Employment Based Greencard

Hi All,

First of all, a big thanks to this forum and to all the people who have been extremely helpful in clarifying my questions so promptly. I had my AOS interview @ the Los Angeles Field office at 9 AM yesterday and would like to share my experience.

Here is my overview of timeline:
Category: EB1C (E18) Country of Chargeability: India Priority Date: 06/26/2017

Jan 2018 - I140 Approved (PD - 06/26/2017)
Feb 2018 - Filed I485, I485J, I131 and I765 for both me and my wife. My daughter is a US citizen
April 2018 - Biometrics completed (I-131 and I-765)
May 2018 - Case Transferred to NBC ( I485 and I485J)
Jun 2018 - Received EAD and AP Combo card with 1-year validity (Expires on Jun -2019)
Oct 2018 - Case is ready to be scheduled for Interview
Nov 2018 - Interview was scheduled (Received NOA after 4 days with the interview date as Jan 8th, 2019 @ 9 AM)

Interview Experience:

We were planning to leave our 30-month-old daughter @ the Montessori but the night before the interview she fell sick and we had to take her along with us. We reached the main Los Angeles federal building at around 8:15 and it took us around 30 minutes for us to complete just the security screening and enter the main lobby. Once we entered the building, we checked in at one of the main counters @ the USCIS office at around 8.50 AM. We were just asked to give our Interview appointment letter and the person at the counter asked us to take a seat and told us your names will be called. We waited for around 15 minutes before the IO called us in @ 9.15 AM.

We exchanged greetings and she escorted us to the room. We took our oath and then were asked to take a seat. She asked for my and spouse’s Passport and California Id’s. The IO was very professional and we told her right away that our daughter was not well and is a little cranky. She could see that she was not well and tried to talk to her to calm her down. First, she took my picture and then my finger prints. She then started going through my I485 and cross verified around 10-12 personal questions from the first 4-5 pages. She asked me what I do, which company I work for, how long have I been with the company, what does my company do, where does it have offices, how many people the company employees and few more questions. I was also asked to confirm what my SSN is. Then I was asked about 10-12 YES/NO questions. All the time she was making notes on a separate piece of paper. After that she then asked me the following documents original and copies:

Birth Certificate, Employment Verification Letter (I proactively gave her the I485J), Marriage certificate, Daughter’s birth certificate, Joint Bank statement, My pay stubs, New sealed Medical (My medicals had expired as it was more than a year since I submitted those). She verified all the originals and kept the copies.

Then it was my spouse’s turn. She took her picture and finger prints. Same process for my spouse. Around 10-12 personal questions from the first 4-5 pages of I-485. My wife was not aware of her SSN but we were carrying all our SSN’s. The IO read it out loud from I-485 and my wife confirmed it. She was then asked 10-12 YES/NO questions. We had realized that we had mistakenly answered a YES/No question incorrectly before the interview and based on the inputs from the forum we provided the true response for the question during the interview. The IO modified the response and asked my spouse to sign it. After that she then asked me the following documents original and copies:

Birth Certificate, New sealed Medical (Her medicals had expired as it was more than a year since I submitted those). She verified all the originals and kept the copies.

Then she asked both of us regarding the marriage. How we met, was it arranged, when we got married and asked for marriage pictures which I found a little strange as it was an Employment based GC process. She looked at the pics and asked her if she could keep some of the pictures along with the file and we did not hesitate. After all was done she said the documents look fine and she first told us that they will keep the documents as it should take a few days before visas are available. But she quickly realized that the current PD for India is Dec 2016. She asked us the Feb Visa bulletin is not out yet and if our PD does not become current by then the case might be transferred.

I did ask her if the documents look approvable and she told us that it looks fine. But in case something is needed they will reach out to us. She did not say that it is approved or anything. I also asked her that my EAD is expiring in June-2019 and do I need to renew it. She then told us to wait at least till March and see if we get her GC by then and then take a call on if we wanted to apply for renewal.

We thanked her and before she escorted us out of the room she handed 2 documents titled ‘CONTINUED FOR SERVICE ACTION’ one each for me and my wife. On the document the following checkbox was checked with a red mark under the section Please inquire after 180 days

The checkbox said:

According to this month’s visa bulletin, a visa number is not currently available. It is recommended to check the monthly visa bulletin to determine when a visa number will be available to you.

Your category: E18 Country of Chargeability: India PD: 06/26/17.

Does this mean my case is approved and I will have to wait till my PD is current? Did anyone else received a similar document.

I know this is a pretty detailed email but please do share your experience and all the best!

Thanks!