Adjustment of Status - I-485

Des Moines office, Iowa

Day 000: 03/07/2017 Tuesday - Send all package
Day 000: 03/10/2017 Friday - Case Was Received
Day 034: 04/13/2017 Thursday - Biometric appointment at USCIS Des Moines
Day 133: 07/21/2017 Friday - Get a EAD card in hands (I didn’t apply AP)
Day 208: 10/04/2017 Wednesday - USCIS notice interview date
Day 250: 11/15/2017 Wednesday - Interview

Interview appointment 10AM
Arrived at 09:00AM

There were a lot of people, almost full in the big room 215. I asked to a staff, and he said all the people were for citizenship ceremony. But after 9:30AM-ish everyone left to another place.

We waited until 10:20AM, and a mid-30's looking male officer called my name.

We said hi when we walked to the room, he said hi too. First impression was like, he does not that look scary, but somewhat serious. Although he looked already pretty tired.

We entered the room and he said have a sit. He made us to do an oath, we were standing up and had a short oath. He said he needs to take a picture of my face, so we took it. And then the officer checked my index finger prints from both right and left hands.

And then, he started with the overview of today's interview. He said starting with i-130 so he will ask questions to a person who does petition (the citizen), and after that moving to i-485 and will ask questions to beneficiary (me, the immigrant). And he said lastly, he will ask additional questions.

He already had all documents that we sent. He opened i-130 and asked to my husband. What is his full name, date of birth, address, where he was born, social number, etc. Basically, following all questions from i-130 and sounds like just a confirmation.

And asked to my husband again about MY information. Name, date of birth, address, where I was born, social number…

But my husband said, "I don't know her social number" and the officer said, “it is okay” and the officer asked to me "do you remember your social security number?" and I said, “I do not memorize it, but I do have the SSN card right now”, and he said “that is good. Can I see?” so I showed him my social card.

And he asked the date of marriage in where.

That was i-130 part. And then he opened i-485 and asked me questions. What is my full name, date of birth, my current address, and what is my job. But from here, his question was a little tricky. I wrote down my current job, but he said, "so you are still in school right?" and I said, “no I graduated last year.” And he said “good.”

He asked more my information questions and moved to yes/no questions. I answered all no. (have you ever been arrested things like that.) He asked my previous jobs and previous addresses with slightly different year or month, so I said correct year and month, and he said good.

After those questions, he said is there any information changed? so I said my husband entered PhD program (different school), so we have TA paystub and other papers, do you want to see them? and officer said, “no, your affidavit paper looks good, I don't need to see more.”

And he said now I will ask other questions, “any of you can answer. how did you meet and where?” And my husband explained it pretty detail, and the officer was writing all notes based on my husband explanation. Officer asked when we got engaged and my husband answered.

After that he asked "do you have any additional evidence you want to show me?" and I brought,
Apartment rent under both name
Joint account information
Phone family plan together

And we had a huge photo album and the officer said can I see them? so I showed him. Before he saw the wedding pictures, he asked "did your family come from Korea for your wedding?" and I said "my whole family visited here and there are pictures with my family” and I showed the pictures.

He looked through like 3-4 pages of wedding photos and just closed it. He didn't take any pictures from album and said, "all good"

He printed out one paper which has a name of him and my application number, on that paper, he checked on the "your application/petition has been recommended for approval."

And he explained about removing condition after 2 years. And he also said, after 3 years, you can apply citizenship by filling naturalization form.

He said, "do you have any questions?" and we said, “no, all straightforward.” And he said “that is it. your approval letter will be arriving soon, and your card will be arriving in 2-3 weeks” and he opened the door for us, and we left. He never smiled and was never chit-chatting, but it was just simple and easy.

That was it! I will keep post about other updates. If you are well prepared with the documents, it will be fairly easy. Review all the things that you wrote in the papers. They are checking if the paper has true information.

Des Moines people, hawkeyes13, Roy@315, arman597, guyinnocent514, sardine, hopefully this helps to you guys!!! I will keep updating! =)