You’re a U.S. citizen. Your spouse is not. They are in the United States legally at this time — on a work visa or a school visa, for instance — but that’s going to run out. You want to use your marriage to get them a green card so that they can stay with you indefinitely.
The government has this program in place to keep families together. If you have a real, romantic marriage and a true relationship, they’ll likely grant your spouse the status needed to stay married. However, they are aware that people try to cheat the system. They want to make sure it’s not a sham marriage just to get that green card.
This is a long and rather complex process, but much of it just consists of asking you questions about your spouse, about your relationship or about your lives together. If you can’t answer them, it shows that you don’t know each other as well as the government feels that a married couple should. They can quickly sort out couples who actually have a relationship and those who are just cooperating to get the paperwork.
Potential questions
Interviews can contain any number of questions. The following are not specific questions you are guaranteed to face, but they are possible questions that could come up. They help to show you what type of interview to expect. You don’t need to memorize them, but it can help to read them and mentally prepare yourself to answer calmly and accurately.
A few possible questions include:
- Where did you meet?
- Where did you go on your first date?
- What year was that date?
- Where does your spouse work?
- What time do they usually get up to go to work?
- Do they usually eat the same breakfast or take their coffee a certain way?
- What hobbies do they have?
- What books do they like to read or what shows do they like to watch?
- What is your favorite type of food to cook together or to get when you go out to dinner?
- When is your spouse’s birthday?
- The last time you celebrated that birthday together, what did you do?
- What was the last disagreement you had?
- What type of music does your spouse like?
- What is your spouse’s favorite color/food/drink/movie/sports team?
- Do you know your spouse’s phone number?
- Where did your spouse grow up?
- What time do you both go to bed?
- What are your plans for the future?
- What type of home furnishings do you have?
As you can see, some of these require far more accurate answers than others. If you say your spouse gets up at 6:30 a.m. and they say 7:00 a.m., that’s not going to fail the interview. However, if you say they like to sleep in until noon and they say they get up at 5:00 a.m. to go running, that’s a red flag.
Getting ready
This interview is a big deal. If you are getting ready for yours, make sure you know what steps to take.
