USCIS Green Card Approval

I should point out at the start of this post that, as usual, this is an account of my own personal experience, it is not an official guide.  Your experience of getting USCIS green card approval may well be different to mine.  My account does, however, give you a general idea of the sort of things that can happen and where possible, I mention other possibilities that I have read about in my research, which didn’t happen to me personally.

As I mentioned in my post on the biometrics appointment, I didn’t received temporary work and travel permits, despite applying for them – instead I was “fast-tracked” straight to getting my USCIS green card.  “Fast-tracked” is a relative concept in this case, however, as it still took months before my green card was processed.

(Getting the temporary work and travel permits normally isn’t much of an advantage, anyway, as they usually take almost as long to process as the green card for most people in my situation, according to the research that I had done.  So I didn’t feel that I had missed out on anything by not getting them.)

One good thing, however, was that I went straight to the approval letter stage and I didn’t have to attend a USCIS green card interview.  From what I know, the green card interview is no more difficult than the K1 visa interview, but I would still have had the hassle of having to ask my wife to take time off work and drive us up to the USCIS office in a neighbouring city, as we had to do with the biometrics appointment.

Anyway, as I said, I got my green card approval letter, which welcomed me to the USA and explained that I would be receiving my USCIS green card within three weeks (as it happened, the card actually arrived just three days later).  My green card is only valid for two years, however, and I will need to apply for a permanent replacement before it runs out.  (Obtaining the replacement is a relatively cheap and easy process, I believe).

Once I had my green card, I went to my local social security office and applied for a replacement social security card.  This was because my original card was stamped: “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION”.  Now that I had a green card, I was able to swap it for a regular social security card without the stamp on it, free of charge.

7 Tips for dealing with the Fiance Visa Interview Questions

These are my own personal tips based on my own personal experience, so I can’t say for sure that they’ll work for you, only that they served me well.  As the non US citizen member of the couple, it was me who had to undergo the interview for US visa and answer various fiance visa interview questions.  Anyway, here are my K1 interview tips.

1. Do some advance research about the sort of fiance visa interview questions that you might be asked well in advance.  (See part 6)
2. Also check up on all the instructions before you travel to the embassy or consulate.  For me going to the US Embassy in London, there were no electronic devices allowed, but many people failed to read that in advance and were sent to a local chemist/drugstore where they had to leave their devices for a (not small) fee.
3. Make sure that you take your bank card with you and there’s money in your bank, as may have to pay a large fee for the fiance visa.  I did.
4. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the embassy or consulate for your fiance visa interview.  For me, I had to go to the US Embassy in London which is in the city centre.  This presented a variety of potential difficulties and in the end I traveled down from Yorkshire in advance and stayed with my brother in Brighton, so that the journey on the morning would be a bit easier.  Once you’re there, the truth is they’ll almost certainly keep you waiting around, but you still don’t want to be late.
5. Once you’re inside the embassy, try to remain calm and alert while you’re waiting around to be called.  I took a book to read, but didn’t read much of it as I was paranoid that I’d miss my number being called.  When they do eventually call you up, be polite and courteous, even if you feel frustrated.
6. Here are some examples of the sort of K1 fiance visa interview questions that you might be asked.  What is the date of your fiancee’s birthday?  How did you two meet?  What does your fiancee do for a living?  Do you have any brothers or sisters?  Do you know the date that you will travel to the USA?  Did you have a party to celebrate your engagement?  As you can see, the questions aren’t too difficult if you’re in a bona fide relationship.
7. Be prepared for the fact that you’ll have to book and a pay for the delivery of your K1 Fiance Visa by courier.  I hadn’t thought it through and I told them to deliver the K1 Fiance Visa to my home.  However, I realized later that as you have to sign for it in person with ID and the couriers don’t give you an exact time and date for delivery, it made more sense for the documents to be delivered to my workplace.  So I had to ring them and change the deliver address later.