For a person applying for a Green Card from inside the United States, the interview comes after the fingerprint appointment and before the decision. A notice from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) gives the date, the time and the field office, and the applicant appears in person to answer questions under oath.
In every case, the officer starts from the answers on the application form. A marriage case then depends on the relationship, and an employment case depends on the job behind the petition. USCIS did not change who is interviewed in 2026, but a May 2026 policy memo tells officers to treat every approval as a matter of discretion.
Key takeaways
- At a Green Card interview, a USCIS officer asks the applicant under oath about the answers on Form I-485 and, in a marriage case, about the couple’s life.
- USCIS decides on interview waivers case by case, and the groups it may consider include parents of US citizens.
- The applicant brings the originals of every document filed with the application, and in a family case the relative who filed the petition brings theirs too.
- A May 2026 USCIS memo lets officers deny an eligible applicant after weighing the factors in the case. Most applications filed on or after September 18, 2026 also go through a new public charge review.
What the Green Card interview is
The Green Card interview is a meeting at a USCIS field office where an officer checks, under oath, the information in a pending application to adjust status. Adjustment of status is the process of becoming a lawful permanent resident (a Green Card holder) without leaving the United States, and its application is Form I-485.
The interview lets USCIS confirm the facts it needs to decide whether the applicant is eligible. Applicants who live abroad are interviewed at a US embassy or consulate instead, under State Department procedures.
Who has to attend
When USCIS schedules an interview, the applicant attends, and in a family case the relative who filed the petition generally has to attend too. That relative is the petitioner. The petitioner is the US citizen or permanent resident who filed Form I-130 (the Petition for Alien Relative).
Derivatives (a spouse or child applying through the same case) must also appear at a scheduled interview, whatever the category. USCIS can excuse a petitioning spouse who serves in the military, or a US citizen spouse who is in prison, though the applicant still has to attend. An officer can also excuse an applicant or a petitioner who is ill, but only with a supervisor’s approval.
When USCIS waives the interview
USCIS can decide that a case needs no interview, but it makes that decision case by case, and no applicant has a right to a waiver. The USCIS Policy Manual chapter on interviews names the groups for whom officers may consider a waiver:
- parents of US citizens
- unmarried children under 21 of US citizens
- unmarried children under 14 of permanent residents
- applicants who are clearly ineligible
For the two groups of children, the waiver works only when the child filed alone or when every family member filing together also qualifies. USCIS may also waive an interview in a category that is not on the list.
Even for the listed groups, USCIS holds an interview when the file raises a question the documents cannot settle. Examples are doubt about the applicant’s identity, a criminal record, a fraud concern, or an entry without inspection (crossing into the country without being checked at a border post).
What questions are asked at a Green Card interview?
Most questions come from the applicant’s own Form I-485, which the officer goes through under oath, and from the facts the category requires the applicant to prove. The officer decides which questions a case needs, so two interviews in the same category can look quite different.
What the officer needs is a truthful answer, in the applicant’s own words and in line with what was filed.
Questions about the application
Form I-485 asks for the applicant’s names, date and place of birth, last arrival in the United States and Form I-94 (the arrival and departure record). It also asks for every address and every job or school of the last five years, and for the applicant’s parents, marriages and children.
The officer can ask the applicant to confirm any of these answers out loud. These questions are examples, not a complete list:
- “Where do you live now, and since when?” The officer compares the answer with the address history on the form, so any move since filing belongs in the answer.
- “Where do you work, and what do you do there?” The answer is checked against the employment history, and a new job since filing belongs in it too.
- “When did you last enter the United States, and on what visa?” The answer shows how the applicant was admitted, which matters for eligibility.
Travel after filing can put the application at risk. Leaving the United States while the application is pending, without advance parole (a travel permit requested on Form I-131), generally makes USCIS treat the application as abandoned. Some visa holders are exempt, for example H-1B and L workers who keep their status and return on a valid visa.
Eligibility and background questions
Part 9 of the form asks yes-or-no questions about the grounds that can make a person inadmissible (barred from receiving a Green Card). They cover membership in organizations, earlier visa refusals, work without authorization, violations of a visa’s terms, arrests and crimes, and removal from the United States.
The form asks about every arrest or citation anywhere in the world, even one that led to no charge. For each one, the applicant also files certified police and court records, so the officer can ask what happened and how the case ended.
Applications mailed or filed online on or after September 18, 2026 use a revised edition of the form (dated 09/18/26). Its Part 9 also asks about household size, income, assets, debts, and education and skills. It asks about any means-tested public benefit received (a government benefit paid according to income, such as food stamps).
These answers go into the public charge review, the test of whether a person is likely to depend on government support, and the officer can ask about any of them.
Marriage-based questions
In a marriage case, most questions test whether the marriage is bona fide, which means the couple married to share a life and not only to obtain a Green Card. Officers commonly ask how and when the couple met, about daily routines and living arrangements, about family involvement, and about important dates.
These questions are examples, not a complete list. An officer can ask about any part of the couple’s life that helps show the marriage is real:
- “How and where did you first meet?” The officer is looking for the couple’s real history, told in the applicant’s own words.
- “When did you decide to get married, and who came to the wedding?” The dates and names should match the marriage record and the rest of the file.
- “What does a normal weekday look like for each of you?” The answer shows whether the couple shares a home and a daily life.
Officers look for a believable picture of a shared life, and rehearsed answers can hurt the case. Our guide to the marriage Green Card explains how the case is built before the interview.
Employment-based questions
In an employment case that depends on a job offer, the officer can ask about that job and whether it still exists. That is because the case rests on the employer’s Form I-140, the immigrant petition the employer filed for the worker.
An applicant who files Form I-485 after the I-140 has been approved includes Supplement J. The supplement confirms that the job offer is still valid, or it asks to move the case to a new job. That move uses the job portability rule, which lets a worker whose application has been pending for 180 days or more switch to a new job in the same or a similar occupation.
Applicants who file both forms together submit Supplement J later, when USCIS asks for it, which can happen at any point before the decision.
Questions such as “Who is your employer?” and “Have you changed jobs since you filed?” are examples of how an officer may check the job offer. Applicants with a national interest waiver (NIW) or in the extraordinary ability category (EB-1A) do not file Supplement J, because their cases do not depend on a specific job offer.
What happens at the interview
The interview takes place at the field office that covers the applicant’s home address. An answer on the form that was wrong, or that has changed since filing, can be corrected during the interview, and the applicant can fill in any question left blank.
When information is added or changed, the applicant signs and dates the form again at the end. The officer can review the original documents the applicant brings, and USCIS can take fingerprints again to confirm identity or update background checks.
Interpreters and attorneys
An applicant who is not comfortable in English can bring an interpreter. The interpreter shows a valid government-issued ID, takes an interpreter’s oath and translates what the officer and the applicant say word for word, without adding opinions or answers of their own.
USCIS generally prefers a neutral interpreter, though an officer may allow a friend or relative to interpret. An officer who speaks the applicant’s language can hold the interview in that language, and an officer can reject an interpreter who is not competent. The same applies to an interpreter whose translation cannot be trusted.
An applicant can also bring an attorney, who files Form G-28 (the notice that an attorney represents the applicant) with the application or at the interview. Since May 18, 2026, the attorney generally has to be in the room, because USCIS no longer allows remote participation in field office interviews except in limited circumstances.
What to bring to the interview
USCIS asks the applicant, and in a family case the relative who filed the petition, to bring the originals of all documents filed with Form I-485. For the petitioner, that means the originals of whatever they supplied for the case. The documents to bring include:
- the interview notice
- passports and official travel documents, including expired ones
- Form I-94, whether or not it has expired
- the original of every other document filed with the application, such as birth and marriage certificates and the court records of any arrest
- for an online filing, the original medical report (Form I-693) and the envelope it came in, which USCIS may review at the interview
- an interpreter, if needed, with their own government-issued ID
Online filers open the envelope from the civil surgeon (the doctor USCIS designates for immigration medical exams) to upload the report, and they keep the original report and the envelope until USCIS decides the case. Paper filers sent the envelope sealed with the application.
What changed for Green Card interviews in 2026
Four USCIS changes in 2026 affect the interview.
| Date | Change | What it means at the interview |
|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2026 | Attorneys and accredited representatives (non-lawyers authorized to represent people in immigration cases) must attend field office interviews in person, except in limited circumstances | A lawyer who would have joined by phone or video now has to come to the office |
| May 21, 2026 | USCIS policy memo treating adjustment of status as a matter of discretion | The officer considers the positive and negative factors in the case, even for an eligible applicant |
| August 5, 2026 | Evidence policy that allows denial without first asking for missing evidence, for applications pending on or filed after that date | A file that lacks the evidence the form instructions require can be denied without a request first |
| September 18, 2026 | Public charge guidance for Forms I-485 filed on or after this date | For those applications, most applicants answer the income, assets and benefits questions, and the officer considers them |
Discretion under the May 2026 memo
The May 2026 memo reminds officers that adjustment of status is an act of discretion, an extraordinary form of relief that is not meant to replace applying for a Green Card through a consulate. Discretion means an officer can deny an applicant who meets every legal requirement, after weighing the positive and negative factors in the case.
In its news release on the memo, USCIS said it would grant adjustment only in extraordinary circumstances. It also said that a person in the country temporarily is expected to apply through a consulate.
The memo leaves the eligibility rules as they were, and it covers family cases too. It took effect when it was issued, so it applies to pending applications and to any case decided after that. It sets no denial target, so the memo alone cannot show how often it changes an outcome.
What it tells officers to weigh most heavily is conduct that broke the conditions of a temporary visa, or a failure to leave when expected. That weight grows when the person used the temporary visa to settle in the United States instead of applying for an immigrant visa from abroad. Family ties, immigration history and moral character also count in the balance.
Workers in a dual-intent status such as H-1B (a temporary status that allows a Green Card application while the person keeps it) are not acting against their visa by applying. Even so, that status alone does not guarantee approval.
The public charge review
The public charge guidance applies only to Forms I-485 mailed or filed online on or after September 18, 2026. It covers most family, employment and diversity visa applicants, while refugees and asylees are among the groups it exempts.
The officer considers five factors that Congress set: age, health, family status, finances, and education and skills. A sponsor’s Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) can also count.
For these applications, every means-tested benefit the applicant received on or after September 18, 2026 counts. For earlier benefits, only cash assistance for income maintenance and long-term care in an institution at government expense are considered.
What happens after the interview
After the interview, USCIS either decides the case or asks for more evidence, and every decision arrives in writing. A Request for Evidence (RFE) is a written request for documents the officer still needs, and it says what to send and gives the deadline. Under the August 2026 evidence policy, an officer can also deny an application that leaves out required evidence without asking for it first.
An approval comes first as a notice, and the Green Card itself arrives by mail a little later. Our guide to the I-485 timeline covers each stage of the wait.
A denial notice gives its reasons, and a denial based on discretion must explain how the officer balanced the positive and negative factors. An adjustment denial generally cannot be appealed. The applicant may still be able to ask USCIS to look at the case again through a motion to reopen or reconsider, filed on Form I-290B.
The interview at a US embassy or consulate
Applicants who live outside the United States are interviewed by a State Department consular officer at a US embassy or consulate. This route is called consular processing. The National Visa Center (NVC), the State Department office that collects the case documents, schedules the interview once the file is complete.
Before the interview, each applicant has a medical exam with a doctor the embassy has approved (a panel physician), and the applicant brings the doctor’s sealed envelope of results to the interview. The applicant also brings the original or a certified copy of every civil document (birth, marriage and similar records) sent to the NVC.
The Affidavit of Support and the financial evidence stay at home, because the NVC already holds them. Fingerprints are taken at the interview.
In a marriage case, the consular officer may ask, among other things, how the couple met, how often they see each other and how they decided to marry. If the officer approves the case, the visa is placed in the passport. Our guide to consular processing walks through the steps before the interview.
Preparing for the interview
Every answer at the interview is given under oath. A person who knowingly gives false information or hides an important fact will have the application denied and can face criminal prosecution. An applicant can ask the officer to repeat an unclear question, and can say “I don’t remember” instead of guessing at a date.
Before the interview, the applicant can read a copy of the filed Form I-485 answer by answer, and in a family case the petitioner can do the same. Anything that has changed since filing, such as a new address or a new job, is worth writing down, because the officer goes through the same answers and can record the correction at the interview.
The figures above were checked against USCIS and travel.state.gov records as of October 2026.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every immigration case depends on its own facts. For an assessment of your specific situation, consult an immigration attorney.
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