Re: Our AOS interview Thursday 25th


So yesterday we had our AOS interview in San Antonio, Texas. Armed
with a huge pile of documents and supporting evidence, and advice from
fellow BE members, we met with the immigration official. We had been
to the San Antonio office before, so thought we knew what to expect.
The previous visit had been a stressful and time consuming visit. We
had queued for 40 minutes to hand our appointment slip to the official
and then waitied on plastic seats for 2 hours. How did this visit
compare:
Our appiointment was 2:30pm, so being cautious we arrived at 1:30
ready to que in line. Eerily there was no que at security, and two
smiling and friendly security staff granted us entry. One official
took my appointment letter, saying "oh good", and asking me to sign
in. "Oh good" I though! What do they mean "oh good"? Have they been
expecting me, in a most sinister way. This threw me a little and
ramped up my nerves even more. Told to sit on the same plastic seats
as our last visit we made ourselves comfortable for the long wait. But
the long wait never came, just 15 minutes later our name was called.
A smiling Mexican lady greeted us both, but I was still a little
apprehensive after ready "MrPink"'s experience. Trust no one I
thought. This time we were taken in an elevator to another floor. My
wife made a joke in the elevator about making me angry (I can't even
remember the exact statement, but it was certainly meant in jest).
BAM!, the officers radar falsely went off, "you make him angry" she
questioned. After trying to explain the joke we were left shaken and
stirred! It was a rude awakening, and put us back on our guard.
Exiting the elevator we entered an office, through a door marked
"adjudication" We were sworn in and asked to sit down. The opening
question was "so how is the marraige, any problems?", trying to break
the ice and gauge the officers frame of mind I joked "its great, my
wife makes the rules and I do what I am told", she smiled.
The interview lasted 40 or so minutes, during which the office and my
wife occasionally made small talk about pets (my wife being in her
final year as a DVM and the officer just having bought a dog), whilst
I found the relevant document I had been requested to produce. Having
read other posts about being organized, I was super efficient. The
officer appreciated this. She asked for one form stating, "I am sure
you have it in their" and smiling.
Only at one point did the whole process take a turn for the worst. She
said "I am afraid you don't meet the financial requirements" do you
have any assets! Oh boy, we did, but no evidence with us! We had
calculated my salary was more than enough to meet the requirements.
After a little probing we realized she was looking at my tax return,
which due to the fact I had only arrived and worked for one month that
tax year looked like a very poor annual salary!!! Mr 'Super Efficient'
reached in to the pile of papers and produced my last 5 pay checks and
a letter from my employer stating my salary and the permanent nature
of my position. This satisfied her.
During the whole interview process I had notice 2 stamps upon her
desk. A red stamp with a 'D' on it and a green stamp with an 'A' on
it. It didn't take a genuis to work out I wanted the green 'approved'
stamp and not the red 'denied' stamp. As the interview closed, the
officers hand moved towards the two stamps. Swiftly it picked up the
'approved' stamp and firmly stamped our file!!!
My FBI background check had not been received yet, so we have to wait
for this. The interview side is 'passed' and out of the way. A huge
burden lifted from our hearts and minds.
We entered in to the interview with the philosophy to be totally
honest, which is what we did. Having nothing to hide helped a great
deal. In retrospect it seems silly to have been so afraid, so worried
about it.

Thank you to all of those that offered the kind words of support. I
printed out the PM's and read them in the car before the interview.

Hopefully my FBI check will clear soon and I'll be a PR. (I imagine
the FBI are busy dealing the with recent terror threats). I still have
dual intent as I have a H1B, so can travel. If I want to change jobs
I'll have to apply for work approval, but we are happy just as we are
at present.

Congrats (pending checks, of course!) to you and Mrs. TD! You may want
to post this in the marriage based forum too, (even though it
wasn't....) since you'd posted questions in there. We're all looking
out for one another, ya know. :)

~SecretGarden and Mr. Pink

--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
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