Adjustment of Status - I-485

San Francisco Filer

Entered the US on F1 visa in MAR 2016, got my H1B visa FEB 2018, got married to a USC DEC 2018

July 31, 2019- Documents received by USCIS (aside from the application forms, I submitted evidence supporting all the information/ answers on the application form— all I94s issued since 2016, all my passport travel stamps to and from the US, US visas, passports used, I20s, birth certificate, social security, approval notices, etc), I also submitted the medical and evidence for Bona fide marriage— joint accounts, joint insurance, joint tenancy, joint tax returns)

Aug 29, 2019- Biometrics Appointment

Oct 1, 2019- Case Ready To Be Scheduled For Interview (only means that all the documents submitted were accepted and most probably no additional documents will be requested prior to interview/ no Request For Evidence)

Dec 13, 2019- Received my EAD and new Social Security cards

Jan 7, 2020- Interview Scheduled

Feb 11, 2020- Interview in Santa Jose Field Office (I reprinted EVERYTHING I submitted along with their originals— this came in handy because IO requested for some evidence we already submitted before and said, “I don’t see it here” even if I am sure I submitted it in the packet; just assume they may lose some documents and you want to make sure you have it in hand. I also brought any new documents accrued since submission of application that I would like to submit as evidence— updated IDs, more evidence for Bona fide marriage, etc. IO went through the I485 and I30 we submitted, IO was very thorough with her questions about the timeline of our relationship— how we met, who looked up who first on social media, what kinds of dates we went on after we met, how we communicated when we were apart, when we made our relationship official, when we met both sets of parents, when my parents came to visit, if my parents flew separately when they visited, details of the wedding (when, where, who attended, how many attended), what we did for our honeymoon— she also looked at our album of 60 photos showing the timeline of our relationship from 2016-2020. She asked about the circumstances of some of our photos, asked us where our parents are in the photos, and also asked for a few photos with our families in it so she can add it to our file. At the end of the interview, we got a paper that said they will review our case.

Feb 28, 2020- Case Approved

The wait could be excruciating, but as soon as your documents have been submitted and received, give yourself a pat on the back, and relax! I learned that there is no point in stressing out too much, in over analyzing the status updates (or lack thereof), and especially in feeling bad when seeing other people’s timelines. It helped that I promised myself to only check online status updates once a day! Haha Each journey is unique, so take a lot of deep breaths and a lot of prayers (or well wishes) GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!