Marriage Green Card Interview Checklist: What to Bring and How to Prepare
Marriage green card interview checklist items fall into four groups: what to bring, proof your marriage is real, how to prepare, and the Brazilian document traps that trip couples up. It is available on this page and as a free printable PDF, no email needed.
Marriage green card interview checklist prep should start well before your interview day, not the night before. Work through the four sections in order. Tick a box only when the item is in your folder or actually done, and treat every empty box as your to-do list. For the questions the officer is likely to ask, see our companion guide to marriage based green card interview questions.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your interview notice (or, for a consular interview, your appointment letter) has the final word on what to bring, so follow it wherever it differs from this list.
Documents to bring to the interview
- Your interview notice
- Passports and IDs
- The originals of every civil document you submitted
- A certified English translation of each foreign-language document
- Updated proof of your shared life since you filed
- Recent tax returns
- Your Affidavit of Support (I-864) records
- Anything else your interview notice lists
Evidence that your marriage is real
- Gather records of joint finances
- A shared lease or mortgage
- Tax returns you filed jointly
- Insurance policies that name each other
- Photos of the two of you taken over time
- Affidavits from people who know you as a couple
- Addresses that line up across your forms and your evidence
- Gather evidence across several categories
How to prepare before the interview
- Reread every form you filed and check each date against your leases, pay stubs, travel stamps, and photos
- Know your filed record: entry dates, previous addresses, prior marriages, and immigration history
- Expect questions about your relationship and daily life, from how you met to each other's family and work
- Answer from your own memory, and say so when you are unsure instead of guessing
- Never change an answer to match your spouse's, even if they remember it differently
- Be ready to be questioned separately (that alone does not mean USCIS doubts your marriage)
- Keep your I-693 medical exam envelope sealed, and confirm a USCIS-listed civil surgeon did the exam
- If you need an interpreter, pick an impartial adult fluent in English and Portuguese, not your spouse or a witness
- See an immigration attorney first if you have a prior removal, an arrest, or time out of status
Brazilian documents and translation traps to avoid
- Get a complete certified English translation of every Portuguese document, not a summary
- Check that the translation covers every stamp, seal, signature, handwritten note, and averbação
- Use an independent translator, not you or your spouse
- Translate the marriage certificate's divorce averbação and any required sentença or escritura
- Compare names on every document side by side, and keep each spelling exactly as written in the translation
- Match each translation to the exact certidão you filed, and translate any newer one you obtained since
- Ask the cartório about a full-text inteiro teor copy if your resumida does not clearly show an annotation
- If you need a police record, request the exact one your instructions name (Polícia Federal or state Polícia Civil)
- Check for the translator's signed certification of completeness, accuracy, and competence
No checklist can guarantee an approval, and some of interview day is out of your hands, like which questions you get or whether you leave with a decision. Your documents are different. A complete certified translation of every Brazilian certidão, with every annotation included and each name reproduced exactly as written on its source document, is the most controllable part of a marriage-based green card case. Getting it right removes one of the most avoidable reasons couples are denied.
Get your Brazilian documents translated right
Get a complete certified translation of your Brazilian documents, every averbação included.