Hey friends, it's Latoya McBean-Pompy.
Welcome to McBean Immigration TV.
The question in this video is, should you be worried if you interviewed for the Green
Card with your spouse months ago, let's say four months ago, six months ago, but you still
have not heard anything yet from the government?
Should you be quivering right now or should you just simply relax?
That's what we're going to tackle in this video, stay tuned.
Friends, thanks for watching this video.
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Now this question actually came up during one of my live sessions in Smart Immigration
Academy recently and the question is simply, should you worry if you and your husband or
wife go in for your Green Card interview and it's been months now and you have not heard
anything?
A lot of people are nervous about this whole immigration process.
Let me just say that right off the bat.
And they should be because they see so many changes happening these days in Washington
and so they're thinking, "Well, this should be a slam dunk, right?"
My husband is a US citizen and he has petitioned for me and I'm eligible for adjustment of
status.
I'm here in America and I came in right, I used a Visa in my own name and entered lawfully
and it's a real marriage.
It's bonafide, it's genuine.
Yet you're still nervous and so why?
Why are you nervous and that's what we're going to unpack, why you're nervous and should
you be nervous and what's likely going on with the petition.
So why are you nervous?
You may be nervous because as I mentioned, things are changing.
Lots of stuff is happening on the policy level in Washington DC.
You've been watching my videos, you see that the process is more complicated than ever
and there's a lot to learn.
You may have also done it on your own, which may cause you to be a little nervous because
you're still learning the process and you're just thinking, "Well, maybe I missed something."
Or if you worked with a lawyer, you may be thinking, "Well, was everything submitted
that should have been submitted?
And also were we adequately prepared for our interview and did we not answer the questions
correctly during the interview?"
So there could be so many reasons why you would be anxious right now.
The other issue is that you may be thinking to yourself, "Well, this whole process is
taking longer than it should have because we know that case processing times have slowed
down, but our file is a slam dunk.
It really should not be one of those cases that is tied up or caught up in this whole
case processing time issue because we may have a child together, it's real.
What's the issue?
So we should have gone through a long time ago.
We should've gotten through a long time ago."
So friend, you may be nervous for all of those reasons.
All these thoughts are going through your mind, "Did I do it right?"
Blah, blah blah.
"Did my attorney do it right?
Did I answer all the questions correctly during the interview?"
So that's normal.
I want to say to you that all of those thoughts are normal, first of all.
Secondly, you need to understand that yes, case processing may be the issue that's at
play with your file, even though it should have been a slam dunk because you guys have
all the right evidence, you have children together or you've been married for a long
time now.
Obviously you have tons of evidence of the bonafide nature of your marriage.
So it should have gone through a long time ago, but it just did not.
Why?
Because case processing times may be slower at the field office that you're going through.
So it could be that.
But now let's go a little deeper here because in some cases, none of those issues are really
what's happening here why things may be a little slow in terms of you getting a response.
So in the ordinary course of things, friends, you go in for this interview, you may or may
not have your lawyer with you sitting in the background, but you go in for this interview,
you've been prepped, you feel good about it.
Relationship is real, marriage is solid.
You go in, you answer the basic questions about how you met and do you know what your
address is, the names of your spouse's parents, and just some basic questions that they normally
take people through.
They will ask questions about the adjustment of status application.
Do you want to change any response that you've given to the government on that I45?
They'll ask you to submit additional documents and this and that.
Things that you brought with you that day of the interview, such as updated W2's or
the most current tax return.
So you hand all of that in, it seems pretty normal.
Things are going well.
But then friends, what if they asked you during that interview a question that really threw
you off?
A question such as, "Where is your husband's mom?
Where is she living?"
And you may say, "Oh, she's living in Manila in the Philippines," and maybe your husband's
mom is deceased.
If something like that happened, friends, then I would say you definitely have a reason
to be concerned because that is a flag right there.
That's a flag.
How many of you know that if your spouse's parent is deceased, you should know that?
You don't give a response like, "Oh, she's living in Manila."
That's a flag and when that happens, friends, that's a sign to the government that maybe
this marriage isn't real.
Maybe this marriage is not bonafide.
So they will probe a little deeper during that first interview and if you've found that
that's what happened in your case in which they were actually probing a little deeper
than what you expected or that your attorney prepared you for, and maybe it's because the
responses that you had been giving were really off.
Questions about your living arrangements.
If the officer asked you, "What's your address," and you give the address.
"Is that a house or is that an apartment," and you just mess that up.
You say, "Oh, there's no apartment number," or something crazy like that when in fact
there should be an apartment number because it's an apartment building.
That address is.
So things like that do happen.
It may sound absurd to you right now as I'm speaking this, but this happens all the time
in these interviews.
The no brainer questions reveal that the marriage isn't authentic and so if that's what occurred
during your interview, here's what could be going on behind the scenes while you're waiting.
They are gearing up to send you a Stokes notice, a notice or a interview notice.
They want you to come back a second time for an interview, which will be a lengthier interview
in which they will really probe and ask a ton of questions about your marriage.
Because at that point they're suspicious that your answers just doesn't make any sense and
so therefore they have to call you back in to really probe deeper because the responses
were really off.
So if that happened, maybe that's what's going on behind the scenes.
They are looking to send you that notice.
But if nothing like that really happened during your interview friends, and this is what I
told the folks in Smart Immigration Academy, if none of those things did happen, you felt
confident in your responses, everything was on point, you guys didn't really stumble over
any no brainer issues, then it's just a matter of case processing.
That office is just moving slower than it should.
They're backed up for whatever reason and also as you guys know the government has this
systematic policy of slowing things down and making the process more difficult and lengthier.
So it could be something like that that's going on at that field office and that's it.
So if that is what's going on, then you have to just wait until they send you your approval.
But generally speaking, if the interview went really well and you asked the officer the
question, "Are you going to recommend this for approval," and the officer says, "Yes,
actually I'm going to recommend it for approval," normally they tell you, "You're going to hear
from us within another week or two," and normally it goes by very quickly.
Meaning you get your Green Card in your hand very quickly soon after that interview.
So if everything went really well, that's normally how it goes.
At least in my experience, I cannot speak for what other immigration lawyers and other
people are experiencing in other jurisdictions, but in the jurisdiction where I practice primarily,
which is New York, that's what I have seen the trend to be.
Now, I don't want you to worry, but I want you to sit back now and think about the questions
and the answers.
Did your spouse stumble over something that was really a no brainer like your parent is
deceased and your spouse said, "Oh, she's living in Manila?"
Was it something like that?
If it was, then yeah, you most likely will get a Stokes interview notice, but if nothing
like that came up and it's really solid, it was a good interview, then don't worry.
Don't worry.
You just wait it out until you hear back from them.
So that's what I want to share in this short video.
I hope it was helpful to you.
If you guys have any experiences that you'd like to share about what you went through
in terms of how long it took you to get your Green Card after you went in for your marriage
case, go ahead and shoot a comment below so that other people can be encouraged by your
experience as well.
I forgot to mention earlier, sign up for my emails if you are not yet on my email list.
Each week I send out really good emails and so get on my email list and stay plugged into
everything that we're doing here in 2020.
We have so many exciting things coming up including webinar Wednesdays.
Friends, I forgot to mention earlier that webinar Wednesday is starting this month and
this is January, so depending on when you're catching this video, we may have already started
webinar Wednesday.
Sign up, look for these notices.
Each week I will be posting notices about what's coming up on webinar Wednesday and
during that time we dive a little deeper into an issue such as how to prepare for your embassy
interview friends so that you can get your immigrant Visa or your family can get it.
We'll also be talking about other practical things like how to prepare for your Stokes
interview and some topics around adjustment of status and some other really good stuff
that you guys need.
So sign up for webinar Wednesdays and if you're a Smart Immigration Academy member, you will
get a 40% discount on webinar Wednesdays.
So that's really a cool thing.
Friends, thanks so much for watching this video.
I hope it was helpful to you and stay tuned for the next one.
Bye bye.