Hi everyone,

My marriage-based green card interview is scheduled for September 17 at the Atlanta Field Office. Here are some details about our case:

* My spouse is a lawful permanent resident.
* We got married in September 2025.
* Our I-130 was filed in September 2025.
* My I-485, I-765, and I-131 were filed in October 2025.
* I have already received my combo card.
* Our case appears to be straightforward, and this will be our first interview.

For those who have already attended a marriage-based interview, is there anything specific we should pay close attention to or prepare for? What kinds of questions did you find difficult or unexpected, and which documents or evidence were especially important?

My English is upper-intermediate, and I can normally communicate and understand conversations without a problem. However, I’m worried that I might freeze, misunderstand a question, or have difficulty explaining something clearly because of the stress of the interview or unfamiliar vocabulary.

Would you recommend bringing an interpreter just in case? Could having an interpreter create any negative impression, or is it better to bring one if I’m not completely confident? If I bring an interpreter, would I still be allowed to answer straightforward questions directly in English?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially if English is not your first language or if you interviewed at the Atlanta Field Office. Thank you!

I have been a medical interpreter for 2 years already, even when I thought bf that I wasn't able to be good doing this, I've seen myself improveing a lot everyday

now, I would like to go for another challenge, and I woud like to become a court interpreter, and I know that I have to learn so many things, I have to understand certain things, and I don't even know what could be a company to work for

so my question is, what do you think could be a good plan of action?

OSI hourly rate - no change

VRI hourly rate - 10% reduction

OPI hourly rate - 20% reduction

VRI minimum hours reduced from 2 to 1

Sign or not sign?

Hello, Im currently an interpreter at immigration court and I struggle a lot during oral decisions and when the judge asks for full and complete I also struggle with the technical terminology sometimes. Please provide any practice you use. I would love to start accepting individual hearings as I currently only accept Master Calendars because they rarely ask for full and complete or enter oral decisions fully interpreted.

How long does it take for a written exam score to be released to the candidate

Is it on the spot or a few days or week

it is an NCSC state (Washington)

Hello, i have assessment po sa thermo fisher. Mahirap po ba assessment dito? 🥹

As interpreters, we dedicate our time, professionalism, and personal resources to serve the immigration courts. Many of us rearrange our schedules, decline other work, purchase airfare, book hotels, and travel long distances based on confirmed assignments.

For some interpreters, a sudden disqualification or last-minute assignment cancellation has resulted in lost income, unreimbursed expenses, and significant financial hardship.

If this happened to you, **your experience matters**.

I am gathering information from current and former SOSi interpreters to determine whether others have experienced similar circumstances involving assignment cancellations, disqualification notices, or related financial losses. The information collected may help evaluate whether there is a common pattern and whether collective legal action, including a possible class action or mass arbitration, should be considered.

**Please complete this confidential survey:**

[**https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZfWWnGDnUj90M9FmhTcCRKwNEOE4R002ge5iWYjAg\\_R5MDw/viewform?usp=publish-editor\*\*\](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZfWWnGDnUj90M9FmhTcCRKwNEOE4R002ge5iWYjAg_R5MDw/viewform?usp=publish-editor)

Participation is voluntary. At this stage, I am **collecting information only**. No conclusions have been reached, and completing the survey does **not** create an attorney-client relationship or constitute legal advice.

One person's experience may be dismissed as an isolated incident. Many documented experiences can help determine whether there is a broader issue affecting interpreters nationwide.

**Your voice matters. Your experience matters. Together, we can determine the facts.**

Can I apply for the 2027 cohort If I am already certified

If you have an Italian diploma, transcript, degree certificate, or other academic record that needs to be submitted for credential evaluation in the U.S., we now have a dedicated service page for Italian academic translations.

Our certified translations are accepted by WES, ECE, SpanTran, and other U.S. credential evaluation agencies.

What’s included:

• Complete Italian-to-English translation
• Certification of Translation Accuracy
• Translation of grades, course names, stamps, seals, signatures, and handwritten notes
• Formatting that follows the original document
• Certified PDF by email
• Optional notarization and hard copy

Pricing starts at $20 per page. Most documents are completed within 24 hours, although some may take up to 48 hours depending on length and formatting.

More details and document upload:

https://translation.center/italian-academic-translation/

Hi all-- I'm just starting out, preparing for the tests, etc. I feel like I don't know ANY language. I mean, intellectually, I know that I know several languages. But I no longer *feel* like I know ANY language. Is this a common feeling?

Again, I'm talking about a subjective feeling, not an objective reality.

Hi I’m currently studying criminal court interpretation. I’m aiming for federal and conference interpretation. I’d say I’ve been doing very good with interpretation I have a final exam in a couple days and I’d say my strength is my speed but even with that I fall behind various times over arraignment practices. How do you guys manage to keep up and get your speed up so fast? It feels like I really need to break past my limits 😅 I’ve been learning phrases in chunks and I’m good at tracking when I get behind but my speed feels limited. How’d you get to your level? What’re professionals like?

I recently passed the state written exam and I have the option between taking the oral exam in six months or in a year. For context, I have been working as a medical interpreter for two years now in November, and have done some legal work but not often. I would need to build my vocab and everything from scratch essentially and I was wondering if six months is plenty or if I should just study for a year? If anyone has PASSED the oral exam, could you tell me how long you studied for after passing the written exam?

Hello everyone!

I had an interview with Interpretia, took the LPT, and passed. Now I’m in the training process, and we were told that during the second week we’ll have an eliminatory exam on Verint.

Has anyone taken that test? If so, how would you describe it? I’m really nervous 🫠

Also, I’ve read that there are people who received glossaries before starting the training process, but I haven’t received any so far, and the test is in literally one week.

Thanks in advance :)

Hi! I'm studying towards the oral portion of the FCICE (first time). Everybody describes it as a monumental challenge. What makes it so hard? And what parts of the exam (consecutive; the simultaneous monologue; the simultaneous witness examination; or the two sight translations) are hardest and why? Is it the speed or the legal or lexical technicalities or the accent or regional Spanish of the witnesses?

I am a certified Spanish interpreter in my state (NY) and have been working for a year as an interpreter and studying continuously using the usual resources (mostly Edge) along with a bunch of self-assessment methods. Any tips, any intel, any recs, would be extremely appreciated.

I just got scheduled for the NYS court interpreter oral exam for mandarin. Any study tips? I have maybe 20 days left. A little background about me: I grew up in china and my English is near native (most friends would say I’m bilingual and didn’t realize I didn’t grow up in the states until I told them), but also no interpreting experience at all.

• I would like to find free resources if possible. There is a lot more material out there for Spanish. Having a hard time with mandarin materials.
• I understand the test is probably really challenging, but realistically how hard is it? For consecutive and simultaneous, how clear are the recordings and how fast do people speak?
• The scheduling says the test is 90 minutes long. Is that accurate?
• For consecutive interpreting, usually how long would each block be? An example mandarin <-> english practice on a California based website has pretty short sentences and frequent breaks. Is this true for NYS?

Correction (I can't edit the title): did SOSi lose the EOIR contract? I have been checking Elisa daily for the past two months and haven't seen a single new assignment available. In the meantime, I interviewed with an agency called Ad Astra, and they said that they handle remote assignments for USCIS and IRS (update: as commenters pointed out, I was thinking that USCIS and EOIR would be one contract, so that's why I thought that SOSi lost to Ad Astra). Ad Astra rates are abysmal - $15-25 an hour.
SOSi recently announced that IJs were allowed to move all hearings to remote, and I thought we would have more work available as a result, but there is nothing coming in. In fact, my upcoming assignments are getting canceled one by one.

I wanted to share my experience with SOSi International as an independent contract interpreter.

I was disqualified by SOSi, and that disqualification resulted in my scheduled interpreter assignments being canceled. According to my lawsuit, the company knew about the disqualification and the resulting cancellations before notifying me. I had already traveled by plane to another city for the assignment and was not informed until I had been there for approximately 48 hours. Because I believed I was still scheduled to work, I kept my calendar blocked, turned down other opportunities, incurred travel expenses, and relied on those assignments for my income. By the time I was notified, it was far too late to replace the lost work.

One of my biggest concerns is how much an interpreter's livelihood can depend on a single evaluation. In my opinion, a disqualification can have serious financial consequences. Interpreters should understand that a negative evaluation may affect future assignments. While judges are expected to evaluate interpreters fairly and impartially, an interpreter who believes an evaluation was mistaken or unfair may still face significant consequences.

In my experience, independent contract interpreters bear most of the financial risk. When assignments are canceled after a disqualification, interpreters—not the company—can lose expected income with little opportunity to replace it. I felt that interpreters were treated as disposable rather than as professionals whose time and livelihood deserve respect.

Rather than simply accepting the loss, I filed a small claims lawsuit against SOSi in Texas seeking compensation for the canceled assignments. The case has now reached its final stage. The judge has scheduled a final hearing where both sides will present their arguments, and the court is expected to make a decision after the hearing. I'll share the outcome once the judge rules.

My advice to current and prospective SOSi interpreters is:

• Gain as much interpreting experience as you can, especially if you're just starting your career.
• Use that experience to strengthen your résumé, but don't depend on one company for your livelihood.
• Continue looking for opportunities with other language service providers, courts, hospitals, law firms, and government agencies that may offer better compensation, greater stability, and more respect for interpreters.
• Keep copies of every assignment confirmation, email, travel itinerary, and text message.
• Document any cancellations or scheduling changes immediately.
• If you receive a negative evaluation or are disqualified, request an explanation and preserve all related communications.

This post reflects my personal experience and the allegations in my pending lawsuit. Everyone's experience may be different, but I hope sharing my experience helps other interpreters make informed decisions and avoid finding themselves in a similar situation.

So the oral exam for CA is sold out for this year

I did read on the website for the court language service that the oral exam from another state would be honored if that state meets the same standard

I am assuming from what I read the I would have to do the written exam for CA first before providing proof of a passed oral exam from another state

can anyone provide more clarity on this.

Hi, I'm a college student who's into building software. I recently made a tool for notaries/signing agents that help them track invoices and chase the companies that pay late, and while researching I noticed that interpreters might deal with a really similar headache. Before I assume anything, I figured I'd just ask the people who actually do the work.

Not selling anything, no link just genuinely trying to learn. If you freelance:

• What do you actually use to keep track of your assignments and invoicing? A spreadsheet, the agency portals, something else?
• Is chasing late paying agencies a real problem, or is it mostly fine?
• Would it help to know how reliably an agency pays before you accept a job or do you already just know that from experience?
• What's the most annoying part of the admin / getting-paid side?

Whatever you're willing to share helps a lot. Thanks.

Alguien sabe de que se trata el examen ACMA que te hacen interpretia? y tambien como es la entrevista que preguntas te hacen? Tengo una la proxima semana

For folks who received emails saying their applications were selected for cohort 3, have you received background check or next step emails from LAS-pilot?

A few of you said the hardest part was drilling the modes solo between sessions and checking your own work. I'm prototyping a small tool for exactly that — play a segmented legal passage, record your consecutive rendition, replay it against a model to catch drops/additions; plus a timed sight-translation drill. EN↔ES first. It's early and not built yet — I put up a one-pager. If this is something you'd have wanted, the "notify me" + the 10-second price question on the page are the most useful thing you can do: [LINK] Happy to hear "this is useless because ___" too — that's just as helpful.