When should you bring an interpreter to USCIS?
Bring one when your interview is in English and you express yourself better in Spanish. At a green card interview, the officer asks about your application and your documents, and you need to understand every question and get your full answer across.
Since September 28, 2025, USCIS field offices no longer provide interpreters: if you need one, you arrange it and bring them. USCIS announced this on its official X account.
It can be a professional interpreter or a friend or family member 18 or older. The officer decides whether to accept the interpreter (USCIS Policy Manual), and you and your interpreter sign Form G-1256, Declaration for Interpreted USCIS Interview in front of the officer.
In the data behind the USCIS field office locator, every Maricopa County ZIP code goes to the Phoenix Field Office at 1330 South 16th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034. Always confirm the address on your appointment notice.
Citizenship interviews work differently. USCIS allows an interpreter when you qualify for an exception to the English requirement, such as the age-and-residence exceptions it calls 50/20 and 55/15 (Exceptions and Accommodations). If you don’t qualify, the interview is in English.
A service appointment, such as one for an ADIT stamp, is not an interview. For those, USCIS asks you to have your interpreter available by phone and not to bring one to the office (myUSCIS).
How does interview day work?
Didi is with you from the office entrance until the interview ends:
- Send us a photo of your appointment notice on WhatsApp and we hold the date.
- We meet at the USCIS office early, because there is a security screening at the entrance.
- Before the interview begins, Didi interprets all of Form G-1256 for you and shows her government ID. The officer confirms you understood the form, fills it out, and you and Didi sign it in front of the officer. Don’t sign it ahead of time.
- During the interview, Didi interprets consecutively: the officer speaks and pauses, and she says it in Spanish. You answer, and she says it in English.
Price per interview: [TO CONFIRM]. We confirm it when you book your date.
What an interpreter does, and what they don’t
An interpreter says everything spoken in the interview in the other language, completely and faithfully. USCIS spells this out on Form G-1256: interpret accurately, literally and fully for both you and the officer, stay impartial, and keep what they hear confidential.
So Didi doesn’t answer for you, add explanations or tell you what to say. If you don’t understand a question, say so. She interprets that too, and the officer can repeat or rephrase it.
We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice. If your case has complications, prepare with an attorney before the appointment.
What should you bring?
Bring everything your appointment notice asks for: your ID, the originals of your documents and anything else USCIS requested.
Any document in Spanish needs a certified English translation. We can have it ready before your interview through our certified translation service: 48 business hours, or 2 to 4 hours with express for an extra charge.
Mistakes we see
- Arriving with no time to spare. Security can take a while, and showing up late complicates your appointment.
- Bringing an interpreter who doesn’t meet USCIS rules, such as someone under 18, a witness in your case or your own attorney. If the officer turns them down, you may have to reschedule.
- Showing up with Spanish documents that haven’t been translated.
- Assuming you can bring an interpreter to a citizenship interview without qualifying for an exception.
Why Didi?
Because Didi has gone with clients to their interviews at the USCIS office and knows what that day looks like, from the security line to signing Form G-1256. She works in Spanish and English, and you can reach her on WhatsApp from your phone.
If you also need your answers typed into a USCIS form you have already chosen, we offer form typing. We are not attorneys and do not give legal advice. You choose the form and give us your answers; we type them into the blank spaces.
In one of our video testimonials (in Spanish), a client talks about our translation, interpreting and paperwork services.
Book your date
Send a photo of your appointment notice on WhatsApp at (602) 332-9460. With the date, time and office, we check availability. Prefer to talk? Call us at (602) 332-9460.