Do you rent or own your home? Whose names are on the lease or mortgage?

“Do you rent or own your home? Whose names are on the lease or mortgage?” is a practice question about home 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 renting or owning to understand how you occupy your home and who is named in the related records. This may help connect your description of living together with the papers in your case. If only one spouse is named, a follow-up may ask about that arrangement without assuming a reason for it.

What might the officer ask next?

• Which people are named on the housing agreement?
• When was that agreement signed?
• If only one spouse is named, how did that arrangement come about?

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?

Read the relevant housing paper before practice if you are unsure whose names appear. Distinguish the lease, property ownership record, and mortgage because they describe different things. Explain your actual arrangement if you live with family or have another type of housing. When you do not know why a name is absent, avoid inventing a reason and ask your lawyer about concerns involving your 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 home questions

• What is your current home address, and how long have you lived there?
• How many bedrooms are in your home, and which one do you both use for sleeping?
• Describe the main furniture in the room where you usually sleep.
• Describe the layout and appearance of your primary shared living space.
• Who else lives at your address currently?
• What shared entertainment or screen devices do you keep in your home, and where?
• How do you pay rent or the mortgage each month, and from which account or method?

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