Top 3 Mistakes To Avoid Before Green Card Interview
Are you worried about your upcoming green card interview? Are you worried that you or your spouse might not be granted the green card because the interview may not go as smoothly as you would like? Correct these mistakes before they happen to make sure you leave with what you came for.
For what might be considered the most important interview of their lives, it is surprising to hear about the many couples that enter the green card interview having already committed some key mistakes, even before the interview begins.
Avoid these mistakes and increase your chances of leaving the interview with your green card.
Mistake # 1: Failure to prepare for the interview
Many couples believe that the green card interview can be entered into without any prior preparation if they simply answer all the questions honestly. While being honest at the interview is a given, both morally and legally, it may not always be enough to ensure a successful outcome at the interview.
Spending some time getting familiar with the types of questions you are most likely to face at the interview will guarantee that no one question will catch you off guard. And unlike a multiple-choice test you may have taken at school or for a government job, you cannot simply guess what the answer is or skip it and come back to it later. If you are asked a question by the interviewing USCIS officer and are unable to answer it or you seem unsure what to say, your interview could very quickly unravel even if you are telling the truth.
The solution is to prepare for the green card interview just as you would for any performance event such as a test, a job interview, or a speech.
Mistake # 2: Failure to organize your paperwork and documents before the interview
We have all seen the absent-minded professor or teacher who enters his classroom with a briefcase half-open with various papers of all shapes and sizes sticking out, a shirt half-tucked in, and head full of hair that looks like it hasn’t been combed in a few days.
When the professor reaches his desk he opens his briefcase and then proceeds to weed through the mess of papers looking for his lecture notes for the class. The class waits patiently and after a few minutes the professor digs out what he was looking for and takes it to the lectern where he begins his lecture.
While a classroom of students intent on getting a good grade might patiently wait as a professor digs through a stack of papers in his briefcase, the USCIS officer at your green card interview will not be as accommodating. Having your paperwork and documents in order before you enter the interview will be much appreciated by the officer. The officer most probably has a full case load and can’t afford to waste time idly waiting as you shuffle through your file of paperwork looking for a particular document.
Since you want to use every tool available to win the approval of the interviewing officer, to get him or her to like you and your spouse, don’t lose points unnecessarily by testing their patience. Simply take some time before the interview to organize your documents and have them ready in case you are asked for them at the interview. The interviewing officer will certainly appreciate it and be more likely to view you as a responsible and credible applicant. This can only help your case when it comes time to decide whether you and your spouse will be leaving the interview with a green card.
Mistake # 3: Treating the Green Card Interview as a mere formality
At one extreme there is the married couple that views the upcoming green card interview with extreme dread and anxiety, as though they have an appointment with a verbal firing squad.
At the other extreme there is the couple who feels absolutely no anxiety at all, believing that if they simply arrive on time, tell the truth, and hold hands during the interview to show the USCIS officer that they are happily married, then they will surely walk out with the green card. No big deal.
While neither couple is correct is their thinking–they are both at unproductive extremes–the couple that shudders at the thought of having their marriage questioned and scrutinized is at least going to be motivated to do something about their state of anxiety. They will find a way to prepare themselves for the interview, not just to alleviate their feelings of anxiety regarding the interview, but to arm themselves with information that will increase their chances of performing well at the interview.
The couple that believes honesty and love alone will carry the day at the interview is mistaken. The green card interview is as much about preparation and performance as it is about truth and love. Believing that all one has to do is sit down, hold hands, and speak from the heart is headed for disaster. The stakes are too high to enter this interview with such an attitude. There are no do-overs when it comes to green card interviews.
