When did you and your spouse decide to get married?

“When did you and your spouse decide to get married?” 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 want to understand how the decision to marry developed within your relationship. This question is about the decision itself, which may have happened before a proposal or wedding plans. Clarifying those separate events can help the officer follow your timeline without treating every discussion of marriage as the same moment in the case history.

What might the officer ask next?

• Was that a single conversation or a decision made over time?
• Had you discussed marriage before a proposal?
• How much time passed before the ceremony?

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?

Recall when marriage became a shared plan rather than a general topic of conversation. Identify any proposal and the eventual ceremony as separate events if they happened at different times. Think about where the discussion took place and what you each understood afterward. If you cannot identify one exact day because the decision developed over several talks, describe that process and use only the approximate period you can honestly place.

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

• 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?
• What is your spouse's date of birth?

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