APPROVED!!❤️❤️
Hi all!! We just got notified today that the I-485 is approved! Since this subreddit has been incredibly helpful, we wanted to share our experience in here, in case it’s helpful to anyone else:
Timeline:
February 13th: filed package
March 11th: biometrics appointment
April 29th: interview
May 9th: approved
Field Office: New York City (26 Federal Plaza) - Brooklyn Office
Evidence submitted with package:
- Joint lease
- 4 affidavits from friends from both sides
- Photo album from when we met until date of filing, showing both family from both sides and lots of friends (80 pictures in total)
- Receipts from wedding related purchases (rings, flowers, outfits, venue and more)
- Joint health insurance
- Joint bank statement
- Joint renters insurance
- Boarding passes, hotel bookings, airbnbs with both our names
- Documentation showing the Beneficiary listed as beneficiary of the Petitioner's union death benefit
- IRA beneficiary designation showing the Beneficiary listed on the petitioners retirement account
- Pictures of cards and letters we’ve given each other throughout our relationship (birthday cards, anniversary cards and more)
- Picture of our wedding invite and guest list
Interview experience:
Interview lasted about 20 minutes. Overall,
we were in the building for about an hour and a half, but the actual interview itself was short. At first the officer had us raise our right hands to swear us in. She took our passports and began biometrics on the beneficiary.
Before she formally started the interview, she was already asking questions in a casual way while doing biometrics. There was no clear “start” it just flowed naturally.
Her tone was very relaxed. She was friendly, conversational, and made an effort to keep things comfortable. She made a few jokes throughout and commented that we seemed like we had ‘best friend vibes.’
She also commented on our outfits and said we looked coordinated and that she also only wear all black all the time. She could tell the Petitioner was a bit nervous and tried to ease the situation by keeping things light.
While she was still taking biometrics and before the formal interview began, she started asking questions, mostly directed to the Beneficiary:
- How did you meet
- Where was your wedding
The interview continued in the same conversational tone. There was a mix of standard questions and casual conversation. It did not feel like an interrogation at any point. We also had a short conversation about Las Vegas, since the Petitioner had just returned from a work trip there. That led into a broader conversation about travel, driving, and living in New York, including not driving, taking
the train, and Uber being expensive.
Questions to Petitioner
- What does your spouse do?
- Follow-up: What does the Beneficiary study
- Does she have any siblings and how many
- Have you met the Beneficiary’s parents and how was that experience
Questions to Beneficiary:
- How did you meet
- Where was your wedding
- who came to the wedding
- who What does the Petitioner do for work
- Have you met the Petitioner’s parents
She asked if we brought additional evidence. We provided:
- Joint checking account statements
- Additional photographs
- Flight tickets and Airbnb receipts for upcoming travel plans
- Invitation to a wedding with both our names
- Paystubs (petitioners)
She skimmed through some of the additional evidence and took copies of some, but did not look over everything we brought. It seemed that she was satisfied with what was already in the file and what we provided, she did not need anything further.
She then moved on to the standard I-485 security questions for the Beneficiary, only asked a few and then proceeded to wrap up the interview, telling us that everything looked good.