Should You Take Your Spouse Along with You to Your Immigration Interview?

Immigration interviews can be just as nerve racking as job interviews, as you sit across the table from an immigration official. As such, would it be helpful to take your spouse along with you to your immigration interview?

Family Sponsorship

If you have gained your status as an immigrant through family sponsorship from your spouse, then they will be expected to be just as involved in the immigration process as you are. That means that although only your name will generally appear on the letter you receive from USICS inviting you to an immigration interview, your spouse is also entitled to come along with you. In fact, just prior to receiving your Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) your spouse must accompany you to your final immigration interview so that you can prove to immigration officials that your marriage to your spouse is perfectly legal and above board, unless of course, if your spouse has died just before you could be granted your new status. Officials will be more concerned with asking the immigrant questions about themselves, but they will also expect the spouse to corroborate anything that is said in the interview room.

Legally Separated/ Divorced

Couples who are legally separated or who are going through a divorce will not necessarily be expected to both attend the immigration interview. But they will need to prove that the marriage was legally binding at the time they got married and that they have not commited marriage fraud, also commonly referred to as a marriage of convenience. If USCIS have any suspicion about the validity of the marriage, they will then investigate any of their suspicions and the immigrant could face deportation if found guilty of marriage fraud, thereby cancelling any benefits that they have been able to obtain fraudulently.

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