What city and state or country was your spouse living in when you first met?

“What city and state or country was your spouse living in when you first met?” 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 want to understand where your spouse was based at the start of your relationship. That location can help explain how you met, whether visits were needed, and how your living arrangements later changed. A home address is different from a place your spouse happened to be visiting when the two of you first spoke.

What might the officer ask next?

• Was that your spouse's usual home or a temporary stay?
• Who lived with your spouse at the time?
• When did your spouse move away from that location, if they did?

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 the city and state or country where your spouse normally lived when you met. Separate that home from the meeting place if your spouse was traveling. Think about who shared the home and whether you knew that information then or learned it later. If you do not remember a street address or a roommate's full name, do not supply one from guesswork; keep your answer to the details you can identify.

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 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.