After we’d closed the distance and had our wedding in California, the next step in the journey towards being able to stay together in the USA was the Adjustment of Status – from K-1 visa beneficiary to Permanent Resident.

We had our Adjustment of Status interview at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in San Jose on January 11th, 2013.  We’d been surprised to have been selected for an interview, as our immigration attorney had told us it was unlikely – but in some ways, the idea was exciting, so we weren’t too worried about it. We imagined that perhaps we’d be interviewed separately, and would be asked questions designed to catch us out, like in the movie “Green Card”. Were we right? Read on to find out!

We spent some time before the interview gathering up the following documents for the interview:

• The interview appointment letters;
• Our passports;
• Scanned copies of all the forms previously sent to the USCIS by our immigration attorney;
• Recent payslips (Larry’s);
• All documents recently issued to Carla by the USCIS (employment authorization letter and card);
• I-94 arrival document;
• Our original birth certificates, and birth certificate of child who entered the US on the K-1 visa;
• Divorce decrees;
• Our original marriage certificate;
• Evidence of our marital status: financial documents showing shared bank accounts, insurance policies etc;
• Photos and other evidence that we are married and living together.

When we arrived at the address, we looked for the entrance, which wasn’t clearly marked, and we found a door that was closed off with black tape, and a sign saying, “THIS LINE FOR OATH CEREMONIES ONLY”. We checked for other possible entrances, in case we had the wrong door, but there didn’t seem to be any others. So we waited just outside, and finally managed to attract the attention of an officer inside the building. We were asked for our appointment letters and our passports, which we gave to the officer. He then moved the black tape so that we could go inside the building, and we had to go through airport-style security procedures. We took off our coats, shoes and belts, took everything out of our pockets, and put all our belongings and documents into plastic trays.

The scanner wasn’t working, so the contents of the trays were checked by one of the security officers. Important point to note:  Carla had a small packet of crackers in her bag, which was removed and thrown away. It seems that food isn’t allowed in the USCIS building.  The eyebrow tweezers in her makeup bag were also the subject of some discussion, so it’s probably advisable to take as few belongings into the building as possible, in case you accidentally take something that’s not allowed. We had already left our phones and cameras in the car, as we had found that those are usually also not allowed inside USCIS buildings.

After we’d gone through security, we were told to put our shoes back on, and go through a door and down the corridor. There was another officer there, who checked our passports and appointment letters again, and directed us up some stairs and into a large waiting room with rows of chairs. There was a customer service hatch there, with the blinds pulled nearly all the way down, and no sign of life at the counter. We sat down, and then spotted a sign saying “APPOINTMENT LETTERS” with an arrow pointing downwards to a plastic tray tucked under the nearly-closed blind. So we put our appointment letter in the tray, and a few minutes later, we saw someone’s hand taking the letter out of the tray… and then a side door opened, and the interviewing officer appeared and called our names.

We were shown into a small office, and invited to sit down. The interviewing officer asked for our passports and appointment notices, and then took out a huge file containing an astonishing amount of paperwork relating to our case – copies of every document we’d supplied throughout out K-1 visa process, as well as Carla’s medical and vaccination records.  We sat and gasped at the amount of paperwork there!

Then the officer said, “You do have a lawyer… yes?” and we said yes. He said, “But you didn’t want your lawyer here?”, and we confirmed that we were on our own. He seemed surprised that we hadn’t brought our attorney, and didn’t respond to Carla’s question: “Oh!  Do people normally bring a lawyer?” Carla was asked to sign a form to confirm that we had waived our right to have an attorney present at the interview. At that point, we were feeling pretty nervous, because it had never even occurred to us that we would need a lawyer at the interview.

After that, we were asked to stand, and raise our right hands, then we took an oath to swear that we would tell the truth during the interview. Then the officer spent some time looking through the documents in our file, with occasional glances up at us, presumably to check for signs of nerves or deceit. He asked some “casual” questions occasionally – things like “How do you like it here?” and “Is married life going well, then?”

He asked to see our original birth certificates and marriage certificate, and asked when Carla first arrived in the USA. We had a bit of a discussion about the exact date, because of the change in time zones between the UK and the USA. The officer was interested to hear that Larry had flown to England to collect Carla, and we had travelled to the USA together. He asked Carla if she had been to America before, and if she had ever been deported. He also asked if she had ever been arrested for any crime. He asked her if she’d had another medical exam since coming to the USA, but accepted her answer that no, she had only had the medical as part of the K-1 visa process. There didn’t seem to be a problem with that. The officer asked us briefly about previous marriages, and about our (now adult) children. Then he asked Larry some questions about his current employer, and talked in a fairly chatty way about that for a few minutes. He asked some questions about church, and we talked a bit about our wedding. He was interested to hear that our wedding ceremony was streamed on the internet for our family and friends who couldn’t be there in person.

The questions he asked were all easy for us to answer, and there were none of the “what color is his toothbrush?” or “who cooked dinner last night?” questions that we’d read about in other people’s interviews. We stayed together in that same office all the time, and were able to hold hands throughout. The officer was friendly, but we were aware that he was watching our body language as well as listening to the answers we gave. After we’d talked about our wedding day, he asked us for paperwork to prove our cohabitation, such as joint financial documents, health insurance etc. Larry said that Carla’s name had been added to his bank account, and the officer sat back in his chair, looked at Carla, and said, “Wow!”… to which Larry replied, “TRUST!”… and we all laughed.

We were asked to provide photos of our time together, and we were glad we’d taken the time to print out sheets of photos covering every month we’d spent together since Carla arrived in the USA. The officer spent some time looking at the photos, then said he would keep them and add them to our file.

He then filled in some I-485 Adjustment of Status Interview Results forms, which he handed to us, and he told us that he would have to spend some time going over our file and reviewing our paperwork before he could make a final decision about our case. The forms advised us that our Adjustment of Status had not been approved, but had been set aside for Further Review. The officer said that he would get started first thing on Monday morning, and would be looking to see if there was anything on the file that “jumped out” at him, or made him want to ask further questions. He told us that he would write to us if we needed to provide any further information, but that if he couldn’t find any problems, we should hear something within the next 30 days. He shook our hands before we left, and said goodbye in a very friendly way.

The whole experience was similar to Carla’s interview at the U.S. Embassy in London. We didn’t feel that we were asked any questions that were designed to trick us, or catch us out, and there were none that we’d have needed to prepare for in advance. Carla’s 10-year-old son was also at the interview, and he was very nervous, but was quickly put at ease by the officer, who asked him straightforward questions about how he was enjoying life in America, and whether things were going well at school. Our attorney had advised us to answer only the questions we were asked, and not to elaborate or provide extra information that wasn’t asked for, but we found the officer easy to talk to, and the conversation flowed quite easily between us.

All in all, there was nothing in this interview that a genuine married couple would have to worry about. No tests and no trickery. Immigration interviews will always be a bit nerve-wracking, and we’re glad it’s over, but it wasn’t the scary experience that we’d been fearing it might be, from some of the accounts we’d found online. The important thing to remember is that if you came to the USA on a K-1 visa, the USCIS have already made a decision that your relationship is genuine… so all they have to do is confirm that they made the right decision in allowing you to be together. If you’re living as a normal, married couple, all you need to do is provide all the documents and evidence they request… and just be yourselves!

Please remember that all information given is from our own personal experience only. We’re not immigration experts, and nothing on our website should be construed as legal advice, or relied upon for your own visa process. Every case is different – and for expert help and advice, we would always recommend that you contact an immigration attorney.

If you’d like to talk to us about your own visa experience, or your long-distance relationship, you’re welcome to get in touch with us on our Facebook page. We can’t give legal advice or financial help, but we’re always happy to hear from people in long-distance relationships, so if you’d like to talk anything through with us, please get in touch.

© Larry and Carla Sue