What was your first date, and what did you do together?

“What was your first date, and what did you do together?” 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 a question about your first date to learn how your relationship moved beyond an introduction. The activity, place, and approximate time can help explain the early courtship. This may be a different event from your first meeting, especially if you knew each other as friends or spoke online before deciding to date.

What might the officer ask next?

• Where did you go together that day?
• About when did that date happen?
• Who suggested the plan?
• Did you spend time anywhere else afterward?

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?

Choose the event you remember as your first date and distinguish it from earlier time together as friends. Recall the main activity, the location, and the rough date without trying to reconstruct every minute. If you remember a place but not its name, describe its location accurately. When a small detail such as what you ordered is unclear, state that you do not remember rather than filling it in.

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

• How did you and your spouse first meet?
• When did you first meet your spouse, and where exactly were you?
• Who introduced you, or did you meet on your own?
• 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.