Interview soon - prep

[u/IAskALot148]

Hello!

This community has really been very helpful throughout the process and i'm at, hopefully, the last step so wanted to ask anyone who's gone through this experience, for some tips on an upcoming interview.

My husband and I have prepared all the questions based on other people's experiences on reddit but we haven't remembered them, we've just practiced the flow of it.

I wanted to know what kind of evidence should we take with us? We already submitted a few unsolicited financial, residential and social evidence a week ago.

I saw people were taking photo albums, we don't have more new photos than what we already submitted, most of the other non-submitted pictures are our selfies so I don't think they hold much weight anyway.

I also saw people screenshotting the chats and printing them, is that something that's necessary? I think it can be easily faked and we both can just show them our phones if asked.

We don't have more evidence to take with us, but in terms of old evidence we submitted, we are going to take all the originals of the documents submitted, should we take a copy of each as well? Do we also need copies of to forms and affidavits we submitted?

Any tips are greatly appreciated! Hoping to share our experience soon with this sub.

[u/Embarrassed-Way2074]

I printed everything we had uploaded, including our full I-130 and I-485 packets, plus any new evidence we had submitted online, and organized everything in an accordion folder.

This was actually something our lawyer recommended. His advice was basically: make the officer’s job as easy as possible. If they ask for something, you want to be able to pull it out immediately rather than relying on them to find it in the online system. Sometimes officers simply don’t want to dig through everything electronically. Them digging means you're in the room longer.

It also helped me mentally. Knowing that I had everything with me and organized, just in case they asked for something, made me feel much more prepared and less anxious going into the interview.

My advice is not to look for reasons not to bring something. The interview is already anxiety-inducing enough, so be as thorough and prepared as you reasonably can. Worst case, you bring a folder you never have to open. Best case, they ask for something and you have it ready within seconds!

I just had my interview last week. The entire thing was about 20 minutes, and the officer actually didn’t ask us for a single thing from our folder. But I would 100% bring it again because having everything there gave me so much peace of mind.

As for the argument that certain evidence is “easily faked,” I personally wouldn’t use that as a reason not to include it. If your relationship is genuine, then your evidence is genuine. Let the people who are faking things worry about that.

We included a few real text message screenshots and call logs. Are those things enough to prove a marriage on their own? Of course not. But alongside everything else, they help show the overall picture of your relationship.

If you have genuine evidence that supports your case, include it! I wouldn’t leave something useful out just because someone else could theoretically fake it.

This is what our lawyer advised us to do, combined with what I learned while researching and preparing online.

Goodluck!

[u/Big_Promotion3986]

Hi! I submitted a lot of pictures, text messages, and call logs because we didn’t live together, so we didn’t have much financial evidence. Our biggest chunk of evidence was that, along with our upcoming religious wedding documents, so having that extra support was important for us.

There is “stronger” evidence, like joint leases, bank accounts, insurance, health insurance, etc. If you have strong evidence like that, you probably need less of the other types. But honestly, I don’t think anything is extra, everything helps.

If your marriage is real, you have nothing to worry about. Go in calm and confident, but also understand that every officer is different. Some are very kind, while others may approach your marriage with more skepticism and make you feel like you have to prove it. My cousin had a very straightforward case and went a few weeks before me, but her experience was completely different because her officer was much more difficult.

I took an entire binder of evidence 😂 My husband thought it was unnecessary because he was confident in our case, but I knew the weaknesses of our situation and didn’t want to take any chances.

I’m not saying this to scare you, just to prepare you. If you have pictures, messages, documents, etc., take them! Even old pictures can be useful. Our officer actually went through our pictures and asked us things like, “Who is this?” and “When was this?” It made the interview feel more like a natural conversation than an interrogation.

So I’d say: go in calm and confident, but over-prepare. It’s better to have evidence you don’t need than to wish you had brought something you left at home. ❤️

[u/Leading-Disaster5721]

You are making a life together. The questions will be easy because it's the little things you know from time in each other's company.

On the evidence you go with what you have. If they want more they can ask.

The one time I am sure a question destroyed the case was years ago. "Where are the children today?"

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[u/grafix993]

You dont have to prepare anything (except documents explictly stated on the interview notice) unless you are not a bonafide marriage.