Adjustment of Status - I-485

Hello everyone!

I want to first thank the creator of this forum and all those who continue to make it their business to contribute their experiences, views, knowledge and mere words of encouragement. This forum has been a pillar of strength to many including myself. Please see my previous post for detailed timeline (PD May 2019). This will be a long post bcz I want to give much insight to anyone who has similar concerns or issues as me, biggest one, I previously had a child here while traveling on my tourist visa. Second my husband and I got married very soon after his divorce. Divorced finalized last week of Sep 2018 and we got married Nov 7, 2019.

So I had my interview yesterday. It was scheduled for 9:30 am and we arrived 40 mins early and drove around for around 5 mins looking for parking. From there things moved pretty smoothly as the security line wasn't long and there wasn't any lines when I reached the check in counter. So I presented my interview notice and passport as my ID and my husband gave his driver's license after which we were directed to the waiting area which was pretty scanty. We waited for around 20 mins before we were called in.

We were greeted by a stern looking officer who swore us in, told us who should sit where ( I in front of the camera) and requested our IDs and interview notice. She asked for my EAD which I told her I had not received . She then asked to see the originals of my lease, marriage certificate, husband's divorce decree and birth certificates. She asked if we had any utilities or any additional evidence and I gave her 3 different utilities in both names and life insurance documents with myself as a beneficiary.and that was it from my long list of evidence.

She then directed the first set of questions to my husband and this was regarding his filing status on his 2017 taxes we. He had filed single because he was previously married and In 2017 he was separated from his now ex wife for 3 yrs and he already filed for a divorce. So the tax preparer told him that he could file single on that grounds ( after researching this we realized this is only so if you are legally separated). The IO had a big issue with this and stated that she was employed to the IRS in the past and that my husband will get audited in the future. She also said we will need to get it amended and that she would send us a letter.

Even though things started out on a sour note we still remained calm because we had all the other documents to show we are in a bonafide marriage and we also had our almost 1yr old son ( birthday next Friday) with us. She asked if it was our child we replied yes. She also asked when did you work without authorization in the US and I told her the yrs. She asked about my SSN and how did I come about it seeing that I wasn't issued the EAD. I was a J1 student in the past and had it issued then so I presented the actual card and a copy. So he thanked me. She asked me how I met my husband and I told her my story. She asked about my 5yr old daughter who I had here in 2014 while visiting the US. I was very nervous about this because I thought they would view me coming here to have a child as misrepresentation at the time of entry. However, the officer only asked if she was born here and were is she now. I respond truthfully by saying yes and that she was at school at the time. She further asked me about some information that was given when I had applied for my B1B2 visa. I was bonded by the government for 5 yrs in my home country bcz I had recieved a scholarship from them. She asked about whether or not I served my bond and I replied yes. I worked for a little under 6 yrs in my home country. She asked if i wanted to continue in said field here....Pretty relaxed and smooth at this point.

She then turned back to my husband and asked him my name and date of birth and some verification questions from the i130. He had to do a name change when he was younger she questioned him about that and I presented a Deed Poll to verify same. She joked around about his name and we all cracked up. The baby was getting fussy so she turned her attention to him, played around with him a bit and ask if he could possibly be hungry. She asked if we were going to have more kids we said no bcz we had 4 combined and our hands are full. She joked that the baby needed a sibling close to his age.

She then verified my info on I485 asked me the yes and no questions and that was it. She glanced at the photo album we brought and said she wanted a quick look even though our son is worth more than a thousand pictures and laughed. She loved the photos and we chatted about a few. She asked for one from my son's birth and a wedding pic. At the end she said I am going to approve you guys. She asked us to verify our mailing address and said make sure its correct because that's where she sending the card. She also told me about removing the conditions after a yr and 9mnths and joked that my husband can walk me through the process. She said she would try to approve it by the end of the day even though she wasn't feeling well.

I am yet to get a status update but I'm not worried and trust God will finish what he has started. Thank you all again for your kind support and well wishes and good luck to everyone who is still on this journey.