What is your spouse's date of birth?

“What is your spouse's date of birth?” is a practice question about relationship timeline 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 this as a basic question about your spouse's identity. It can also help clarify a date in the case if spoken and written date formats differ. Knowing a birth date is one small part of describing your shared life; this question alone does not explain the full history of your marriage.

What might the officer ask next?

• Could you say the month by name?
• What year was your spouse born?
• When is your spouse's next birthday?

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?

Review the day, month, and year of your spouse's birth before practicing aloud. Say the month by name if a number could be read in more than one way. Keep the birth year separate from your spouse's current age, which changes each year. If you forget part of the date while speaking, pause and state that you do not remember rather than supplying a number because you feel rushed.

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 relationship timeline questions

• When did you and your spouse decide to get married?
• Was there a proposal? Who proposed, and where did it take place?
• Did you live together before you married? If so, when did you move in together?
• Please walk me through the major milestones in your relationship from meeting to marriage.
• When did you tell your families that you were getting married?
• Have either of you moved cities or countries since you met? When and why?

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