All right everybody, what are the questions that you should expect
at your marriage based green card interview that is coming up with USCIS?
And are you freaking out yet?
Or do you feel like you're ready?
My name is Moumita Rahman, and I am an immigration lawyer.
I am based in New York, but I represent immigrants all over the United States.
And if you are watching my channel, you already know that I believe
in defending immigrants and that I am here to uphold and uplift your voices.
I have attended hundreds of marriage based green card interviews
over the course of my decade long career as an immigration lawyer,
and I have heard all sorts of questions, but I have also heard
a lot of the same questions in almost every single interview.
And if you have been filing for your marriage based green card,
whether you are filing with a lawyer or without a lawyer,
you've probably gone down that rabbit hole of Google Internet searches
to find out what other people have been asked at their interview.
I want you to stop before you go any further,
because what you need to know, you're going to find out right here.
Okay, so
let's talk about some of the basics that you must know
before you walk into your marriage interview.
Number one, there are actually two different purposes to this interview.
The first purpose of this interview is, of course,
to make sure that your marriage is real and that your relationship
is a bona fide marriage and that it was made in good faith.
But number two, the second part of this interview
is to determine that the applicant is actually eligible to adjust status.
The second thing that you need to know about marriage based interviews is that it
will always be conducted by an immigration officer who has probably seen it all
and whose interview is not the first of the day.
Or maybe you're the last of two dozen interviews at 2 p.m.
on a Wednesday afternoon.
So don't think that you are the only person being
interviewed by this immigration officer, and do know that
the immigration officer is a person and they have their own beliefs,
they have their own opinions and they have their own personality.
And we'll talk about how that can affect your interview., so keep
watching for that as well, because this is really important.
What are some of the interview questions
that you can expect to be asked at your marriage interview?
I have been to hundreds of immigration interviews, not just here
in New York where I'm physically based, but actually all over the country.
And I have traveled to multiple states, multiple parts of the country,
because I like to see what it's
like at these other locations and to see what officers may ask.
But what are they asking and what can you expect?
And are they asking anything different this year?
There is one thing that remains a constant in every single interview
that I have ever been in in my life for a marriage green card.
And the first thing that officers
almost will always ask is about your “How We Met” story.
Officers will always want to know, when did you meet your spouse
for the first time?
How did you meet?
And when was the first date?
99.9% of all of the marriage interviews
that I have ever been in attendance at have always had these questions asked.
So the best way to prepare for this question is to actually go
over your relationship timeline with your husband or with your wife.
You don't want to wait until the last minute to try to rehash
and not remember exactly, “Honey, when was our first date?” Or, “No,
that wasn't our first date.
That was a second.” You don't want to go over that
in front of the immigration officer at the interview.
So I would give you a very good piece of advice right now,
which is to create your timeline, at least the night before the interview,
so that you and your partner can actually be on the same page about those details.
Because to be honest, some of us are not always on the same page.
For example, if you asked me
when was my first date with my husband, I will not remember that one bit.
And I probably remember our relationship story a little bit different than him.
And this is actually quite natural.
However, if you talk like that in front
of an immigration officer, they're not going to think it's natural.
They’re going to think it's fraud and you guys don't know each other at all.
So get on the same page, at least the night before the interview.,
so you don't sound like you're making things up in front of the officer.
Okay, now another question that is almost always asked
at the interviews that I have gone to is: what is your date of marriage?
Guess what?
This is actually a question
that they will definitely ask, and you better remember your anniversary!
And when
we talk about the date of marriage, the only date that we are talking about
is the date that is on your marriage certificate.
It doesn't matter if you got married at City Hall in the year 2015 in May,
but you had your celebration and your real wedding two months after that.
If you tell the officer any date, that is something other
than the date of marriage that is recorded on your actual marriage certificate,
you will have a problem on your hands because that will raise a red flag
for the officer that maybe this may not be a bona fide marriage.
What happens if you yourself have been married more than once
or your partner has been married more than once?
You should know approximately when your husband or wife was previously married,
when that marriage ended and the name of your partner's ex. Yes.
You better know what their name was.
And something that you can also get asked is
why did that relationship not work out?
Even though
that's a very personal question, you and your husband, or
you and your wife, would ideally have discussed this
at some point during your courtship or during your marriage.
And an officer who is asking you this to you
at the time of the interview will also expect you to know it.
The officer themselves may even ask you about your past marriages as well.
Something that I have had some clients get worried about
is the fact that they were married multiple times before,
their partner was married multiple times before, and clients
have been worried about whether this looks bad to immigration.
Now it's a toss up.
For some officers that may create a red flag
and other officers don't give a flying hoot.
And this goes into one of the things that I said earlier,
which is that your officer is an actual living, breathing person.
They're not usually lawyers, but they're usually people
who exist out in the real world.
And they come to you interview with their own upbringing,
with their own opinions, and yes, and with their own stereotypes as well.
So it will really depend on what the officer believes.
So a surprise question that I have gotten during
the interview that had to do with previous marriages was the fact that in one case
a couple had actually met each other while the other person
was still legally married to somebody else.
And surprise, surprise, the officer was very,
very curious about this and asked a lot of questions and could not
seem to wrap his head around the fact that a couple can start a relationship
even if one is legally separated from the other person.
So don't be surprised if the officer does start asking
questions about things that you may think don't really matter.
Some other questions that you can expect is if you do hold joint
financial accounts, the officer may ask: Where is your bank?
Who do you pay rent to?
When did you open this account together?
And I have also seen asked at the interview, does your spouse hold
a checking account or savings accounts at any other bank by themselves?
And hopefully, you know the answers to this.
And if you don't, now's a good time to make sure you know
as much as possible about your partner's financial accounts.
Also, we do get asked questions about siblings and names
of parents, where the parents live, what do they do for a living.
So you should do your best to know details about each other's families.
Next, recall that I said that one of the purposes of this interview
is to determine that you, the immigrant, are actually eligible for a green card.
This means that the sort of questions you will get
will have to do with your work history,
your entry, and any immigration violations that you've ever committed.
Also, any criminal history that you may have had.
So you should definitely expect questions about that.
And please recall that when USCIS asks you about your criminal history,
it is about any criminal history EVER—not
just within the past five years, but in your entire lifetime.
So you want to not only be prepared to talk about that,
but you also want to make sure that you have your documents in place
to show what happens to that charge or to that arrest or with that conviction.
Okay. Don't go empty handed.
If you have ever had any sort of criminal history at all.
And lastly, they may even ask questions about previous immigration
applications that you may have filed.
So be prepared to speak about those if asked.
I'll tell you about an experience
that I had at a different location that really caught me off guard.
I traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for a marriage based interview
and this is a beautiful couple, a great couple who's together.
And this was our very first interview.
Now, if you
have been reading up on immigration, if you've watched any of my videos,
you may have heard me talk about something called the Stokes interview.
And the Stokes interview is something that an immigration office
would give to a couple who is applying for a marriage based
green card as a second interview because they doubt
the validity of the marriage and whether it is a bona fide marriage.
And typically what would happen is you go through your first interview,
if it's unsatisfactory to the officer to the point where they suspect fraud,
then you would be asked to come in for a second interview.
And at this interview
they separate the couple and ask each other the same questions.
In an attempt to compare each other's answers and to see
whether there are any inconsistencies.
Now I fly all the way to Columbus.
I am there with my my clients.
There are a lovely couple.
And the minute the officer comes out, they say only the petitioner.
And I said, “Officer, are you conducting the Stokes interview?
This is the first time that we've been here.” And he said, “yes.”.
And when we got into the office,
I asked him at the end of the interview, (which by the way, went well.
My couple passed with flying colors!
They were really great and they performed well under any pressure.) But
I asked the officer, “Officer, how come you gave them a Stokes interview?
It's their very first time.
Don't you save those for a second time if you suspect fraud?”
And he said to me, “Well, there wasn't a lot of evidence,
so that's one of our red flags.” So I learned a little bit the hard way
that this particular location that an officer may decide
to give a Stokes interview if he sees that there's not a lot of evidence.
It's pretty unfair because in a lot of cases,
a couple may not be able to do a lot of joint evidence
because of the fact that the foreign beneficiary
does not have a Social Security Number to use to open up bank account
or to get on a lease or to file taxes or things like that.
So it is a word of warning to you that if you are filing
for a immigration application based on marriage,
to try to submit as much joint marriage evidence as possible
because you might get a Stokes interview instead of the regular interview.
So let's talk about something a little bit, even better than that.
And that is the fact that USCIS has been
waiving interviews for marriage green cards.
Now, what can you do to maximize your chance of getting waived?
When I have seen clients get waived for their green card interview,
it almost always boils down to the jurisdiction of the office.
For example, here in New York and in a couple of other places,
I have regularly been receiving waivers of interviews.
And I know that it's a waiver because we usually will get a request
for the medical exam to be mailed to that particular office by a certain date.
And that is my biggest indication
and my sign that those clients will not receive an interview.
So they are doing that.
But if you want to maximize the chance of them waiving an interview,
definitely you want to prove the marriage as much as possible
through the paperwork that you submit at the time you file.
So you really want to submit as much that you can of joint financial documents,
which would include joint bank accounts, joint tax returns, any other joint
insurances, any other joint bills and liabilities and assets.
Also tons of pictures!
As much as you can per doubt, I would say between 50 to 100,
but don't go more than that because at that point it's just overkill.
And number two, make sure that you file everything in a nice, neat way
so that it minimizes the chances of you getting an RFE.
So whether you're a green card interview will get waived at all
will really boil down to how much evidence that you submit,
and number two, where in the country you are filing.
And no, there is no choice.
I've had clients ask me, “Hey, you know, I know I live in New York,
but can I file in New Jersey where it's quicker?”
And the answer is no, not unless you live there.
Because if you try to represent that you live somewhere
when you really don't, just for the benefit of getting a quicker
filing and decision, that can be considered immigration fraud.
So I encourage you not to do that.
Now, what to expect at the interview because of the officer?
As I mentioned previously, the type of questions that you are going
to get at your immigration interview are really going to boil down
to the immigration officer that you get assigned at your interview.
I do typically find that the more junior officers tend to ask
extensive of questions about things that I didn't even think that immigration
cared about anymore,
but apparently this junior officer does because they're fresh from their training
and still being cautious and careful about how they process decisions.
Number two, your questions and your interview are going
to be affected by the officer's personality and upbringing.
Certain officers need certain things to convince them of the validity of marriage.
And certain officers will have certain red flags that go up
that are different from person to person.
So it's really hard to be completely in control of the interview,
which leads me to my next point, which is how to answer that
question that you are not expected to answer or that you were afraid
you were going to get.
Now, mark my words, honesty really is the best policy.
Answer everything calmly and clearly as much as possible.
Because if you make yourself nervous because you think, “Oh
my God, I got a question that makes this a bad sign.
And this question means that I'm going to get denied”.
You're just going to work yourself up into a tizzy and shoot yourself in the foot.
And at all times, as much as possible, you want to be straightforward.
You want to be direct. You want to be clear.
You want to be honest.
And don't get nervous because, again, some officers think that
if you are nervous it must mean that you're lying, which we know is crap!
But it's what they maybe have been taught.
All right, everybody, these are my tips about immigration questions
that you may be receiving at your interview.
Good luck to you.
And if you require a evaluation with my office,
give us a call at (212) 248-7907.
And until next time.
My name is Moumita Rahman.