Marriage green card interview at San Fernando Valley CA field office — approved after the interview (July 2026)

Approved after a very unusual interview at the San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth) field office. I was on F-1 with STEM OPT, no overstays and no unauthorized work. My spouse is a U.S. citizen. We met in early 2024, moved in together in September 2024, got engaged in October 2025 and married in December 2025. Our lawyer submitted the application on April 8, 2026, but did not come to the interview — it was just us. The appointment was for 8:15 AM and we got to the parking lot at 7:40. Check-in was quick and friendly; they took my photo and fingerprints and we were done by 7:53, with a ticket and a warning that the order would be random. Officers started calling tickets around 8:30, roughly in order, then skipped us. They seem to call people in waves. We were finally called at 9:30 — and of course I had just gone to the restroom, so my husband had to phone me and I hurried back. An awkward start. We were in her office for about an hour. Afterwards she said the system was having technical problems and sent us back to the waiting room until IT fixed it, saying she would call us back to sign. While waiting we got a USCIS notification saying our interview had been cancelled. An hour later she came out, said we could go, that no signature was needed and not to worry about the cancellation notice. No receipt, just "wait for a response in the mail in 4-6 weeks". The next morning at 10:15 AM I got a notification: interview scheduled for today at 11 AM — 45 minutes' notice. We work far from the field office and had none of our documents with us. Our lawyer said to go anyway, even late. We left work, went home, changed, grabbed the documents and arrived at noon. Security gave us a hard time because we had no physical notice, but let us in after checking inside. The officer was at lunch, so we waited about another hour — and in the end she only needed us to sign. She gave me a receipt saying the case was under review. The I-130 was approved on July 22 and the I-485 on July 29, 2026.

Submitted with the application: our lease, renters insurance, Costco membership, a few flights and hotels, photos together, plus the other basic documents. We were still in the middle of merging our finances at that point, so we had no joint account yet. At the interview she asked the petitioner directly for evidence of a bona fide marriage. He was thrown by the question and struggled to get documents out of the binder — there was a plastic screen between us and her, so there was barely any space to work with. We only had the first page of our lease and she needed the last page with the signatures, which visibly annoyed her. What we did hand over: joint tax return (she really liked this one), life insurance and pension beneficiary designations, Zelle transactions, and lots of photos. She scanned everything except the photos.

Bring the signed pages, not just the first page. Our lease was missing the signature page and that was the one thing that annoyed her. Make sure the petitioner can find and explain the evidence too. The first question went to my husband, and since I had put the binder together he was lost — it made an awkward start worse. Wear shoes that are easy to take off at security. My husband struggled with his and another couple got ahead of us; they were called about an hour before we were. Eat before your appointment. No food or drinks are allowed inside — there's a water fountain, so a reusable bottle is probably fine. We didn't eat until we left and felt awful. Plan for the whole day, not for 15 minutes. We were told this office was small and the officers were chill, and expected to be out by 9:30. We were there 4+ hours, in her office for an hour, and saw one couple get separated — something our lawyer said almost never happens. If you get a cancellation notice or a same-day re-interview notice, don't panic. Ours was a system glitch mid-interview; the next day's "interview at 11 AM" with 45 minutes' notice turned out to be nothing more than a signature.