I think this was a very good write-up, Roger, especially when viewed as advice to someone preparing their petition. But I think the question here is what percentage of cases are effectively pre-determined before the interview? I don't think it can be as high as you are indicating ("most"). My guess would be closer to 20% (and only approvals) - that the final choice IS left to the VO, who at least goes through the motions of making a decision. As long as the interview goes as expected, then everything goes per what's in the file, but by and large nothing was actually pre-determined. But at the "most" level, I think we'd be seeing a lot more rubber stamp interviews, and a lot fewer that are reported as random. In any event, that's a layer that we can never hope to get more information on. That and the quality of information submitted by the applicant and beneficiary are factors we really don't know. And yes, you hand-carry the full I-129F package to the POE, which will be in the IO's hands when you go in for the AOS interview.