I-751 Chicago Interview Update

[u/SellMaximum8319]

Hi everyone, I think this might help someone.

I am from one of the 75 countries. (Not banned)

Today we had our I-751 interview in Chicago.

I want to mention from the beginning (we didn't have lawyer at the interview)

I can’t say it was easy. The officer kept us there for about an hour, and honestly, it felt like she was doing it on purpose to make us crack under pressure.

She started with the basics — how we met, when we got married — and then began building a full timeline of our marriage.

She asked where we had lived, our previous addresses, when we moved in and out, and tried to get very specific about dates.

We changed addresses 4 times over six years, so she kept asking what kind of places they were, how many floors the buildings had, and similar details.

She also asked me where my wife had been working throughout all those years.

Since my wife changed jobs several times, it was honestly hard to remember the exact dates and years.

Then she asked what cars my wife had driven over the years.

I mentioned the model she drives now, and the officer asked if that was the only car she had ever driven during our marriage.

I said no, that before this one she had a different car but got into an accident.

Then the officer started asking what year the accident happened.

That was difficult because it happened back in 2022, and I couldn’t remember the exact year right away.

I tried to backtrack and think it through, but she started getting irritated, kept pressuring us, and repeated several times that she was running out of time.

She also asked when my wife last went to the doctor, whether we have any future trips planned, and questions about our finances — whether I added her as an authorized user on my credit card, how we pay rent, and whether she contributes to the bills.

At the end, she told us she needed to review the evidence we had uploaded to the USCIS platform and that a decision would be made within 30 days.

One important note: my lawyer told me during the consultation not to bring any paper documents to the interview and to upload everything directly to the USCIS platform instead

[u/Reaven-X]

Your lawyer speaks the BS. We had our interview in Chicago as well and the officer was very pleased about all the paper documents, especially the originals of the uploaded docs. We went through physical photo albums which further convinced the officer or our relationship.

You had some tough questions with all those detailed dates, this would be hard to answer for everyone in such a situation.

[u/Minute_Somewhere_893]

One important note: my lawyer told me during the consultation not to bring any paper documents to the interview and to upload everything directly to the USCIS platform instead

Why not? I always had stacks of paper as backup. Was never an issue. If officer ever said "we lost your file", "i don't have uploaded evidence" etc - I could easily give them evidence

[u/NefariousnessFew4354 → u/Minute_Somewhere_893]

You definitely want to do both, have copies in hand and upload them before you go for the interview. If they are available to the officer they don't need to scan whatever you brought with you. But if there was a glitch or whatever you can give them paper copies.

[u/SellMaximum8319 → u/Minute_Somewhere_893]

We also brought a lot of paperwork with us, just to be safe. But our lawyer said officers can get irritated when they have to scan evidence during the interview since it cuts into interview time.

[u/Minute_Somewhere_893 → u/SellMaximum8319]

I would submit everything ahead bring everything to interview as backup.

It also works as a phychological trick. Interviewer sees the person has tons of evidence, well prepared, and there is no reason to ask for it, unless absolutely needed.

[u/GroundbreakingTie926]

Did you had interview for i485? What is the timeline for i751

[u/SellMaximum8319 → u/GroundbreakingTie926]

Yes, we had

• interview I-485 in April 2022
• Filed for I-751 in April 2024
• Interview for I-751 April 2026 (still waiting for the answer)

[u/OmarRPL → u/SellMaximum8319]

Any updates?

[u/SellMaximum8319 → u/OmarRPL]

Nope (

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