What was your first impression of your spouse?

“What was your first impression of your spouse?” 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 ask this as a conversational way to learn about your early connection. It invites your own memory of your spouse, rather than a date from a document. The answer may lead to questions about what you noticed or how your view changed as you spent more time together before deciding to marry.

What might the officer ask next?

• What did your spouse say or do that you remember?
• Did you want to speak again after that meeting?
• Did that first impression change as you got to know each other?

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 what you personally noticed during your first contact or meeting. Keep that early impression separate from qualities you learned about much later. You do not need a romantic description or a claim that you knew you would marry. If you no longer recall a clear first impression, be honest about that and describe only what you can remember of the interaction without creating a scene or quoting words you cannot recall.

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?
• 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?
• 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.