Howdy!

Hey everybody,

I had an old account a while back in 2012 but don't remember the email or the username I used, so I made this account. Anyways just wanted to share my story for all and that we all must continue to fight for our freedoms and rights!

My name is Joe (anonymous) I'm 29 year Mexican Male from Sacramento, CA

I was brought here when I was 2 years old without inspection from San Diego to Sacramento. Growing up I considered myself a pretty normal kid; had sleep overs, played video games, sports, hung out with friends, pretty much any regular kid would do.

It wasn't until when I was about 15 years old, all my friends started getting their driving permits and when I asked my parents if they could enroll me for driving lessons they said they didn't want me driving at such a young age, I was upset but I shrugged it off. When I turned 16 I asked them again and they said I was still too young and that's when I knew there was some BS, they finally told me a week after my 16th birthday that we were here illegally and undocumented.

At first I was confused about the whole situation and I told them that there has to be something I could do or apply, but with research I quickly found out there was nothing. So I spent the next several years working under the table, finished community college but that's it, smoked weed and got drunk and partied a lot.

In 2008 and 2012 I campaigned for the best president in US History, Barack Obama! I strongly believed in him, change and hope! And in June 2012 he signed and EO and gave all of dreamers hope and actual real life to live, DACA! I stopped my party ways and got approved for DACA, I started working for a great company and shortly there after I met the love of my life, Smith (Anonymous) we dated for over a year and got married.

I kept renewing my DACA because we didn't have the money for a lawyer and the fees for LPR. Watching the 2016 presidental elections really made us think and made us act that we should look for a more permanent solution, so we digged into our savings and applied for permanent residence for me. The process was lengthy but worth it! Had to take a immunization shots that i apparently didn't get at a younger age, pass a physical and test for TB. All passed and we had our interview in December and got the green light that we were legit!

On 01/08/17 I got approved and on 01/14/17 I got my green card in the mail!!! We are so relived that we don't have to worry about renewing every 2 years and we can finally live in peace and work on our future!

The past 4 years wouldn't have been possible without the action taken by President Obama, even my husband said it would be highly unlikely we would've met because we lived over 50 miles apart and our job brought us together. I forever will be grateful and forever will Barack Obama be my President!

Thanks for reading my short story. I think I rambled enough lol. Good luck to you all and believe in the change we can accomplish together!

Thanks for sharing your story. Very inspiring. Hope you don't mind some questions since I'm looking to potentially get married and am in a same sex relationship too...

How was the interview process? Was it vigorous in terms of the questioning and level of detail they wanted in the responses? Did they question anything about fact that you were in a same sex marriage or was that brought up somehow?

What did you use to prove your marriage was legit? Were you two already living together? Did you have joint bank accounts?

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I had a lawyer do all the paper work for me from start to finish because I entered without inspection and I'm a company manager and don't know the first thing about filing important immigration paperwork and didn't want to risk making mistakes and being denied. My lawyer charged me $6,000 ($3,500 for attorney and $2,500 for my green card process) and my lawyer is very good, one of the best in my area and knows how to do it right (He also helped me with my DACA)

So before you even get an interview you do the basic things you already probably know, like sending in application with money and you get a notification letter (you'll have to include A LOT more than when doing DACA;
- marriage certificate
- document showing your petitioner is a US citizen
- a closed letter from a USCIS health doctor showing your in good health (I had to do a physical, TB test and get immunization shots that I never heard of before)
- proof that our marriage was real and not intended for immigration purposes like photos, joint accounts, rental lease or owned home, IDs with the same address helps too, utility bills, letters or gift receipts sent to each other, car or health insurance or anything else that you can show to proof it's legitimate. I did all of the above and thankfully I have better insurance than he did because he's enrolled under me and it showed that I was very important for his health.
- I think there's other things but the above for sure it super important!

Then you'll do your biometrics again and all good. They'll send you an EAD good for 1 year and within 4-6 weeks they'll schedule your interview. (I used 245-I to adjust my status without leaving the country or else I would've gone to Ciudad Juarez in MX)

Make sure to take all originals to interview, So when I arrived to my interview my lawyer was already waiting for my husband I. We checked through security and went up to the waiting area, we sat and chatted until our names got called. When we got called in (thankfully it was a female officer which made my husband feel 100x better! Because we think a male officer might have been more rude or something I don't know lol) before sitting we had to swear under oath and right away she was super nice and very respectful, the very first thing they asked me was how I'm allowed to do my interview in the US and said that it was through the 245-I, after that it was routine questions (google: green card through marriage interview questions) interview was no more than 25 minutes? She ended with saying that she has approved our interview and she stamped a paper and I signed it. And that she will submit my paperwork to the Midwest and I'll have decision made in a couple of weeks!

My lawyer said that my interview went very well but has had some cases in which the immigration officer would ask more questions than usual and made the interview more difficult than it should've been.

If you have anymore questions or anything I'll make sure to reply. Good luck and keep us posted on your process!

Thanks for taking the time to provide all that info. Very helpful and comforting to know you went through it successfully!

Congrats!

hello good day. Am so happy for you. I came to American at the age of 11 years old without inspection. They said it's hard for me to get my documents. I am marry to my wife but she abandon the case and don't want to help me anymore. So now I found a lawyer n he help me get my work permit so far because he file for spousal abandonment. But I don't think he file the 245-I. He file a waiver and the 485-I package along with the work permit.. do u know if he have to file for the 245-I because I don't want to leave the country.

Did you do advanced parole or applied for the hardship waiver?

I believe you can file for 245-I if you were physically and can prove you were in the USA before DEC 2000? My father was the one that was approved and I was the beneficiary through him because I was underage only 13 years old.

245-I through my father