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AOS in Seattle

turtle

By turtle,
in AOS & Immigration Challenges

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turtle

turtle

Posted
Posted

Well, it seems like that last bump in the road is pretty much over, at least for the next 2 years...

 

AOS interview this morning. We brought along everything, and I do mean everything. Unfortunately I must admit to not being the most organized person throughout this process. I didn't make copies of anything along the way, always seemed to be shuffling papers right up until the last minute. I-129f, p3, AOS, etc-- each time trying to remember what came before. By now I've run out of a couple W-2 forms, can't remember how many times I've had to ask my boss for the employment letter thingie... Anyway, I packed away everything I could find. Tons of pictures, my complete I-129f packet that was handed back to us in GZ, whatever W-2 forms I had left from the past 3 years, whatever tax return and tax return transcipts I could dig out, my last 2 bank statements, my last 4 paychecks, letter from my boss, sheesh what else? We didn't bother doing a lot of the recommended things-- haven't put her name on the mortgage yet, haven't put her on the utility bills yet, just went in last week to get her on the bank account. So I brought in a bunch of mail that was sent to her at our address, and hoped that and pictures would be enough. At least I had her health insurance card, plus a driving instruction permit with our address on it. As required, we got all the vaccinations, and saw the civil surgeon to get the I-693 supplement done. Carried that in a sealed envelope. Plus the brown sealed envelope given to us in GZ.

 

Interview was scheduled for 11:00, we arrived around 9:45. The waiting room was huge and full of people. No one really knew what to do. We'd checked in downstairs, and the man said to go to the 2nd floor waiting room and wait for our name to get called. So there's the big room with around 100 people, all waiting. An old chinese woman was there with her daughter, she asked one of the officials how long the wait would be (her interview was scheduled for 10:00) and the guy told her not to be surprised if she had to wait all day.

 

Great, so we're just settling in when the door opens and a woman comes out. It took a few tries before we realized she was calling my wife's name. She said we were early (it was still just around 10:00) but why not get it over with quickly? No complaints from me! Not sure why we got in early with a room full of people waiting.

 

The woman was very nice, but still a bit serious. First we had to raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth. A portrait of our official standing with Jimmy Carter was hanging on the wall. She asked for our ID-- passports and drivers license. While looking over them and filling out some forms, she asked how we met. Standard answers. She asked about our wedding, I told her it was a small thing, only 7 people. Then she started going through our photo albums (we brought all of them-- 5 years worth). She was very interested in the professional wedding photos we had taken in hong kong. Even asked how much we paid for them (she seemed to like them very much). Then she asked if we combined the bank account. Thankfully I pulled out the sheet we had printed showing her name on the account. She asked what else we had, and I started handing over all the mail and stuff in my wife's name. We gave her the insurance card, and that seemed to be enough. Finally she started asking the standard questionairre: have you ever committed a crime, do you intend to overthrow the government, do you intend to steal technology, have you ever been in the communist party.... While asking, she was already taking fingerprints from my wife, and having her sign some forms.

 

And that was it. She stamped my wife's passport, telling us the stamp is just as good as a green card. She can get a job, leave the country, etc. The stamp is good for one year. She said the real green card should arrive between 2 months to 1 year. We'll have to apply for the permanent (10 year) green card in 2 years, and she warned us we'd receive no reminders about doing that application.

 

That was it. She didn't need any of the tax forms (I had of course sent everything in with the AOS packet), she didn't need the letter from my boss, she didn't need any photos of us together, she didn't need any of the forms I had spent last night redoing just in case (I-485, I-864, G-325a). In fact, she never even asked for the immunization form! So did we get that I-693 from the civil surgeon for nothing??? She took nothing from us at all (except the fingerprints and having my wife sign some forms).

 

We got out of there around 10:45. Same room full of people still waiting. That's it. 2 years with nothing more to do? Who knows, maybe they'll come up with something else...

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Dan R

Dan R

Posted
Posted
Good to hear this. Our AOS interview is 12 days off and like you I am 100% disorganized and am finding myself re-doing all the AOS paperwork. Whats the worst that could happen? At least she is here and not in china.

Do you AOS guys have to rub it in. Show a little pity.

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