My I-526 is approved and now I have to go for consulate interview. What do they want to know? How can I prepare for this and what are they going to do during the interview?
The main purpose of your interview is to determine your admissibility into the United States. By approval of I-526, your source of funds have already been reviewed. You should also be familiar with your I-526 application along with the project. You should provide original civil documentation of your immediate family members. It is recommended that you contact your I-526 filing attorney to help you prepare for the consular process.
Your attorney should prepare you for the interview. If he or she does not, then you must know the details of your I-526 petition and project details. You also need to submit civil documents required along with your Immigrant Visa application and each of your immediate family members. It is highly recommended that you retain an immigration attorney to help you with preparation for the consular processing step.
I would recommend reaching out to the attorney who assisted you with the I-526 process for guidance. In general the consulate may ask questions about your source of funds, your immigration history, the EB-5 investment. The NVC and embassies provide detailed lists of documents to prepare and take to the interview as well. If you do not have an attorney you may want to engage one to assist you with the details.
The consulate will verify documents so you should try to be consistent with your application. You should consult with your immigration attorney who filed I-526 for you.
Congratulations that your petition was approved! If your attorney is not preparing you for the interview (as they should do) you should call them. Otherwise I think the best guide for you to rely on is all the evidence you''ve provided to get your petition approved first of all. And then look to the visa application itself. The visa application will show you what the purpose of the visa interview is. It''s not per se about your eligibility to come into the U.S. in the category you''re seeking (EB-5). That decision was made when your petition was approved (although it is not set in stone). At the interview here they are looking to see if there is any reason to bar you from coming into the country. Are you among those classes of people from whom the government has a duty to protect the public? It''s really that simple. You should look at all those questions on the application. Those questions basically encapsulate the various grounds of inadmissibility (the reasons to keep someone out) that the law provides for. In short: no misrepresentations (dishonesty)- or criminal history, no history of immigration problems, no political extremism, terrorism, drugs, guns, bad history hurting people in your own country, etc. People often think the questions are silly on these applications however by design they are about being consistent. A single serious inconsistency on anything stated at any time to any immigration official or on any form could render you inadmissible. I say all this but you really need to actually be represented and talk to a good immigration attorney.
I would ask the person that prepared your I-526 to send you a summary of what was filed with USCIS. The interview should only be about your admissibility into the U.S. since your source of funds has already been reviewed. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I suggest you call us or any experienced immigration counsel to prepare. This is a very important interview.
You should be familiar with the materials in your I-526 petition and the project. Because the visa interview mainly focuses on admissibility rather than on re-adjudication of your I-526 petition, you should provide original documentation of your relationship with your family members, all of your and your dependents'' criminal clearance records and vaccination records, and proof that you and your family members have never overstayed in the U.S. before you applied for I-526 petition.
You should be generally familiar with the business plan and the terms and location of your EB-5 investment. If you invested in a regional center, they can let you know what questions have been asked of their clients at other immigrant visa interviews. If you have an attorney, he or she should prepare you for the interview and let you know what to expect. You should be prepared to answer questions regarding your immigration history and any previous travel to the United States. You should have all of your original documents or be sure that they were submitted to the NVC. You should also be able to explain your source of funds, i.e., how you lawfully obtained the capital you invested into your EB-5 investment. If you used an escrow account that was conditioned upon your I-526 petition being approved, you should have a bank statement to show that the funds were transferred out of escrow to the EB-5 project upon approval of your I-526 petition.
Upon approval of the I-526 Petition, the National Visa Center in the United States will send instructions for information and documentation to be supplied by you. The requested information and documentation will refer to personal biographical information in respect to your family members. The preparation for the interview should be guided by your EB-5 attorney. The questions which may be asked by the U.S. Consulate concern the proof and time of your investment funds being released from escrow into the new commercial enterprise. Questions may also be asked of you in regard to your intention to permanently reside in in the U.S. Currently, the U.S. consulate is asking for resumes for the principal investor and spouse if applicable.
Your attorney should be able to advise you regarding the consulate interview. If you do not have an attorney, please read the interview notice carefully which usually indicates what the consulate needs you to bring to the interview. Normally, you should bring the documents evidencing your investment, documents evidencing your source of the investment funds, your I-526 approval notice, medical examination results (if any) and etc.
The Consulate officer will want to verify what was presented with the I-526 petition, including but not limited to how much was invested, where the project is, etc. The attorney who helped you with your I-526 petition should help you prepare for the interview.
After the I-526 Petition is approved, if you are not in the U.S. you will have to process for an immigrant visa application through the U.S. Consulate abroad and be interviewed. In order to prepare for this interview, you should thoroughly review the I-526 Petition and its supporting documents to make sure you understand the basis for your petition and approval, as well as the business structure, and business plans. You should also review the material with your immigration attorney to go over potential pitfalls or complex issues before the interview so that you are fully prepared. The Consulate is looking to verify that the purpose for which you are coming to the U.S. is legitimate and truthful.
The Consulate wants to know how you found the investment & what you know about what you invested your money in. There may be some source of funds questions. Excludability issues should have been reviewed by your attorney before you even started your case.
They can ask about anything on the application and anything generally about admissibility into the U.S. such as criminal background, diseases, etc.
Interviews can be case specific depending on your personal history. Your lawyer is the best person to prep you for the interview who is familiar with the case.
