After seeing the movie Green Card (in which an American woman marries a Frenchman just so he can stay in the country, but of course-- because this is a romantic comedy-- they end up falling in love along the way), you might think that the INS (i.e. immigration) interview would be a harrowing experience for newlyweds. In the movie, they memorize all kinds of details about each other-- the types of things only truly living-together-as-a-married-couple people would know. And sure enough, the interviewer asks some fairly invasive, specific questions.
Before Donald and I had our INS interview to verify that we truly were married and living together, I of course thought about that movie and was a little stressed by it. I mean, how many insignificant details did we have to remember to pass the test? "Does he really need to know what brand cold cream I use? (Oh my gosh, I've got to start using cold cream, now. . .)" That sort of thing. (Ok, not really that sort of thing, exactly, but you get the idea. (g))
Fortunately, we found helpful reassurances online that the real interview wasn't likely to resemble a dramatic scene from a movie. Though it was a little stressful (mainly because the agent we dealt with wasn't especially friendly and it turned out that we hadn't been informed that Donald needed to have some special fingerprints taken-- in a specific city-- within a limited space of time), there were no "gotcha" questions (that I can remember, at least). It was fairly brief and straightforward. ("How did you meet?" etc.)
So ever since then, I've been going along through life thinking the movie was totally bogus. Until today. Unless people are making up stories, some people apparently do face more specific interrogations, separate interviews, and so on. I imagine that if you're a legitimate couple, you won't have real trouble convincing the authorities of it, but still! Maybe we were lucky (and well documented). Also, it probably didn't hurt that Sweden is a developed country and there aren't tons of Swedes trying to get into the country illegally. . .
. . . And that's all I have to say about that. (g)
The End.
(rambling over)
