Yes. A personal interview is required. The Immigration and Nationality Act states that all applications for green card through marriage to a US Citizen cannot be approved without the immigrant and the US Citizen spouse being interviewed by a USCIS Adjudication Officer. This is called an Adjustment of Status Interview or Green Card Marriage Interview.

The green card Marriage Interview is a procedure whereby the USCIS examine the validity of the marriage. During the green card Marriage Interview the USCIS will try to verify whether you and your spouse entered the marriage in good faith. It is the burden of the immigrant and the US citizen spouse to prove, during the green card Marriage Interview that they did not get married in order to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States, that they got married in good faith and not just for the foreign national spouse to obtain green card and become a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

If, during the green card Marriage Interview the USCIS Adjudication Officer suspects that you and your wife got married in order to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States and for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration benefits, the USCIS Adjudication Officer will either separate you and your wife and conduct a green card Marriage Interview pursuant to INS v. Stokes, reschedule your green card Marriage Interview to conduct another green card Marriage Interview pursuant to INS v. Stokes on another day or ask you for more documents in order to prove that you married to each other in good faith and not just for getting a green card.

If the USCIS Adjudication Officer finally determines that you and your US Citizen spouse got married in order to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States and for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration benefits, the USCIS Adjudication Officer will deny your application. Furthermore, the USCIS may commence Removal Proceedings against you in order to remove you from the US.

In addition, if the USCIS Adjudication Officer determines that you and your wife got married in order to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States and for the sole purpose of obtaining a green card you and your US Citizen Spouse may face up to $250,000 fine and up to 5 years in jail.