This month was rather newsworthy, in that we were summoned for an
interview with the Immigration Services about my residence in America
(i.e. The Green Card). It came as a bit of a surprise, because
according to the official Immigration Service website, they were
processing paperwork from February 2002, which is almost a full 14
months behind the day we put the paperwork in. So, needless to say, we
were rather surprised about the letter which was awaiting us when we got
back from holiday in England.

Fortunately, having read several websites about this sort of thing, we
still had the 4 inch black file we did before I arrived, and then I
spent several evenings getting bills, bank statements, letters sent to
us at the house etc etc photocopied and filed ready for the interview.
By the time we were supposed to go there, we had two other files
(originals and copies) to go with the black initial one, which made the
combined height of them roughly equivalent to that of a small puppy
(Alsatian).

So the night before the big day, we set the alarm early to make sure we
got to the nondescript office we were supposed to go to the following
day. We’d spent half an hour looking for the thing the day before, and
only managed to find it by Elisa finding an address on a mail collection
box outside the back door. I’m not sure if they don’t label things
because of security or just because they like to be difficult to people.
I rather suspect it is a combination of the two. Before we left the
house I ran back and got a couple of books for us, having waited in
places like this quite a lot over the past 4 years …

Sure enough, we arrived at the building and were second in line to get
in. Our appointment was for 8:25 am and we were there, security checked
and signed in around 8:10. Having read on the internet how these offices
run to time, I perhaps thought we would not be there too long. Of
course, this is the South and so “at 8:25” means something completely
different around here. I read three chapters of “Dogs of War” by
Frederick Forsythe before we were called in at 9:15. Three chapters
doesn’t sound like much in 50 minutes, but if you put it into context -
i.e. The book is very heavy going , I kept looking up at the clock to
see what time it was, and the chatter of several different languages
coming for different reasons going on in the background - I don’t think
I did that bad all things considered.

I also noticed that the regular walk-in-and-take-a-numbered-ticket
counters had plexiglass in front of them with a small hole to speak
through. They looked rather like bank cashier windows in England when I
was growing up - and before they stopped having human beings to talk to
when you go in there. Progress is apparently being able to ring up
someone in a different continent to find out the state of your accounts
these days. But I digress …

Anyway, I was thinking that they probably got the idea for these glass
screens from the DHSS in Liverpool or something, and so that way when
customers get angry they can sit safely behind the glass window and
watch them rant and rave ineffectually. For example the US Embassy in
the Philippines is notoriously bad at doing paperwork - according to
Elisa, it’s unofficially known as the “Black Hole” because things go in
there but they never come out again. As we were waiting for the
interview a woman was there talking to about the paperwork for her
sister. Apparently the newest stuff coming out of Philippines is dated
1982. I suppose we should count our blessings really.

The interview itself was rather straightforward. I expect the man
interviewing us already knew that we had been living together as husband
and wife over the last two years before we even entered the room, so we
didn’t have too much in terms of difficult questions to answer. As
usual, Immigration officers like to be belligerent and abrasive when
they question people. It is very annoying, but the sensible thing is to
be quiet and play the game, I suppose. It’s what I did. One
interesting tactic was that sometimes the officer would ask general
questions and then suddenly jump in and snap a question he‘d already
asked before e.g. “Where do you work ?” but of course as I was telling
the truth, it wasn’t terribly harrowing.

Other questions included “Have you committed or conspired to commit
Mass Genocide ?” “Have you, or are you planning to engage in espionage
against the United States during your stay here ?” “Where do you work
?” (third time) “Are you a member - past or present - of the Nazi Party
?” “Have you ever engaged in a state wide serial killing spree ?“ “Do
you plan on stealing a nuclear submarine and then blackmailing the
western world on behalf of your Red Chinese paymasters only to be
thwarted at the last moment by James Bond and his curiously named
female sidekick ?” and several other “No, and even if was, do you think
I would be stupid enough to tell you about it on camera ?” type
questions. The final one was “Do you plan on practicing polygamy
during your stay here ?” - presumably they had the Utah edition of the
question book or something. I said “No, and even if I was, I don’t
think my wife would be.”

We were in there for about an hour altogether, at the end of which, I
got a stamp in my passport saying I am now a temporary resident of the
USA and so from now on I do not need to spend $300+ / year on travel and
work permits. Which is nice. Apparently the temporary / conditional
Green Card will arrive in the mail and twenty one months from the day of
the interview we have to send more stuff in to remove the conditions.
Not sure what happens there, but we’ll get to that when it happens I
suppose. For now at least, regular life continues …

Hopre this is some help for those of you in a similar position.

Richard & Elisa

P.S. Can you guess which two questions up there I made up ?

--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

This month was rather newsworthy, in that we were summoned for an interview with the Immigration Services about my residence in America (i.e. The Green Card). It came as a bit of a surprise, because according to the official Immigration Service website, they were processing paperwork from February 2002, which is almost a full 14 months behind the day we put the paperwork in. So, needless to say, we were rather surprised about the letter which was awaiting us when we got back from holiday in England. Fortunately, having read several websites about this sort of thing, we still had the 4 inch black file we did before I arrived, and then I spent several evenings getting bills, bank statements, letters sent to us at the house etc etc photocopied and filed ready for the interview. By the time we were supposed to go there, we had two other files (originals and copies) to go with the black initial one, which made the combined height of them roughly equivalent to that of a small puppy (Alsatian). So the night before the big day, we set the alarm early to make sure we got to the nondescript office we were supposed to go to the following day. We’d spent half an hour looking for the thing the day before, and only managed to find it by Elisa finding an address on a mail collection box outside the back door. I’m not sure if they don’t label things because of security or just because they like to be difficult to people. I rather suspect it is a combination of the two. Before we left the house I ran back and got a couple of books for us, having waited in places like this quite a lot over the past 4 years … Sure enough, we arrived at the building and were second in line to get in. Our appointment was for 8:25 am and we were there, security checked and signed in around 8:10. Having read on the internet how these offices run to time, I perhaps thought we would not be there too long. Of course, this is the South and so “at 8:25” means something completely different around here. I read three chapters of “Dogs of War” by Frederick Forsythe before we were called in at 9:15. Three chapters doesn’t sound like much in 50 minutes, but if you put it into context - i.e. The book is very heavy going , I kept looking up at the clock to see what time it was, and the chatter of several different languages coming for different reasons going on in the background - I don’t think I did that bad all things considered. I also noticed that the regular walk-in-and-take-a-numbered-ticket counters had plexiglass in front of them with a small hole to speak through. They looked rather like bank cashier windows in England when I was growing up - and before they stopped having human beings to talk to when you go in there. Progress is apparently being able to ring up someone in a different continent to find out the state of your accounts these days. But I digress … Anyway, I was thinking that they probably got the idea for these glass screens from the DHSS in Liverpool or something, and so that way when customers get angry they can sit safely behind the glass window and watch them rant and rave ineffectually. For example the US Embassy in the Philippines is notoriously bad at doing paperwork - according to Elisa, it’s unofficially known as the “Black Hole” because things go in there but they never come out again. As we were waiting for the interview a woman was there talking to about the paperwork for her sister. Apparently the newest stuff coming out of Philippines is dated 1982. I suppose we should count our blessings really. The interview itself was rather straightforward. I expect the man interviewing us already knew that we had been living together as husband and wife over the last two years before we even entered the room, so we didn’t have too much in terms of difficult questions to answer. As usual, Immigration officers like to be belligerent and abrasive when they question people. It is very annoying, but the sensible thing is to be quiet and play the game, I suppose. It’s what I did. One interesting tactic was that sometimes the officer would ask general questions and then suddenly jump in and snap a question he‘d already asked before e.g. “Where do you work ?” but of course as I was telling the truth, it wasn’t terribly harrowing. Other questions included “Have you committed or conspired to commit Mass Genocide ?” “Have you, or are you planning to engage in espionage against the United States during your stay here ?” “Where do you work ?” (third time) “Are you a member - past or present - of the Nazi Party ?” “Have you ever engaged in a state wide serial killing spree ?“ “Do you plan on stealing a nuclear submarine and then blackmailing the western world on behalf of your Red Chinese paymasters only to be thwarted at the last moment by James Bond and his curiously named female sidekick ?” and several other “No, and even if was, do you think I would be stupid enough to tell you about it on camera ?” type questions. The final one was “Do you plan on practicing polygamy during your stay here ?” - presumably they had the Utah edition of the question book or something. I said “No, and even if I was, I don’t think my wife would be.” We were in there for about an hour altogether, at the end of which, I got a stamp in my passport saying I am now a temporary resident of the USA and so from now on I do not need to spend $300+ / year on travel and work permits. Which is nice. Apparently the temporary / conditional Green Card will arrive in the mail and twenty one months from the day of the interview we have to send more stuff in to remove the conditions. Not sure what happens there, but we’ll get to that when it happens I suppose. For now at least, regular life continues … Hopre this is some help for those of you in a similar position. Richard & Elisa P.S. Can you guess which two questions up there I made up ?

Congratulations, Richard and Elisa on the new status. I know you are
delighted to have it over and done with.

Could you cut and paste this result to the Kamya link after my name so
your experience will live on indefinitely and be of use to others going
through your particular DO? Thanks and again, congratulations.

Rete

--
I'm not an attorney. This disclaimer is valid in NYS!
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

This month was rather newsworthy, in that we were summoned for an interview with the Immigration Services about my residence in America (i.e. The Green Card). It came as a bit of a surprise, because according to the official Immigration Service website, they were processing paperwork from February 2002, which is almost a full 14 months behind the day we put the paperwork in. So, needless to say, we were rather surprised about the letter which was awaiting us when we got back from holiday in England. Fortunately, having read several websites about this sort of thing, we still had the 4 inch black file we did before I arrived, and then I spent several evenings getting bills, bank statements, letters sent to us at the house etc etc photocopied and filed ready for the interview. By the time we were supposed to go there, we had two other files (originals and copies) to go with the black initial one, which made the combined height of them roughly equivalent to that of a small puppy (Alsatian). So the night before the big day, we set the alarm early to make sure we got to the nondescript office we were supposed to go to the following day. We’d spent half an hour looking for the thing the day before, and only managed to find it by Elisa finding an address on a mail collection box outside the back door. I’m not sure if they don’t label things because of security or just because they like to be difficult to people. I rather suspect it is a combination of the two. Before we left the house I ran back and got a couple of books for us, having waited in places like this quite a lot over the past 4 years … Sure enough, we arrived at the building and were second in line to get in. Our appointment was for 8:25 am and we were there, security checked and signed in around 8:10. Having read on the internet how these offices run to time, I perhaps thought we would not be there too long. Of course, this is the South and so “at 8:25” means something completely different around here. I read three chapters of “Dogs of War” by Frederick Forsythe before we were called in at 9:15. Three chapters doesn’t sound like much in 50 minutes, but if you put it into context - i.e. The book is very heavy going , I kept looking up at the clock to see what time it was, and the chatter of several different languages coming for different reasons going on in the background - I don’t think I did that bad all things considered. I also noticed that the regular walk-in-and-take-a-numbered-ticket counters had plexiglass in front of them with a small hole to speak through. They looked rather like bank cashier windows in England when I was growing up - and before they stopped having human beings to talk to when you go in there. Progress is apparently being able to ring up someone in a different continent to find out the state of your accounts these days. But I digress … Anyway, I was thinking that they probably got the idea for these glass screens from the DHSS in Liverpool or something, and so that way when customers get angry they can sit safely behind the glass window and watch them rant and rave ineffectually. For example the US Embassy in the Philippines is notoriously bad at doing paperwork - according to Elisa, it’s unofficially known as the “Black Hole” because things go in there but they never come out again. As we were waiting for the interview a woman was there talking to about the paperwork for her sister. Apparently the newest stuff coming out of Philippines is dated 1982. I suppose we should count our blessings really. The interview itself was rather straightforward. I expect the man interviewing us already knew that we had been living together as husband and wife over the last two years before we even entered the room, so we didn’t have too much in terms of difficult questions to answer. As usual, Immigration officers like to be belligerent and abrasive when they question people. It is very annoying, but the sensible thing is to be quiet and play the game, I suppose. It’s what I did. One interesting tactic was that sometimes the officer would ask general questions and then suddenly jump in and snap a question he‘d already asked before e.g. “Where do you work ?” but of course as I was telling the truth, it wasn’t terribly harrowing. Other questions included “Have you committed or conspired to commit Mass Genocide ?” “Have you, or are you planning to engage in espionage against the United States during your stay here ?” “Where do you work ?” (third time) “Are you a member - past or present - of the Nazi Party ?” “Have you ever engaged in a state wide serial killing spree ?“ “Do you plan on stealing a nuclear submarine and then blackmailing the western world on behalf of your Red Chinese paymasters only to be thwarted at the last moment by James Bond and his curiously named female sidekick ?” and several other “No, and even if was, do you think I would be stupid enough to tell you about it on camera ?” type questions. The final one was “Do you plan on practicing polygamy during your stay here ?” - presumably they had the Utah edition of the question book or something. I said “No, and even if I was, I don’t think my wife would be.” We were in there for about an hour altogether, at the end of which, I got a stamp in my passport saying I am now a temporary resident of the USA and so from now on I do not need to spend $300+ / year on travel and work permits. Which is nice. Apparently the temporary / conditional Green Card will arrive in the mail and twenty one months from the day of the interview we have to send more stuff in to remove the conditions. Not sure what happens there, but we’ll get to that when it happens I suppose. For now at least, regular life continues … Hopre this is some help for those of you in a similar position. Richard & Elisa P.S. Can you guess which two questions up there I made up ?

We had our interview too last week. They requested that I mail them my
birth certificate and naturalization certificate. I brought my US
passport but the officer said this wasn't enough.

The officer we had was quite abrasive as well. Mid 30-s, balding.

--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Great,,,and congratulations to you both....My husband and I are waiting
to hear from Memphis Tenn for our AOS.....we filed last March.....so
maybe we will hear soon

bb

This month was rather newsworthy, in that we were summoned for an interview with the Immigration Services about my residence in America (i.e. The Green Card). It came as a bit of a surprise, because according to the official Immigration Service website, they were processing paperwork from February 2002, which is almost a full 14 months behind the day we put the paperwork in. So, needless to say, we were rather surprised about the letter which was awaiting us when we got back from holiday in England. Fortunately, having read several websites about this sort of thing, we still had the 4 inch black file we did before I arrived, and then I spent several evenings getting bills, bank statements, letters sent to us at the house etc etc photocopied and filed ready for the interview. By the time we were supposed to go there, we had two other files (originals and copies) to go with the black initial one, which made the combined height of them roughly equivalent to that of a small puppy (Alsatian). So the night before the big day, we set the alarm early to make sure we got to the nondescript office we were supposed to go to the following day. We’d spent half an hour looking for the thing the day before, and only managed to find it by Elisa finding an address on a mail collection box outside the back door. I’m not sure if they don’t label things because of security or just because they like to be difficult to people. I rather suspect it is a combination of the two. Before we left the house I ran back and got a couple of books for us, having waited in places like this quite a lot over the past 4 years … Sure enough, we arrived at the building and were second in line to get in. Our appointment was for 8:25 am and we were there, security checked and signed in around 8:10. Having read on the internet how these offices run to time, I perhaps thought we would not be there too long. Of course, this is the South and so “at 8:25� means something completely different around here. I read three chapters of “Dogs of War� by Frederick Forsythe before we were called in at 9:15. Three chapters doesn’t sound like much in 50 minutes, but if you put it into context - i.e. The book is very heavy going , I kept looking up at the clock to see what time it was, and the chatter of several different languages coming for different reasons going on in the background - I don’t think I did that bad all things considered. I also noticed that the regular walk-in-and-take-a-numbered-ticket counters had plexiglass in front of them with a small hole to speak through. They looked rather like bank cashier windows in England when I was growing up - and before they stopped having human beings to talk to when you go in there. Progress is apparently being able to ring up someone in a different continent to find out the state of your accounts these days. But I digress … Anyway, I was thinking that they probably got the idea for these glass screens from the DHSS in Liverpool or something, and so that way when customers get angry they can sit safely behind the glass window and watch them rant and rave ineffectually. For example the US Embassy in the Philippines is notoriously bad at doing paperwork - according to Elisa, it’s unofficially known as the “Black Hole� because things go in there but they never come out again. As we were waiting for the interview a woman was there talking to about the paperwork for her sister. Apparently the newest stuff coming out of Philippines is dated 1982. I suppose we should count our blessings really. The interview itself was rather straightforward. I expect the man interviewing us already knew that we had been living together as husband and wife over the last two years before we even entered the room, so we didn’t have too much in terms of difficult questions to answer. As usual, Immigration officers like to be belligerent and abrasive when they question people. It is very annoying, but the sensible thing is to be quiet and play the game, I suppose. It’s what I did. One interesting tactic was that sometimes the officer would ask general questions and then suddenly jump in and snap a question he‘d already asked before e.g. “Where do you work ?� but of course as I was telling the truth, it wasn’t terribly harrowing. Other questions included “Have you committed or conspired to commit Mass Genocide ?� “Have you, or are you planning to engage in espionage against the United States during your stay here ?� “Where do you work ?� (third time) “Are you a member - past or present - of the Nazi Party ?� “Have you ever engaged in a state wide serial killing spree ?“ “Do you plan on stealing a nuclear submarine and then blackmailing the western world on behalf of your Red Chinese paymasters only to be thwarted at the last moment by James Bond and his curiously named female sidekick ?� and several other “No, and even if was, do you think I would be stupid enough to tell you about it on camera ?� type questions. The final one was “Do you plan on practicing polygamy during your stay here ?� - presumably they had the Utah edition of the question book or something. I said “No, and even if I was, I don’t think my wife would be.� We were in there for about an hour altogether, at the end of which, I got a stamp in my passport saying I am now a temporary resident of the USA and so from now on I do not need to spend $300+ / year on travel and work permits. Which is nice. Apparently the temporary / conditional Green Card will arrive in the mail and twenty one months from the day of the interview we have to send more stuff in to remove the conditions. Not sure what happens there, but we’ll get to that when it happens I suppose. For now at least, regular life continues … Hopre this is some help for those of you in a similar position. Richard & Elisa P.S. Can you guess which two questions up there I made up ?

Richard & Elisa,

Have you guys gotten the green card yet? If so how long did it take to
get it after your AOS interview? Where was it mailed from?

Thanks!

--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com