Anyone can tell me their experiences at the INS interview and the whole process, (married to a citizen)?

Question

My husband submitted the petition for me on Sept.1, I received my work permit on Dec. 8,06, we are waiting for the interview now.

Answer 1

Rules for INS interview:
1. Turn up early. Find out which line you need to stand in (especially if you go to Newark!)
2. Take all documents requested - Passport, Birth certificate, tax returns etc.
3. Further to above, do not forget spouse
4. Be nice to security guards, even if they are being irritating little whatsits. It isn't worth the aggravation.
5. If you have an attorney, make sure they will be there.
6. Relax! Think of all the papers you have had to fill in. They know more about you than you do. Applicants who are in a genuine marriage have nothing to fear.

OK, so maybe I've been a bit whimsical with the above, but I have gone through this process (just celebrated 5th wedding anniversary) and, really, all you have to do is satisfy the officer that you are who you said on the application and that the marriage is genuine. The officer may ask some personal questions. Be prepared. The questions are designed to catch sham marriages, so if you're genuine the questions will be irritating but nothing more than that.

I must say that I knew everything was going to go fine when the officer called us up and spoke to my attorney on first name terms!

Good luck!

Answer 2

Welcome to America and congratulation for a process to become an immigrant ( green card ) I did my interview in 1982 and I was very scare. My husband held my hand while we were in front of the Immigration officer. The gentleman was very pleasant and polite. Things went very well and I urge you to be claim and take it easy. It will not take long time to interview.Then you will receive a green card and keep it save in your bank.

Answer 3

I had no real problem. I was expecting some real personal questions because my wife is from Indonesia and they are suspicious of sham marriages - but it turned out that the questions were not really invasive.

The biggest hassle was explaining to them that the reason my taxable income for 2004 was so low was because I was serving in Iraq and thus was exempt from income taxes. (They only looked at my taxable income - and did not look at my gross income.)

Interestingly they advised us that it would not be a good idea for my wife to change her name because doing so could cause confusion with her paperwork.