Interview in a few days in Tokyo...

[Sniperx 0]

I hate this stuff. I thought I had it all figured out then I find this amazing website....but not everything matches what I already knew. I just spent about a half hour research a DCF...to find out I'm already doing that process and its not referred to it that way on the Gov page. GAH.....

I am a US Citizen (born in WA).

I have lived in Japan for 4 years and have 10mos on my visa.

My wife is a Japanese National.

We live in Japan.

We were married in Japan.

We have been married 1.5 years.

I have not filed my US taxes for my term in Japan due to the company being fraudulent. I'm working on straightening this all out, no help needed there.

We have considerable (over the 125% for poverty line for 2 people) cash assets from our savings (shes a nurse I'm a teacher) and a passing in the family.

We would like to enter the US asap (had enough of this country plus job opp came up).

I have an appointment for Dec14th..wish I had found this page sooner.

OK...I'm already following the checklist from the embassy so thats good to go. I'm also filtering through these pages (sorry but using google as your search engine sucks...it includes everybody's signatures in the search...meaning I get a guy posting in a thread about Jamaica who listed his timeline with the word DCF Japan...when I search DCF Japan).

So anyway...I have some questions

Paperwork:

DS230/Pt1 Box 32: It says "Location". Do they want specific or do they want Town, City, Prefecture, Country?

DS230/Pt1 Box 33: Languages spoken. Is this fluent or broken? She would need an interpreter for the final meeting by herself.

DS230/Pt1 Box 35: Type of visa. My wife entered the states on several occasions using the Visitor Visa B-2(I believe its B2, it was only for vacation fun). Do I put "Visitor Visa" "B-2" or "VWP" for visa waiver program. I have all three on it now.

G325/Pg1 Employment: Applicants employment for 5 years. Full name and address. Do they need the FULL address? Japanese addresses can be quite long and they aren't fitting in the box.

" " " She has worked in more places than the box allows. Can this be continued on another page, if so how to indicate the connection, there is no box number?

Interview:

It says to bring photos of your relationship etc. How many and how in depth? Do they want originals/albums? Do they want 2 copies, like everything else they said? We are including copies of our insurance cards, translated version also, they have both our names on them. Is this acceptable? Any pointers?

General questions:

Income/assets. Will the missing taxes cause trouble, they are being filed now. What evidence do they need? Is a photocopy of the 1040 acceptable? My income is quite low in relation to the US poverty line, will this cause a problem or are our assets enough (not numerically but in terms of income vs assets)? What evidence do I need to show for these holdings? These holdings are cash assets in Japanese banks, the US gov will not be able access them for reference.

What are we shooting for here? IR1, CR1, K3? I THINK its a toss up between the CR1 and the K3. I know the differences, but I want to be sure. Is there any advantage in our case (DCF etc) with going K3 instead of CR1? I thought K3 was faster, but am hearing through here IR/CR are just as fast when doing DCF. I BELIEVE its not the IR1 as we haven't been married for 2 years yet.

What happens next? After the first Tokyo meeting, I-130, and all goes well...what happens next? I saw an outline for the whole thing, but its lost in the whirlwind that sits on my head.

Think thats it for now....my head is spinning....

[canadian_wife 1,818]

Have you looked at the example forms on here for help listing information on the DS230?

http://www.visajourney.com/examples/Form-DS-230.pdf

I'd list only fluent languages spoken.

I'd also list B-2 visitors visa

You're evidence seems good, dont' bring albums as many consulates only have a little slot to put documents through. Bring a sampling of photos from your relationship.

You NEED to file your taxes. You NEED a copy of your filed tax returns - there is no way around this.

For your assets: In order to qualify based on the value of your assets, the totalvalue of your assets must equal at least five times the difference between your total household income and thecurrent poverty guidelines for your household size. So therefore your assests cannot simply be 125% above the poverty line

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864.pdf

You'll be granted a Cr-1 visa

Good luck.

[trailmix 77]

Actually, as you are sponsoring your wife, the assets do not have to be 5 times the 125% poverty guideline it is 3 times the 125%.

So basically $18,212 x 3 = for a total of $54,636 USD in assets.

Some consulates will accept a copy of the (already filed) 1040 with accompanying slips (ie: proof of that income earned) - I'm not sure how the consulate in Japan views that.

Edited December 9, 2009 by trailmix

[redglasses 1]

Make sure your wife really had B-2. If she did, her B-2 visa should be in her passpoert. Otherwise, she would have used VWP.

In our case, we received an approval letter from the US embassy Tokyo a week after our I-130 petition. The letter had a brief instruction for the beneficiary interview. Things needed for the interview are listed here at http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-iv...viewcheck2.html.

If you have an option of leaving your wife in Japan for another half an year, I recommend her to take the beneficiary interview after the 2nd marriage anniversary so she can get IR-1 visa (= immediate 10 year GC and no need for the condition lifting & save $$$.) The petitioner can leave for the US as soon as the I-130 is filed.

[canadian_wife 1,818]

Thanks for the correction trailmix - was I mistaken in quoting the USCIS website that I did? did I misunderstand?

[Sniperx 0]

WOW...incredibly helpful here. Damnit, why couldn't I find you guys a while back.

[Sniperx 0]

My edit button disappeared.

Question:

DS230/Pt1 Box 21a: Person named in Box 14 to accompany to US now. This is me, correct? I am the spouse listed in Box 14, but I'm not "following" her as an immigrant. Whats the correct answer here?

G325/Pg1 Employment: Applicants employment for 5 years. Full name and address. Do they need the FULL address? Japanese addresses can be quite long and they aren't fitting in the box.

" " " She has worked in more places than the box allows. Can this be continued on another page, if so how to indicate the connection, there is no box number?

[Sniperx 0]

Where does the edit button go after a few minutes?

Question: What should we wear for the I-130 petition meeting?

Thanks again for everyone's help.

[Sniperx 0]

One last Q and I'll wait for answers.

The I-130 meeting. They list the i-864 as optional material for the meeting, that it will just be reviewed and help you make adjustments if needed. If I can't get acceptable proof of assets in time (Monday) will we be disqualified? When is the I-864 ACTUALLY required?

This is my last headache I think and we're good to go.

[Sniperx 0]

Strike these questions:

G325/Pg1 Employment: Applicants employment for 5 years. Full name and address. Do they need the FULL address? Japanese addresses can be quite long and they aren't fitting in the box.

" " " She has worked in more places than the box allows. Can this be continued on another page, if so how to indicate the connection, there is no box number?

The I-130 meeting. They list the i-864 as optional material for the meeting, that it will just be reviewed and help you make adjustments if needed. If I can't get acceptable proof of assets in time (Monday) will we be disqualified? When is the I-864 ACTUALLY required?

I think the I864 question was answered in the immigrant visa checklist on the .gov page. Just want to be sure though...

I found my answers in the example forms page...wish I saw the before I posted a string of questions....

[Sniperx 0]

New Question:

I-130: It says State/Country. In the example form its done 4 ways. US State only, US state/USA, Foreign State, and Foreign Country. I currently have it as Ehime/Japan and WA/USA as using the layout the gov provided in parenthesis. Which is correct?

I-130 pg2 Box 21: Give last address of husband/wife living togethr. We are currently living together. What do you put in the "To:" place. I'm tempted to put "Present Time" as is done on the G-325, but its also referred to as "Present" on the DS-230.

I-130 pg2 Box 19: Address abroad...Phone NUmber. Do they want the house landline (answered by anyone) or my wife's cell phone (answered only by her).

Thanks...I know theres a light somewhere down there......

[Sniperx 0]

Last Q and I'm going to bed....

One of my Japanese equivalents of a W2 is MIA. It was taken by the JP government when I renewed my visa over here. I have ones from the past 2 years and one for the first few months I was in Japan, but I'm missing one in the middle. The 1040 won't be too tough as my salary didn't change, but I'm worried about the visa meetings...will they need to see this one or just the most recent one...or will a letter explaining its absence be sufficient.

Thats it...I'm done...off to bed to dream about answers in the morning.

[redglasses 1]

Strike these questions:

G325/Pg1 Employment: Applicants employment for 5 years. Full name and address. Do they need the FULL address? Japanese addresses can be quite long and they aren't fitting in the box.　She has worked in more places than the box allows.

If the whole addresses don't fit in the box by typing, write them by hand.

Can this be continued on another page, if so how to indicate the connection, there is no box number?

I would write something like "see the attached sheet for further information" on the form and write the rest of the employment history on a separate sheet of paper.

The I-130 meeting. They list the i-864 as optional material for the meeting, that it will just be reviewed and help you make adjustments if needed. If I can't get acceptable proof of assets in time (Monday) will we be disqualified? When is the I-864 ACTUALLY required?

The embassy recommends you to bring it at the time of your petition, but it is fine as long as you provide it at the beneficiary interview.

They are likely to instruct you to bring it at the interview.

[redglasses 1]

New Question:

I-130: It says State/Country. In the example form its done 4 ways. US State only, US state/USA, Foreign State, and Foreign Country. I currently have it as Ehime/Japan and WA/USA as using the layout the gov provided in parenthesis. Which is correct?

You should list Ehime/Japan only. I find it a little weird to list WA/USA when you are a resident of Japan and petitioning your wife's visa at a foreign consulate.

I-130 pg2 Box 21: Give last address of husband/wife living togethr. We are currently living together. What do you put in the "To:" place. I'm tempted to put "Present Time" as is done on the G-325, but its also referred to as "Present" on the DS-230.

Present

I-130 pg2 Box 19: Address abroad...Phone NUmber. Do they want the house landline (answered by anyone) or my wife's cell phone (answered only by her).

I guess it doesn't matter because they never call you. We provided the house phone number.

[redglasses 1]

Last Q and I'm going to bed....

One of my Japanese equivalents of a W2 is MIA. It was taken by the JP government when I renewed my visa over here. I have ones from the past 2 years and one for the first few months I was in Japan, but I'm missing one in the middle. The 1040 won't be too tough as my salary didn't change, but I'm worried about the visa meetings...will they need to see this one or just the most recent one...or will a letter explaining its absence be sufficient.

You can request the missing W2 from your employer. It would be better to have all W2s.

(We forgot to attach W2s with I-864, but luckily the embassy didn't say anything about it. I guess they didn't care because we had a joint sponsor.)