Earlier this year my boyfriend, Jose, and I decided to get married. Since Jose is Honduran and I am both a US citizen and an immigration attorney, naturally I brought Jose to work with me to discuss the next steps in securing our future together in the US: applying for his Green Card based on our impending marriage. We met with Protima and Liz, who have many years of experience in marriage-based Green Card cases.

Before beginning the Green Card process we needed to legally marry! Since Jose was already in the US on a student visa with Optional Practical Training (OPT), we were able to start planning our ceremony. (For those foreign nationals not in the US, the blog of the US Embassy in London addressed how best to apply for a Green Card). Ultimately we decided to go to the New York City Clerk’s Office for an intimate ceremony with our immediate families. It was a very special day.

“Are they going to separate us into different rooms and ask us what type of face cream my wife uses?”

This is a common question I am asked when meeting with clients before their marriage-based Green Card interviews. They have clearly watched the movie Green Card and with all the inaccuracies that Hollywood offers, I’m not surprised this is the way people think the typical interview goes. Of course, it’s my job to give as accurate a picture of what to expect in these interviews as possible.

Every US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) District Office—where these marriage-based Green Card interviews are conducted—operates a bit differently, and even within each office, each officer conducting the interview has a different personality and interview style; therefore, every interview is slightly varied. While there are certainly common topics that most officers will usually touch upon, there is no standard set of questions which a person can “look up” before their interview. While asking where a couple met, how long they dated before marriage, whether their families have met, and similar questions, is pretty typical, there are many other questions that may come up as the officer converses with a couple.