Five Additional Topics Covered at the Green Card Marriage Interview (With Questions).

For most, if not all marriage based green card applications, the marriage interview is an inevitability. As a part of the application process, USCIS immigration officers are tasked with assessing the bona fides of your marriage, i.e., whether you're in an authentic or sham marriage with your partner. In addition to reviewing the evidences submitted to prove the validity of your marriage, the officer will conduct an in-person interview that will act as the final inspection of your relationship and whether, all things considered, the application should be approved or denied.

Several months ago, we discussed the five most common topics, often addressed at the marriage interview, which covered: (1) development of your relationship, (2) details about your wedding, (3) characteristics/details about your spouse, (4) finances/marital property/liabilities, and (5) daily routines. In this post, we're addressing five more topics that USCIS can cover at the interview. While it's unpredictable which of the many areas they can cover, when combining our last post and this one, you can expect to have the ten most common topics that are likely to be addressed.

WORK

For this topic the questions will focus on you and your spouses respective careers. Whether you are both gainfully employed or one spouse is a stay-at-home parent, you can anticipate a series of questions related to what your working lives look like.

What does your spouse do for work, i.e., what is their profession?
What is the name of the company where your spouse works?
What is your spouse's job title?
What is your spouse's annual salary?
Did your spouse obtain a degree in order to do their job? Where did they go to school?
Does your spouse travel for work (domestic and/or international)?
Does your spouse drive or commute to work?
What was your spouse's last job before their current one?
How many years has your spouse been working at their current job?
Have you met any of your spouse's co-workers?
Were any of your co-workers at your wedding?

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

This topic can often overlap with the daily routine questions raised in our previous post. The focus will be on whether or not you are living together as a married couple or living apart. Also, there will be questions related to your neighborhood, neighbors, locale, details about your home, etc.

Are you currently living together under the same household?
If you are living apart, why are you not living together?
Where are you living? What is your address?
Does anyone else live with you at home?
Do you live in a home, apartment, condo, coop?
Do you have a mortgage on your home?
Are both your names on the deed to your home?
Are both your names on the lease agreement?
Are you friendly with your neighbors?
What are the names of the local schools in your neighborhood?
Where do you typically get your groceries?
Do you have a favorite restaurant in your neighborhood?

IMPORTANT DATES

For these questions, the USCIS officer will want to make sure you and your spouse are familiar with important dates that you share together, especially anniversaries, holidays, children's birthdays, etc.

What is your wedding anniversary date?
What is the date of your first date together?
What is the date you became engaged?
What is your spouse's birthday?
How do you celebrate New Years Eve, 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving?
Do you spend the holidays with friends and family?
What did you do together for the most recent holiday?
What are your children's birthdays?
How did you celebrate your son/daughter's first birthday?
What was the date of your most recent vacation together?

CHILDREN

If you and your spouse have children together, be prepared to discuss any and all details pertaining to your children. Having children together as a married couple is often a pretty strong factor in favor of suggesting a bona fide marriage, so you may not be heavily questioned when it comes to this topic, but it's better to be prepared regardless.

Do you have children together?
What are your children's names and dates of birth?
Which spouse takes the kids to school or do you share responsibility?
Are your children in day care?
Who watches your children when you are at work?
What are your children's favorite foods, colors, activities?
In which hospital did you or your spouse, deliver your children?
Which adoption agency did you adopt your child through?
What made you decide to adopt?
What school does your child attend?
What grades are your children in?
How are they doing in school?
Are your children involved in any after-school activities?
Which parent helps the children with homework, studying, after school activities?

FAMILY

With this topic, the USCIS officer is looking to get a bigger picture of both you and your spouse's families and how often you interact with them.

How many siblings does your spouse have?
What are the names of your spouse's siblings, parents?
How often do you spend time with family?
What do holidays look like with your family? Do you split time between families?
How often do your parents see your children?
Are you familiar with your spouses aunts, uncles, cousins?
Are your spouse's grandparents living?
What is your spouse's relationship with his/her/their parents?

Depending on the evidences that were submitted with your application, the immigration officer may be inclined to only ask a few questions. However, if you only submitted sparse or questionable evidence, be prepared to answer a series of questions that will dig at the legitimacy of the relationship. Regardless, you may not know the answers to every single question, which is okay.

If you have any questions about the green card marriage interview or the green card process in general, please do not hesitate to give us a call at (212) 547-8857 or schedule a consultation online and we'd be happy to discuss these issues further and help you reach a resolution. Our experienced immigration attorneys are here to provide the advice you need.

Disclaimer: This blog post and similar posts are not to be considered as providing legal advice. The discussion here is meant for educational and informational purposes only and shall not create an attorney-client relationship with the readers of this content.