How did you and your spouse first meet?

“How did you and your spouse first meet?” is a practice question about how you met for a marriage-based green card interview at a USCIS field office. A real officer may ask it in other words, ask something else, or skip it. Practice can help you explain your own facts. It cannot tell you what USCIS will decide.

What is the officer checking with this question?

The officer may use this question to understand how your relationship began. Your answer places the marriage in the context of your shared history, rather than just the wedding date on a form. Details about the setting and people present may lead to questions about how you stayed in contact after that first meeting.

What might the officer ask next?

• About what month and year did that happen?
• Who else was with you at the time?
• How did you arrange to speak again?

The next question usually comes from the words in your answer. If you name a person, a place, or a month, expect a question about it. The guide to green card interview follow-up questions explains how to practice past the first answer.

How do you prepare to answer it?

Think about the event you mean by first meeting, including the place and approximate time. Separate an online introduction from the first time you were together in person. Recall who was there and what led you to speak, without adding details from someone else's memory as your own. If you cannot remember the exact date, give only the time period you know and make that limit clear.

Answer from your own memory, in your own words. Do not learn a script or a sample answer. If your spouse remembers a detail differently, first check whether you mean the same event. Ask your lawyer about any concern with your forms or documents.

Can you practice this question out loud for free?

Yes. Choose "Answer it now, free". The officer asks this question first. You answer out loud, and the officer follows up on what you said. You can try 3 questions free, and you do not need documents. Feedback comes after the session, not while you speak.

More how you met questions

• When did you first meet your spouse, and where exactly were you?
• Who introduced you, or did you meet on your own?
• What was your first date, and what did you do together?
• How long after you met did you start dating seriously?
• What city and state or country was your spouse living in when you first met?
• What was your first impression of your spouse?
• Did your relationship involve any period of long-distance contact before you lived in the same place?

Read the how you met topic guide, or see all 91 interview questions.