I would really appreciate it if couples who have had their AOS interviews in boston kindly post a brief description of their experience. if you have already posted your experience elsewhere, please let us know where so we can go look at it.
thank you SO MUCH for your time.
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I had interview in February 2007 in Boston and it was straight forward. My wife (US Citizen) and I arrived about 10 minutes early and after checking in at the desk (room 617 I think) we were taken in pretty much on time. We were both taken in at the same time and sat together for the interview. There was only one officer and although they have video cameras mounted on the walls of the offices we were not videoed.
The IO asked for our marriage certificate, and anything which showed we were living together (we don't have much in joint names and my wife has retained her maiden name but we have numerous accounts and bills addressed to us individually but showing the same address). We were also asked for our tax returns (filled jointly for the past three years) and finally any photographs from our wedding.
Although I had made copies of nearly everything I took in with me the IO did not want most items once she had been shown the original. However, she did keep one of the photos from our wedding (it was a spare one we were okay to leave.
After looking at the paperwork my wife was asked questions about how we met and what my parents names were (she got this right but said afterwards she did panic internally about this - the reason is that both my parents are dead and she never met them).
The whole interview only lasted 15 minutes and at the end we were told that we were approved. However, at the time as my name check was still pending we would have to wait until it was completed before the GC could be issued. I have been waiting ever since. At the end I felt a moment of elation when we were told we had 'passed' but then huge disappointment when told I had to wait for the NC to complete.
The IO was very friendly and put us at ease. Apart from the brief panic about my parents names everything was straightforward. Tell the truth and you will be fine. Make sure you have all your paperwork and marriage details with you. Evidence of living together and tax returns seem to be the main focus.
If you haven't been there before it is quite an eye opener when you walk through from the waiting room as you go into an incredibly long corridor with about 70 offices lined up along one side.
I'm sure you will be okay, and good luck with the interview!!!!!!
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Yup, Feb 2007 was when I had the interview. Last LUD on my case was just after that on 2/19/2007. The only thing I have managed to get from them despite repeated Infopass and phone calls was one letter in June 2007 saying to wait for 6 months before contacting them again. When the NC memos came out I started calling again but once more never received any information other than to call back in 6 months, 90 days or 30 days depending on who I spoke to. I am drafting letters to my Congressman, Senator and Ombudsman now and referencing the NC memos in them - hope to mail the letters this weekend.
After that if there is no further action by the end of July (second NC memo saying NC over 2yrs should be cleared) it will be time for a WOM. I don't really want to go to the expense and effort of the WOM but I don't see any option.
What I find is you get used to your situation after a couple of years but it is things like the NC memos which start to raise hope again, and then the frustration and anger start to resurface so the past few months were bad for me but I am starting to mellow again. Eventually you realise that banging your head against the brick wall just hurts your head and does nothing to the brick wall, so you either stop banging your head or get a sledgehammer to hit the wall with.
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I second Number 6 post. Wife and I went to the Boston field office for our appointment last Tuesday. everything well rather smoothly and we were approved on the spot. The IO were extremely friendly and only asked to see my passport and my wife's driver's license. She asked me all the standard questions about whether or not I am a terrorist, communist, here to overthrow the government, have been involved in prostitution, etc... Every now and then we would talk about the weather, the IO family's cat, and other humorous things.
The conversation and interaction with the IO was really friendly and professional at the same time. We spent overall 30 minutes in the IO's office more than half of which were spent chatting and 30 minutes waiting to get called in the IO's office. At the end, the IO told us that our application was "dandy", approved it and gave us a letter of approval.
The IO asked me to surrender my EAD card, but did not have me on me and asked me to promise to not let anyone else use it and mail it them as I did not need it anymore. Overall, it was a great experience which started on February 25, 2008 and ended on Tuesday 16 June 2008. We did it without lawyer by the way... We even asked the IO about the usefulness of a lawyer for such a process and told us that we don't unless you have been arrested say seven times...
To get back to your question, Boston is known to be one of the fastest office in processing time in the country. It took us altogether 4 months to get the green card. The experience and outcome is not bad for the some over thousands bucks charged in processing fees.
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marriagecard, thank you for the wonderful post. I am so glad that things were "dandy" for you!
good luck in love and life!
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