Adjustment of Status - I-485

I arrived in the United States on a F1 student visa in 2012. I graduated in May 2015 and went on to do my OPT, Optional Practical Training in Washington, on my EAD status. I met my other half, a recent veteran, online. We started chatting online in July 2015, talked over the phone for almost 2 months, met the first time in September 2015, dated for 4 months and got married early February 2016. I was 31, he was 29. Both of us have never been married before.

This is our Timeline:
May 2012 : Arrived on Student Visa, F1
May 2015 : Graduated, got my EAD, started my Internship (OPT)
July 2015 : Met my other half online, chatted and talked over the phone for 2 months
Sep 2015 : Went on our first date
Jan 2015 : My partner separated from his employer
Feb 2016 : Married, submitted I-485, I-130, I-131, I-765
Mar 2016 : Married in my country's embassy. Biometrics fingerprint taken in USCIS.
Apr 2016 : Requested to have my I-765 expedited as my EAD card was expiring in May
May 2016 : I-131, Application For USCIS Travel APPROVED, I-765, Application for Employment Authorization APPROVED
May 2016 : Existing EAD expired
June 2016 : Received new EAD card, received interview date
July 2016 : GC interview on 07/06/2016, approved on 07/07/2016, received card in mail on 07/15/2016 !!!!! That was just in a week!!!

Initial concern:
Our main concern was that my husband, USC, separated from his employer right before we got married and I was the sole breadwinner for a couple of months. One of USCIS' main concern is that the beneficiary does not rely on government's assistance in the next 10 years. Though my income was enough to support us both, we needed more support. We had one of his family member submit an Affidavit of Support as well. That helped us a lot. Plus, I also did not want them to think this was a marriage of convenience where there is monetary support contributed from my end.

We got married within 4 months after meeting, that could raise some questions. My student visa is expiring in 2017 and I got married to a USC a year before that. I am not on his lease because it is expiring soon and we plan to get our own place. I am not pregnant or planning to get pregnant anytime soon because I need to get my traditional wedding out of the way before any baby bump.

But, my husband was very supportive through all that. He kept saying, we do not have anything to worry about as our marriage is legitimate and there is nothing to prove otherwise.

Preparation:
I researched a lot online and took notes from experiences of others. I did not just look for tips to ace the interview, I also looked for mistakes others made and why some applications were denied, so we know what to avoid. quizzed each other often on the interview questions, randomly, while doing dishes, while cooking, to make sure we are on the same page. Though we know ours is a bona fide marriage, we do not want to leave room for errors and be doubted otherwise.

I started getting all my documents ready months before I received the interview letter. I already had a name change and we had joint accounts.

Interview preparation:
I spent a lot of work on this one. I had 3 folders and 1 backup folder. 1) holds original documents, 2) photocopies of the original documents 3) Scrapbook of photos.
Backup folder contained all my I-20s, and every other documents (leases of all the places I lived in past 4 years, phone bills, etc) I could think of that may be needed. I kept this backup folder in the car though, the amount of the documents in it could fit a large suitcase.

1) Original documents - all Notices from USCIS, U.S. wedding certificate, wedding certificate from my country's embassy, both of our birth certificates, my translated birth certificate from my embassy, both of our passports, my I-94, all of my EADs, letter from work that I am telecommuting and that my home address where I am telecommuting from is my husband's current address ( this was the most effective way to prove that I live with him since I am not on his lease), letter from health insurance stating we are both on the same plan ( I even attached both of our insurance cards on this letter at the bottom), Health insurance claims showing we go to the same doctors, Dentist appointments showing we see the same dentist (we even had a prophylaxis appointment together), Vision insurance claims from the same provider, Health Savings Account showing he is the beneficiary, letter from 3 banks stating we are joint account holders, letter showing joint credit card, 401K showing he/me is the 100% beneficiary, screenshot of Comcast bill showing that I am on his online pay authorization, Verizon bill showing I am on his family plan with his parents, his car title where it bears both of our names, auto insurance with both our names on it with attached cards, Miscellaneous stuff such as membership in a club, i.e., Yoga and local library with cards attached, wedding ring and gift receipts ( Glad I am a receipt-hoarder ), wedding gifts from friends that has both of our names with "Happy Married Life", Printout of our wedding registry, travel tickets to another state with boarding pass attached, Affidavit of Marriage from his mother and his best friend as they are USC and that stands stronger with USCIS, STEP showing I am his emergency contact, snapshot of online chat, snapshot of call logs showing we talked for almost 3 hours each call a day when we were dating, Valentine's Day cards, W2s, 3 months recent pay stubs for both.

I had a different colored paper separating these documents into categories, i.e. Joint Assets, Insurance, Receipts, etc. I also made a bullet note under each main title showing what documents I have under that category.

We then went through those documents together at least 5 times on different occasions, so that we know what we are presenting to the Immigration Officer. The worst is when one does not know what the other has prepared, and it is going to look very unconvincing.

Scrapbook:
Wedding, Family, Home. I had 3 categories ( By now, you can guess I am a category person )
I selected 4 pictures for each category, from different occasions, labeled the dates on each picture, made a collage out of them ( 2 pics in one so it's not too small ), and arranged them according to dates, printed from Walgreens ( it's just $0.39 for 4x6 print collage ) and made Scrapbook out of them. The wedding picture is from our registration with the pastor, another from his sister's wedding. The family showing our pictures with his family members and my family members ( Bonus: I also included some screenshot from our Skype session with my family back home ). The "Home" category shows some random pictures of us at home, making dinner together, goofy expressions, watching TV together, all those fun stuff.

I know this was a lot, but it was WELL WORTH IT!!!

Interview experience:
SEATTLE TUKWILA office
We were 45 minutes early, the place was packed! Apparently, they had the naturalization ceremony on the other side as well. I wish we had eaten, we had to wait almost 1.5hours past our interview time before our number was called. Worth the wait.....

......My Immigration Officer was a very sweet lady. We loved her!

We took an oath to tell the truth. She asked a few questions from the I-485 application, just the yes and no answer ( Pg3-Pg5 of the I-485 ) . Afterwards, we went through all the documents, she took some to photocopy. She was very impressed with my organization and labeling. She complimented me a few times on how it is easy for her to look through things and that's not something she experiences very often. It was easy for us to explain to her as well. She looked at some pictures, giggled at some and I apologized that our "Home" pictures are all on the couch, but we are not really couch potatoes and she said she is the same at home. She asked my husband how we met, and how long we dated and how did we get married. We kept it short and simple, creating no room for more questions.

It was the most pleasant experience. She said that our marriage looks legitimate and she will make a decision that night and we will get an update. Based on some of the experiences we read here, most of the officers will let you know right away if you are approved, so I was a little concerned. But, my husband convinced me that it was all good. I kept checking my status online for 2 days and it kept showing Interview Scheduled, and on the next day at 9am I received a text showing there has been an update on my case. I checked online and it shows that my case has been approved. 2 days later it said Card production and that it will take 3 weeks to arrive. However, 2 days later I was holding my Green Card in my hands! The first thing I did was to head over to the Social Security office and lift the title "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION" off of my Social Security card!

Thank you Immihelp and all the contributors! And good luck to future applicants! I hope I have helped in some way too.