At a marriage-based green card interview, the officer’s main goal is to confirm your marriage is real (bona fide), not just for immigration. Knowing the kinds of questions asked helps you and your spouse prepare honestly.
How you met and your relationship
- How and when did you meet?
- Who proposed, and how?
- When and where did you get married? Who attended?
Daily life together
- What time does each of you wake up and go to sleep?
- Who does the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping?
- What did you do for your last birthday or holiday?
- What is on each side of the bed?
Home and finances
- What is your address and how many bedrooms?
- Do you have joint bank accounts, a lease, or shared bills?
Family and future
- Have you met each other’s families?
- Do you plan to have children?
How to prepare
- Bring strong evidence: joint lease/mortgage, joint accounts, photos together over time, insurance, and affidavits.
- Answer honestly — small natural differences are normal; rehearsed-sounding identical answers can raise suspicion.
- If officers interview spouses separately (a “Stokes interview”), stay calm and truthful.
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What the interview is trying to establish
A marriage-based green card interview has one central question: is the marriage real, meaning entered into to build a life together rather than to obtain immigration status? The officer also confirms that the foreign spouse is admissible and that the sponsoring spouse meets the financial requirements. Most interviews are friendly and last 20 to 40 minutes. A small percentage are separated “Stokes” interviews in which each spouse is questioned alone and the answers are compared; these are usually triggered by a short marriage, a large age gap, a prior immigration violation, or inconsistencies in the file.
Questions about how you met and the relationship
- How and where did you meet? Who introduced you?
- When did you start dating? When did you move in together?
- Who proposed, where, and how? When did you tell your families?
- Where and when was the wedding? Who attended? Was there a reception?
- Did you take a honeymoon? Where?
Questions about daily life
- Describe your home: how many bedrooms, which side of the bed each of you sleeps on, the color of the bathroom, what is on the nightstand.
- Who cooks, who pays the bills, what bank accounts you share.
- What did you do last weekend? What did you eat for dinner last night?
- What is your spouse’s birthday, phone number, work schedule, and commute?
- Names of your spouse’s parents and siblings, and when you last saw them.
- What medications does your spouse take? Any allergies?
Questions about background and admissibility
- Prior marriages and how they ended, for both spouses.
- Children from any relationship.
- Arrests, immigration violations, and prior visa applications.
- Employment and income of the sponsoring spouse (to support the Affidavit of Support, Form I-864).
Documents that carry the most weight
Joint lease or mortgage, joint bank and credit card statements showing regular use by both spouses, joint tax returns, insurance policies naming each other, photos over time with family and friends, travel records, and birth certificates of children together. Bring originals and organize them by year. Officers are far more persuaded by two years of ordinary shared financial life than by a thick album of wedding photos.
How to prepare without sounding rehearsed
Do not memorize scripts. Instead, spend an evening together going through your history with dates: when you met, moved in, married, and traveled, and the addresses you have shared. Disagreements about small details are normal and do not cause denials; contradictions about major facts do. If you do not know an answer, say so rather than guessing. Answer only what is asked, and let your spouse answer the questions directed to them.
After the interview
Many applicants are approved at the interview or within a few weeks. If the marriage is less than two years old on the approval date, the green card is conditional for two years, and you will file Form I-751 jointly to remove conditions. A permanent resident married to and living with a U.S. citizen can apply for naturalization after three years, so your citizenship preparation can begin sooner than you might expect.
Last reviewed and expanded by the USCitizenTestPractice Editorial Team in September 2026, based on the USCIS Policy Manual, the official 2025 civics test materials, and current USCIS fee and form instructions. This is an independent study resource, not legal advice.
