So P. and I drove up to Big City yesterday for today's Big Appointment with the INS (which they call DCIS these days). We'd read horror stories about these interviews; had heard of couples getting pulled apart; one sent back to Mexico, the other remaining in the US, five years before they sorted things out. P. got a book of INS askable questions, like "how did you meet?" and "when was the last time you and your wife saw her siblings together?" and "looking up at the ceiling, which side of the bed do you sleep on?" and "what color is your couch?" and "how often do you do laundry?" and "when did you last have sex?" and "what color underwear is your wife wearing?" and so on. In some of these interviews, couples get split up, asked a series of rapid fire questions, the answers to which are then checked for any inconsistencies. The book, written by a Nigerian who immigrated to the US and is now a lawyer of somesort, said, no pauses when they ask questions, said, be sure you and your mate have consistent and coherent narratives about how you met and how your relationship led to marriage, said, it's best you prepare for these interviews.
So on the drive up, we tried to remember everything... he met my parents for the first time in November of 2001. I met his in September 2002. Our parents met each other in June??? 2004. We met each other June 12, 2001. We were embarrassed about the fact that most of the time we do laundry every 2 weeks and not once a week, and considered whether it might be okay for us to just SAY we do it (and clean the house, too!) every Saturday. We got outraged about the personal questions. My parents don't even know the real story of our meeting-- why must I tell it to some suited bureaucrat?
Our interview lasted less than 20 minutes. We produced photographs, birth certificates, our marriage license, pay stubs and dozens of forms. We were asked very few questions, and none of them were personal. We left with a red stamp approving us for a green card. It comes in two weeks.
Funny I say "us," when really it's only P. who gets the green card. But after all we've gone through, I kind of want one, too.
2 comments:
Congratulations!! It's so scary how random these interview experiences can be - LWI and I went through the same thing a few years ago, and we had the same kinds of fears, having known other couples who had gotten split up over the stupidest things. But our interview was just as smooth as yours - even though we botched at least one of the questions! The interviewer asked how many different places we'd lived in our city of residence, and in the same breath I said "two" as LWI said "one." I had to elbow him and say "Dear, remember the apartment we JUST LEFT, and the house we JUST MOVED INTO? That'd be two." Amazingly enough, interviewer didn't seem to care about this colossal blunder, and sent us on our merry green-carded way.
I'm so glad that it went well.
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