up (business casual).

Interview process: the officer was very cordial. He asked for IDs first and I gave him our passports and Illinois drivers license. Swore us in and took my biometrics. He asked my husband when we got married, how we met and why we decided to get married. My husband, being the chatty box he is, told some pretty amazing stories of the beginning of our relationship. The officer probably didn’t want to hear more sickly sweet stuff and moved on to other questions before my husband got to the wedding details. He wrote down some dates my husband mentioned. He also asked him if we took any trips, and we pointed him to the photos we submitted along with the original package of our numerous international trips together. Also asked why we are not on the same health insurance plan, which my husband explained that it’s cheaper for us to be separate. The officer was mostly struggling to find things to ask us since we already submitted a lot of co-habitation evidence together such as taxes, bank accounts, license, etc. Then he moved on to me, asked me what I do, before asking the checklist questions (are you a terrorist?). Overall he didn’t ask me that many questions. Also funny that he asked me how old I am because he really had no idea lollll and he jotted down my age to help himself remember.

Overall: interview was only 20 min long. He didn’t ask a whole lot of questions. We were organized and prepared. The officer was pretty disorganized and he probably didn’t look at our case before interview, since he generally had no idea what we submitted. But despite that, we pointed him to the correct info already in his file and I gave him photocopies of anything he couldn’t find right away since I brought copies of everything with me. He told me we will hear a decision in a few weeks (lol), but status update changed around midnight to "card being produced".

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have other questions!

Tips:
- Bring original birth certificates and marriage certificates with you if possible. Officer will check.
- Bring photocopies of supporting evidence, both new and old. If you run in to a disorganized officer like ours, you can just whip out a copy for the officer when they can't find it in their folder. My officer really appreciated it.
- Memorize important dates in your relationship.
- You can submit photos printed on printer papers. Provide dates, location, and quick description of the photos. Our officer liked it a lot.
- Relax. Don't interrupt when questions are not directed at you, but you can be interactive in a relaxed manner. My husband was chatty and hyping me about how organized I was. I think a natural interaction helps show the bona fide marriage.