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Yesterday (4th of July) my I-485 was approved. Everything that could go wrong did with our application. I missed my first biometrics appointment. The attorney I used submitted only 5 pictures in the application out over 200 that we gave her and all the other shared documents like bank statements, shared bills etc. When they asked for my medical we attached more bonafides of our marriage but it turns out that all that was lost. We got called for the interview and my wife and I were separated. interview went well. The interviewer asked at the end about an address my wife used in some government form when we were married. Turns out it was one of our Airbnb locations (we do Airbnb for passive income) I explained that to the interviewer. Dueing my wife’s interview they asked her about that address and she told them it’s an Airbnb. The case wasn’t approved on the day of the interview. 8 months after I finally filed a writ of mandamus and USCIS promptly responded with a notice of intent to deny. At this point I’ve been married for nearly 3 years, been with my wife the whole time and no problems in our marriage (except we couldn’t travel internationally together) my wife is an avid traveler and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to since before we even got married (we dated for more than a year and a half before we got married). In the notice of intent to deny they cited that we have many addresses they can find on government records that we didn’t disclose to them, they mentioned we only submitted 5 pictures (this was how I knew the attorney I used only sent 5 pictures and nothing else and that all the evidence we sent with my medical to Houston was lost) they also mentioned that our shared bank account statements we brought to the interview shows transactions from only one debit card (we asked the bank to give us only one and we share it) then they mentioned that in our interview all of our answers about our relationship were consistent. They mentioned in the letter that from their investigation we have a Sham marriage just for immigration benefit and we’re committing marriage fraud. The attorney we had could not explain the situation to us or what was to come next. She had not experienced a NOID before or how to go about it so I did my due diligence and fired her and found a different lawyer. Having looked at everything, he told us that our case was bad but there’s nothing impossible for God to do. He mentioned that we can rescind the application and apply again but who knows how long we will have to wait again after already being married over 3 years at this point. Or, we could go ahead and write affidavits explaining our situation in detail, adding all the bonafides we can get and hope for the best. Ladies and gentlemen we did just that and not even 2 weeks after, we got approved. The lessons from my case are: 1. Don’t blindly trust a lawyer because they are a professional and have other clients. Take a look at what they submit on your behalf. Trust but verify. 2. Make sure you have a strong and secure relationship with your spouse before dealing with USCIS because trust me the wait and frustration will try every relationship 3. Not everyone believes in God but hold onto whatever you believe in. Time heals all wounds 4. Surround yourself with a community of people that understand your situation. Those people will help keep you sane and uplift your spirit when called upon because they have been there and know what you’re going through. I watched countless people on lawfully get approvals over the last 3 years and I silently always prayed that I get to experience what they have one day. Today, I am finally a permanent resident and to God be all the glory. I pray for anyone reading this that your good news comes soon. And that all the opportunities that have been lost during your wait be restored. Peace and Love 🤍