Have either of you changed employers since you filed your applications?

“Have either of you changed employers since you filed your applications?” is a practice question about work 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 ask about employer changes to learn whether employment details in the filed applications still describe your situation. A new employer, a period without work, and a different role at the same company are distinct changes. Your answer may help explain the sequence between the original filing and the appointment.

What might the officer ask next?

• Which spouse started with a different employer?
• About when did the previous job end?
• When did the new job begin?
• Was there a period between those jobs?

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?

Use the filing date as a starting point and review each spouse's work since then. Keep a change in employer separate from a promotion or changed duties within the same company. Recall the order of departures, gaps, and starts before trying to name exact dates. If a day or month is uncertain, state the level you remember. Ask your lawyer how to address changed employment information in your actual case.

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 work questions

• Where does your spouse work, and what kind of work do they do?
• What is your spouse's typical work schedule?
• What is your spouse’s approximate annual or hourly income from their current job?
• Where did your spouse work when you first met?
• Does the adjusting spouse currently have employment authorization, and where do they work if employed?

Read the work topic guide, or see all 91 interview questions.