Adjustment of Status - I-485

I wanted to share our recent experience with my wife during the Marriage Based Adjustment of Status process.

Just a little background on our relationship: I (29 years old) am the US Citizen. I am originally from Argentina, but have been living in the US for the past 17 years. My wife (32 years old) is also from there. We met while doing a Masters in Cordoba, Argentina, back in August 2011. I asked her out for the first time in December 2011 and we were officially dating March 2012. In May 2012 she got her tourist visa and we came on vacation to NY in June of 2012 so she could visit (she had never been to the US) and meet my family and friends. We then visited NY again in July 2013. Then Masters program concluded August 2013, and I needed to return to the US to start paying my student loans, so I did in October 2013. From then on we had a 2 year long distance relationship: she visited me twice here in the US, in February 2014 and again in February 2015; I visited her twice in Argentina, July 2014 and September 2015. During that last trip, she came back with me. We got married November 2015 here in the US, 1 month and half after her entry into the US. We lived with my parents until July 2016 when we finally got our own apartment!

Note: I mentioned the fact we got married 1 and a half months after arriving because we were asked many times by various people why we did not wait the 3 months that USCIS "required"! (which was a little discouraging, because to be honest I cannot remember why we didn't just wait). I cannot speak for all cases here, only for ours, but I believe that her past entries into the US came in handy: she had been to the US 4 times before moving here with me on her fifth trip and getting married, and she always returned to Argentina before the visa expiration. It must have been pretty clear to USCIS that she did not get a tourist visa, and get married on her last entry, simply to get papers, something she could have done many times before. I mention this because of that 3 month rule: if your story is similar to ours, then you should have nothing to fear, but if you're going to get married on your first trip to the US, then I would encourage you to follow that rule.

In January 2016 all paperwork was sent, and February 2016 application was received by USCIS. Working and Social Security cards arrived June 2016. Then October 2016 our interview letter came in, scheduled for November 28, 2016, in Holtsville, NY (Long Island Office) at 1:50PM.

We arrived at 1:15PM, and met with our counselor in the waiting area. We waited for over an hour (I cannot explain to you how nervous I was; my wife was a more calm ironically). Then the officer came out at 3PM to call us in. Right from the beginning he was funny: he opens the door, points to my wife and says "I am here to see you". We get up and follow him into his office. When we get inside, he makes us swear to tell the truth and then has us sit down. He asks us first for my wife's passport, and asks her a few questions about her last entry, and when and how we met. Then he asks me how long we have been living together. He does the standard criminal record Y/N questions with my wife (during this entire process he throws in a joke or two once in a while), and then asks us if we rent or own a home. I tell him we rent, and hand him the lease along with receipts of rent payment. He asks if we filed taxes (we had done them together) and I give him the original Tax Returns. I volunteer the last statement from our joint savings account (I say volunteer because he didn't request it), and was very happy I had that. Finally, he asks if we brought pictures (we did, about 20), and tells us to pick one that we feel comfortable with leaving him so that he can put it in our file: we picked one from our honey moon; he did not even look at our other pictures. In the end, he only kept those things: lease with rent receipts, tax returns, joint bank statement, and one picture. And finally, the words came out: "I will recommend that your application be APPROVED, the green card should arrive in 3 weeks or so". After 1 year of waiting for that moment, it was all over. The entire interview took no more than 15 minutes, and did not even compare to what I had built up in my head (the officer was by far the best part). I do want to mention that we brought MANY other things along to prove our life together, very neatly organized in a binder, and a separate folder with copies of each document. At one point he made a comment about how prepared we had come, compared to some of his earlier interviews.

This was our personal experience, and like I mentioned before, cannot speak for all others. However, I would always recommend getting as much proof as possible showing your life together. Even though he did not request much of what we brought in that day, I don't regret feeling that we were as prepared as possible. I am confident that by the time we walked in there, they had a pretty good idea of who we were, and the interview was just a formality. But if you feel the story of your relationship may seem to others as "unclear", then the interview will be your chance to show them that they have nothing to worry about.

And finally, to conclude on those lines, if your relationship is real, and not made up, then you have nothing to worry about: they are prepared to sniff out what doesn't seem legit. So if your relationship is legit, then try to relax as much as possible!

Good luck to all!