Employment Based Greencard

Hello,

I too, like many, been silent reader and grasping the entire process of AOS. I benefited much from this forum so wanted to share my experience back here.

Time line check:

I-140 approved Oct 2018 (No RFE)
AOS applied Dec 2018
Biometric in Jan 2019
EAD, AP July 2019
Aug = silent
Interview schedule letter Sept 2019
Interview actual – Oct 8th 2019
Location San Jose, CA
PD: Sept 2014, EB1

Interview day:

I, along with my wife and 1 year old kid (2nd kid) Attended the interview scheduled at 2:00pm. We checked in and it was bit of wait before we were called. While waiting, my kid started getting fussy and restless due to nap time. Then an officer called our number after 40mins of wait. She greeted us and escorted us to her room and we started with Oath. She seemed to have already gone through our files before calling us in. Initially, She was just chit chating some general topics before actual interview began. Then comes our kid screaming and crying, distracting, making all of us uncomfortable. Officer was ok with it but whenever she asked something my kid was screaming and I could not hear the question nor answer on it. This made us big worry already, we tried to control the situation by giving toys but did not work. We tried to go along little bit more but then it became quite uncomfortable. So I stepped up and said to officer if I and my wife can interview separately so that one can look after kid and other can interview. Looking at the situation, she agreed and escorted my wife and “my restless kid” back to waiting room.

Officer came back and started interview with me. I already lost confidence at this time and was nervous. But she was accommodative and professional throughout. I mentioned sorry for the situation but she was supportive and continued.
• She started with 485 application – verified all details. Updated recent travel, address change.
• Then employment details: verification letter, pay stubs, and what I do (answered very simple way).
• Then verified few more docs: Passport, visa (looking at it carefully).
• Asked when you entered originally. I had this date known just before interview and said June 200x. She said yes, I see that in my system.
• Then birth certificate: I landed up in small problem here. I had orig birth cert + affidavit from my father as last name was missing in my orig birth cert. In affidavit, my father made mistake of not mentioning Month of my birth. She caught that and started smiling. I said oh I think that must be clerical error and probably we missed it, it’s a good catch. I thought she would RFE on this. But later she said its fine, its captured in your orig cert. Moved on.
• She then asked copy of birth cert for both of my kids. They are US born.
• Then yes/no questions, I mentioned I had traffic ticket once. She just took a note of it and said that is fine. No doc asked on this.
• I signed and finished it. She also mentioned that, I see your PD is current and I need to request visas if available.

She then said, I will need your wife to complete the interview. She took me out and got my wife back into her room. I left my documents behind thinking I will come back to her room. My wife did her interview well too – basically general question on marriage and not really verifying any particulars in details. They had a good conversation apparently. Then after sometime, My wife just came out with all the documents and bag. I was bit shocked here as too I could not even ask about next steps or thank her etc. My wife did that job for me to wrap up. Officer told my wife at the end that she will review and make a decision and wished good luck.

I felt we did not do well today based on how it ended and how our kid bothered the interview process. So we just came out carried our day along. As every one said sometime they got message after few hours. So with a very small tiny hope, I checked status but it just said same as before “interview has been scheduled”. I checked back again in the night after dinner for one last time, still the same. We then confirmed ok, we basically screwed it and our case would sit in review phase for many months to come. We finished our day and retired to bed.

Next day, as each day is different and brings new hope in life. Got up, got kids ready to school, dropped off and on way back started checking emails and boom: -USCIS mail stating “card in production”. I just skipped a heart beat 😊. My wife on other side, has been positive since interview and said – well I told you, officer was nice and professional, she did her job. One thing I learnt is “listen to your wife” 😊

Big relief and finally our journey is coming to an end. We are now waiting for approval notices and actual card to come in.

The only tip I can give is:
- Keep kids away if possible especially If you know your kid may not support well and can distract during interview – so that you can focus well. They also mention in interview letter to not bring kids below 13 years but the rule is not mandatory. We literally had no help that day to look after our 2nd kid so we took her along. Our 1st kid was in school so no issues there. But same time, officer do know many families come with kids and they can get fussy/cranky etc. they will accommodate but if it goes out of hand, step up and try to ease the situation.

Good luck everyone !!