Very Bright

[Dean Hall]

And thats how I say we passed our AOS interview, and got the Green Cards.

 

First, thanks CFL, and everyones input and advice.

 

Second, a special round of applause (put your hands together CFL brothers and sisters !!) for DavidZixuan and his organization of all things AOS.

 

David, I used your AOS instructions, and added my own color codings, but pretty much followed your directions.

 

I say this because the interviewing officer made special notation of how well organized and easy it was to follow through the petition and quickly locate any portion at any time. (With 2 applicants, the stack was over 2 inches thick, and included the EAD, AOS, and an I-130 for my stepson)

 

We followed Davids practice sheet for the oral exam.

 

Something funny happened here. The I.O. (Interviewing Officer) asked my wife, "What is your husbands mothers name ?"

 

She instantly answeres "Mom"

 

The I.O. "What ?"

 

Wife - "Oh, sorry, Mommy"

 

I.O. starts laughing.

 

I tell wife to give my mothers houko name.

 

She says "*****", and everything was ok from there on.

 

We were asked a few simple questions, namely:

 

I.O. How did we communicate

A. Chinglish - I.O asks to explain, says she never heard that one!

 

I.O. What is our address

A. Blah - blah - blah

 

I.O. What is our phone number.

A. ***-***-**65

I see the I.O.'s eyebrows shoot up, and immediately tell my wife to tell her my cell phone number which is 1 number different, and is what was entered on the paperwork. Every thing is ok then.

 

I.O. What is husbands mothers maiden name?

A. See above story

 

I.O. How did we meet.

A. Met in person while working in China blah blah blah

 

I.O. Describe your wedding in China

A. Described the whole marriage process in China, I.O. was genuinely interested in hearing about this.

Showed some pics here

 

Some general chit - chat where I blathered on and mentioned how difficult it was to be in a no mans land while waiting on AOS processing. (i.e. I-94 expired, but no green card - if you returned to China on a family emergency - your screwed)

Anyway, she jumps up, grabs the passports, says "I'll be right back", and takes off. 5 min later, she's back, and the passports are stamped. I say, "Wow - thanks - I did'nt think you guys did that anymore"

She says they can do it at their perogitive if they are comfortable with the situation, and basically feel like it.

 

Anyway, she was young, professional, and stern. Did I say stern? Well, only for the first couple of minutes till she started laughing at my wife.

 

Well, we got the stamp in the passports, and the greencards 10 days later.

 

Now, for those of you with kids: Pay attention:

 

If the physical for the child was done, and they were 16 or younger, they were probably not given the aids test. If they hit 17 before the AOS exam, the aids test would be required, but would not be on the medical exam the surgeon provided for the AOS.

We skimmed by on that one as my step son had one more month before his 17th birthday.

 

That was the only heart stopper we ran into. Luckily, he was still 16, or we would have been making another trip to the un-civil surgeon.

 

I guess the thing to do would be if on your visit to the Civil Surgeon, it looks like the child could turn 17 in the 8 to 10 month process, go ahead and ask the CS to do it so that your covered.

 

Each application weighs approximately 1000 lbs on each shoulder as you wait for the process to finally end. Then the light blinds you, the weight falls off, and, thank God, Free at last, Free at last.

 

Final note: We did take an interpreter - not absolutely necessary, but safe.

 

Thanks again everyone at CFL.

 

One happy camper,

 

Dean

 

PS, and in a little bit, I'll write one of those happy stories that started in 1999 and just keeps getting better.

[LeeFisher3]

Congratulations

[Linbar]

Congratulations I look forward to the next part of your story Edited June 8, 2006 by Linbar (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

Wonder why I had so much trouble at my own AOS interview .. probably because I didn't think of the color coding

 

Very happy to hear of your success...

[MRMC]

Congrats to you! Did they stamp the passport with the red stamp?

[tonado]

Congrats.

[amerchin]

Congrats!

[Dean Hall]

To MRMC,

 

Yes, the stamp in the passport was red, and good for one year.

 

However, looking at the passports, we have been in the process so long, the Chinese passports are about to expire.

 

Glad we've got the cards so we're not dependent on the stamps

[LeeFisher3]

To MRMC,

 

Yes, the stamp in the passport was red, and good for one year.

 

However, looking at the passports, we have been in the process so long, the Chinese passports are about to expire.

 

Glad we've got the cards so we're not dependent on the stamps

222919[/snapback]

Don't let the passport go out of date more than 6 months or you must apply for a new passport instead of renewing the old one.

[frank1538]

Hearty congratulations Dean.

[hakkamike]

And thats how I say we passed our AOS interview, and got the Green Cards.

 

First, thanks CFL, and everyones input and advice.

 

Second, a special round of applause (put your hands together CFL brothers and sisters !!) for DavidZixuan and his organization of all things AOS.

 

David, I used your AOS instructions, and added my own color codings, but pretty much followed your directions.

 

I say this because the interviewing officer made special notation of how well organized and easy it was to follow through the petition and quickly locate any portion at any time. (With 2 applicants, the stack was over 2 inches thick, and included the EAD, AOS, and an I-130 for my stepson)

 

We followed Davids practice sheet for the oral exam.

 

Something funny happened here.  The I.O. (Interviewing Officer) asked my wife, "What is your husbands mothers name ?"

 

She instantly answeres "Mom"

 

The I.O.  "What ?"

 

Wife - "Oh, sorry, Mommy"

 

I.O. starts laughing.

 

I tell wife to give my mothers houko name.

 

She says "*****", and everything was ok from there on.

 

We were asked a few simple questions, namely:

 

I.O. How did we communicate

A. Chinglish - I.O asks to explain, says she never heard that one!

 

I.O. What is our address

A.  Blah - blah - blah

 

I.O.  What is our phone number.

A. ***-***-**65

    I see the I.O.'s eyebrows shoot up, and immediately tell my wife to tell her my cell phone number which is 1 number different, and is what was entered on the paperwork.  Every thing is ok then.

 

I.O. What is husbands mothers maiden name?

  A.  See above story

 

I.O.  How did we meet.

  A. Met in person while working in China blah blah blah

 

I.O. Describe your wedding in China

  A. Described the whole marriage process in China, I.O. was genuinely interested in hearing about this.

  Showed some pics here

 

Some general chit - chat where I blathered on and mentioned how difficult it was to be in a no mans land while waiting on AOS processing. (i.e. I-94 expired, but no green card - if you returned to China on a family emergency - your screwed)

Anyway, she jumps up, grabs the passports, says "I'll be right back", and takes off.  5 min later, she's back, and the passports are stamped.  I say, "Wow - thanks - I did'nt think you guys did that anymore"

She says they can do it at their perogitive if they are comfortable with the situation, and basically feel like it.

 

Anyway, she was young, professional, and stern.  Did I say stern?  Well, only for the first couple of minutes till she started laughing at my wife.

 

Well, we got the stamp in the passports, and the greencards 10 days later.

 

Now, for those of you with kids: Pay attention:

 

If the physical for the child was done, and they were 16 or younger, they were probably not given the aids test.  If they hit 17 before the AOS exam, the aids test would be required, but would not be on the medical exam the surgeon provided for the AOS.

We skimmed by on that one as my step son had one more month before his 17th birthday.

 

That was the only heart stopper we ran into.  Luckily, he was still 16, or we would have been making another trip to the un-civil surgeon.

 

I guess the thing to do would be if on your visit to the Civil Surgeon, it looks like the child could turn 17 in the 8 to 10 month process, go ahead and ask the CS to do it so that your covered.

 

Each application weighs approximately 1000 lbs on each shoulder as you wait for the process to finally end.  Then the light blinds you, the weight falls off, and, thank God, Free at last, Free at last.

 

Final note:  We did take an interpreter - not absolutely necessary, but safe.

 

Thanks again everyone at CFL.

 

One happy camper,

 

Dean

 

PS, and in a little bit, I'll write one of those happy stories that started in 1999 and just keeps getting better.

222716[/snapback]

Glad to hear the good news Dean, hey I am also happy that you got to make it to Lockheed and we able to hook up for a short time. I am still supprised you caught me working lol lol...

[rosyanne]

Congrats!

And thanks for sharing!

[Dean Hall]

Thanks Hakkamike,

 

For those of you who don't know, hakkamike donated a transformer that I took to China a few years ago.

 

My employment sent me to his place of employment, and I was actually able to see Mike being gainfully employed on one of the fine aircraft that I support.

 

Surprisingly, despite his many words of wit on this site, he seems to be a well respected and affable character. Character may better describe him.

 

I owed him dinner for the gift of the transformer, but don't tell him, I would have taken him out any way.

 

I was actually curious about what kind of girl would marry a guy like that.

 

Alas, it is still a mystery.

 

Hey - it's all in fun

 

Catch you next time I'm in Texas old buddy.

 

Dean

[hakkamike]

Thanks Hakkamike,

 

For those of you who don't know, hakkamike donated a transformer that I took to China a few years ago.

 

My employment sent me to his place of employment, and I was actually able to see Mike being gainfully employed on one of the fine aircraft that I support.

 

Surprisingly, despite his many words of wit on this site, he seems to be a well respected and affable character.  Character may better describe him.

 

I owed him dinner for the gift of the transformer, but don't tell him, I would have taken him out any way.

 

I was actually curious about what kind of girl would marry a guy like that.

 

Alas, it is still a mystery.

 

Hey - it's all in fun

 

Catch you next time I'm in Texas old buddy.

 

Dean

223073[/snapback]

I almost forgot about the dinner, just wait until the twins get back from China so we can all eat good for one day

[Mick]

Congrats indeed. Another day, another milestone.