Roller Coaster Interview

One of our clients recently described part of the Green Card application process as a “Roller Coaster Interview”. There is no doubt that an interview with a CIS officer is extremely stressful for everyone, including couples who have a genuine relationship and who have nothing to hide. Even the most honest couples might misunderstand the officer’s question or suffer a momentary lapse of memory, causing them to give an unacceptable or incorrect answer.

Perhaps a CIS interview is most difficult for a person who has come to the US on a visitor’s visa, and then meets and marries a US citizen within a few months of arriving in the States. The first thought in the CIS officer’s mind is “How can they fall in love and get married in such a short time?”

The answer may be a combination of love and practical considerations. Assuming there is true love, the couple is also aware of the expiration date of the Visitor’s Visa, so a lengthy courtship is not an option. This is something that the CIS officer should consider.

The officer should also realize that in order to get the B2 visa, the foreign spouse had to be approved by the US Consulate abroad. That means the Consulate was reasonably sure that the person would return home when the visa expired, based on a better-than-average income level. In other words, he or she would not be motivated to remain permanently in the US for financial reasons. They get the B2 visa because they have a successful business or high paying job. This means that in some cases they are actually sacrificing a very comfortable income to remain in the US with the person they have come to love.

In fact, the US petitioner often has a lower income than the foreign born spouse, so it is not the foreign born spouse who tends to gain financially from the marriage.

CIS is well aware of the fact that there are sham marriages, and any marriage that does not fit the popular American pattern of love and courtship, is sure to attract the CIS officer’s suspicion. In a way, the officer is put in the position of deciding what “love” is and whether or not the couple married for love or for immigration benefits. Most officers disregard the fact that marriages in America have less than a 50% chance of survival, even among couple who have courted and married according to the American customs. For couples whose relationship is genuine, trying to expose sham marriages by intensive questioning at a Green Card interview is quite unfair. But that is the officer’s job.

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Q. How can couples make sure that their Green Card interview will be successful?
A. There really isn’t any way to be sure of success at the interview. Everything will depend on the officer’s attitude, his understanding or misunderstanding of the interview answers, and the performance of the couple at the interview. However, based on the reports of our successful clients, here are some suggestions that may help:

• Dress nicely for the interview, as if you were going to a job interview. This impresses the officer by your respect for the occasion.
• Prepare a sufficient amount of documentation and photos to prove the genuine nature of your relationship.
• Don’t expect that you and your spouse will always give the same answer to the officer’s questions about factual matters, such as dates and places. You should carefully review all of the events of your relationship and be sure that both of you have the same memories of events and details of your personal life.
• Finally, the most difficult part of your interview performance: Try to show that you have nothing to be afraid of and that you are confident that the officer will see the truth.