Adjustment of Status - I-485

Hello - just sharing our experience so far. We are located in Indianapolis, IN and are currently waiting for a marriage-based AOS and greed card. I am the USC and my husband is currently in the country working on an active/valid H1B. My husband entered the country in 2012 with an active F1 for his post-graduate work and was hired after graduation, at which time his employer transferred his F1 to an H1B. It was not necessary for us to file for either the work or travel authorizations because of the currently active H1B.

Our rough timeline:

7/4/2013 - Date we met
8/19/2017 - Married
11/27/2017 - Filed for AOS (i-130, i-130A, i-485, i-864)
12/15/2017 - Receipt of Application Received
1/9/2018 - Notice of Biometrics Exam
1/22/2018 - Biometrics Exam Completed
2/14/2018 - Interview Scheduled for 3/23/2018
3/23/2018 - Interview Completed

Our interview went very smoothly and the officer was very serious but also quite friendly - he was not rude or dismissive in any way. The scheduled interview time was 11:45AM and we had our attorney present. At ~12:00PM, I (the USC) was called back alone and was asked to provide my ID, Birth Certificate, Marriage License and any additional documentation that I wanted to add to our case file. The additional documents that I provided included the following:

- My hushand's sealed medical exam
- Two years of joint checking account statements
- Two years of joint savings account statements
- Most recent (2017) tax return showing that we filed as "Married Filing Together"
- Most recent W2's from both employers
- Six months of most recent pay-stubs from both employers
- My husband's most recent performance review from his employer
- My life insurance policy indicating my spouse as the beneficiary
- His life insurance policy indicating me as the beneficiary
- Receipts of major vacation travel from past 2 years
- Receipts of our marriage and reception expenses
- An original copy of our wedding and reception invitations
- The guestbook from our wedding reception containing signatures of attendees

The officer accepted all of these documents and added them to our file. After going through these documents the officer asked me to wait in his office and proceeded to bring my spouse into the room so that we could be interviewed together.

The first step of the interview was to adjudicate the i-130 form. The officer proceeded to ask me (the USC) nearly every question on the i-130 (basic biographical information about me, my employment history, name and DOB of my parents, etc.). The officer then asked me to verify my signature on the i-130 and completed that portion of the interview.

Next, the officer adjudicated the i-485 and proceeded to ask my spouse all the questions listed on the form, including the YES/NO criminal background questionnaire. There were a few items on the i-485 that were missed or inconsistent. For example, we had accidentally left one of the YES/NO questions blank - which was also a failure of our attorney since he did a final review and sign-off of the forms before they were filed, and my husband also miss-remembered his father's birth date (he answered that it was in May but his birthday is actually in July).

Once the i-485 questions were complete the officer proceeded with the standard marriage-based questions and both of us were invited to answer openly. The questions he asked were:

- When and where did you first meet?
- When did you meet a second time?
- When did you get engaged?
- Tell me the story of your engagement - who proposed and how did it happen?
- Who did you tell about your engagement?
- Who purchased the wedding rings and where were they purchased?
- When did you get married?
- Who attended your wedding?
- Did you have a honeymoon and, if so, where did you go?
- Are either of you currently in school?
- What are you studying?

That was all the questions he asked. Throughout the interview we tried to answer each question with a short story; we wanted to give a complete picture to answer the question and show the details of our relationship but also kept it short and simple. The officer was friendly and interactive throughout this portion of the interview (as an example, when he asked if either of us is in school we explained that my husband graduated with his Ph.D. which is why he entered the USA but that he is going back to school to get an MBA...also that I am a part-time student getting a second college degree and that I will also get an MBA. At that point the officer laughed and joked "OK, so next question, which one of you is smarter?").

At this point the interview was over and he had no further questions. He asked us if we had any questions for him or anything else that he should know to add to our case. We told him that we had many more items with us that we could provide, including our full wedding album, a photo album of our vacations, holiday cards that my family had mailed to us throughout our 5-year relationship, etc. But, the officer didn't take any of those items. He just said "I think I have everything I need."

He proceeded to hand us a document with the dreaded "Your case is held for further review - USCIS does not need any further information from you at this time" box checked. He explained that he would need to conduct another background check on my husband and that if they need anything else they will contact us by mail or otherwise we should receive a decision by the end of April.

That was the end of our session, and we were walked out of the office. Our lawyer explained to us that our interview went very well and there is nothing unusual or concerning about the case, but the officer was very new and is not allowed to approved Green Cards on the spot, so he will need to have the case reviewed/approved by a supervisor and they typically only update cases once per week. He indicated that he would expect us to receive the Green Card in 2-3 weeks, but would file an inquiry if our case isn't updated by April 6.

As of today, our case status online is still "My interview has been scheduled", so we are just waiting for the next update at this point.

Thanks - and I hope this long recap of our experience is helpful for someone!