All Japan Filers

[Jughead 3]

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. I am an American and my fiancée is Nihon-jin. We will be getting married this coming January in Japan and I will come back to the US and file the I-130 for her CR-1 visa.

For those who have obtained a CR-1 or petitioned for their wife or husband, how long did the process take from filing to having the visa in hand?

[lovecarvel 0]

Hi!I've just found this group. I posted a question a while ago as a new topic, but let me post it again here as I believe there will be more people who know about the case in Japan in this group.

Here is my question. I appologize in advance if the same or similar questions have been brought up here by someone else.

- - - - -

I am Japanese living in Japan and my boyfriend is American living in the U.S. We are planning to get married in Japan in coming January. I would like to make sure that there is no problem for him to visit Japan with no visa and get married in Japan. He will be in Japan only for 12 days or so, and we will get married during his stay, then he will go back to the U.S and we will start CR-1 visa process.

As reading the US Embassy website, I am pretty sure it is no problem, but I've seen some people say "American citizen who wants to get married to Japanese citizen has to live in Japan at least for 6 months" in their blog or something, which made me a little nervous.

Does anyone know what the truth is? Any experience?

Also I learned that there is a part to be filled out the American citizen's living address in Japan on the marriage license (Affidavit of Competency to Marry) form which need to get notalized by US embassy before going to the city hall. Does anyone know if he can leave the part blank?

We are planing to go to the US embassy to get the form notalized as soon as they open in January, then I will translate it into Japanese, then we will go to the city hall of where I live to get married. We will get this process done within a few days during his stay in Japan.

Since this will be the first step of the long process we will take to get a visa, I would like to make sure we are doing right.

I will appreciate your advise.

Thank you!

[cookiesandcream 7]

I am Japanese living in Japan and my boyfriend is American living in the U.S. We are planning to get married in Japan in coming January. I would like to make sure that there is no problem for him to visit Japan with no visa and get married in Japan. He will be in Japan only for 12 days or so, and we will get married during his stay, then he will go back to the U.S and we will start CR-1 visa process.

As reading the US Embassy website, I am pretty sure it is no problem, but I've seen some people say "American citizen who wants to get married to Japanese citizen has to live in Japan at least for 6 months" in their blog or something, which made me a little nervous.

Does anyone know what the truth is? Any experience?

Also I learned that there is a part to be filled out the American citizen's living address in Japan on the marriage license (Affidavit of Competency to Marry) form which need to get notalized by US embassy before going to the city hall. Does anyone know if he can leave the part blank?

If the US embassy says its OK then it should be OK (at least, they will issue you the form), but I imagine it will vary from yakuba to yakuba as to whether they will let you marry a nonresident. They might ask for his birth certificate so you should bring that too.

I have a question for CR-1 filers:

What did you use as evidence of a bona fide marriage? As far as I am aware joint bills aren't a thing here in Japan, and we can't really switch our cellphones as we are on different providers with fixed contracts. I know there is the resident's certificate, and I can get my driver's license address changed, but I don't really know what other evidence to use? I know we can get affidavits, but I can't ask a friend to use nenkyuu to go all the way to Tokyo (we live in Fukushima) to get a piece of paper stamped.

[honbako 1]

Hi!I've just found this group. I posted a question a while ago as a new topic, but let me post it again here as I believe there will be more people who know about the case in Japan in this group.

Here is my question. I appologize in advance if the same or similar questions have been brought up here by someone else.

- - - - -

I am Japanese living in Japan and my boyfriend is American living in the U.S. We are planning to get married in Japan in coming January. I would like to make sure that there is no problem for him to visit Japan with no visa and get married in Japan. He will be in Japan only for 12 days or so, and we will get married during his stay, then he will go back to the U.S and we will start CR-1 visa process.

As reading the US Embassy website, I am pretty sure it is no problem, but I've seen some people say "American citizen who wants to get married to Japanese citizen has to live in Japan at least for 6 months" in their blog or something, which made me a little nervous.

Does anyone know what the truth is? Any experience?

Also I learned that there is a part to be filled out the American citizen's living address in Japan on the marriage license (Affidavit of Competency to Marry) form which need to get notalized by US embassy before going to the city hall. Does anyone know if he can leave the part blank?

We are planing to go to the US embassy to get the form notalized as soon as they open in January, then I will translate it into Japanese, then we will go to the city hall of where I live to get married. We will get this process done within a few days during his stay in Japan.

Since this will be the first step of the long process we will take to get a visa, I would like to make sure we are doing right.

I will appreciate your advise.

Thank you!

Hello. You can find all the pertinent information you need here at the U.S. Embassy's (in Tokyo) website:

Marriage in Japan

日本での結婚

Wish you all the best!

[kawaiiakurei06 2]

はじめましてみんなさん！

SO glad to be joining the few of us who were lucky enough to find our significant others in Japan. I actually met my fiance in college in the states, which makes him a very "AMERICAN" Japanese though he still follows some, to me, annoying Japanese habits. I still can't get use to taking my shoes off at the door lol. Anyways, we are currently in month of 5 ｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<･ﾟﾟ･｡ ﾋｨｯ of our K-1 visa and the wait is killing us. Though hopefully it is almost over! We are hoping we will have 0 problems, but if we do come across something - よろしく! I hope to be able to help those on VJ as well... with what ever I can (^▽^)b!!!!!

これからよろしくお願いいたします！

[Visanese 1]

It was a long and hard process being a part during the K-1, but we are now married and received a green card.

Wish you guys all the best.

[Jughead 3]

It was a long and hard process being a part during the K-1, but we are now married and received a green card.

Wish you guys all the best.

Congrats, Visanese! That's great news. My fiancée and I are getting married in Japan in a couple weeks and then we'll start the CR-1 visa process. I see in your timeline you had to obtain a Canadian police certificate. My fiancée is going to have to obtain one as well as she lived their for 1 year. When did you start trying to obtain yours? I heard the Canadian certificate can take a long time. Should she file for it after I send in the petition? Any advice is appreciated.

[Visanese 1]

Congrats, Visanese! That's great news. My fiancée and I are getting married in Japan in a couple weeks and then we'll start the CR-1 visa process. I see in your timeline you had to obtain a Canadian police certificate. My fiancée is going to have to obtain one as well as she lived their for 1 year. When did you start trying to obtain yours? I heard the Canadian certificate can take a long time. Should she file for it after I send in the petition? Any advice is appreciated.

I'd say start prepping it early. We had to extend the petition because of the time it took us to obtain the Canadian Police Record. I think it took 4 months.

If you haven't cheeck the website, here it is for your reference. RCMP

I contacted RCMP and requested a form C-216 (I receied 3 copies, just in case)which was mailed to my US address, then I mailed to my fiancee in Japan.

My fiance took the form to a local Japanese Police station (main branch of where your fiancee reside). Call the station to see if appointment is necessary.

Your fiancee needs Japanse police record so inquir about it at the same time!

I had my fiancee mailed the fingerprinted form to me in the US, and mail the request for the police record along with the Canadian Money Order.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[Jeikun 65]

hello! my fiancee had to get a canadian police cert too. we did the same thing as visanese. just be sure if you do the money order in usd you send the equivalent of $25 cad. we requested the police cert a couple of weeks before filing the I-129F.

oh... and I don't know about other cities but sapporo police wouldnt sign the fingerprint form, but the canadian embassy has a letter explaining this policy you can mail in along with the completed form.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Jeikun

[mr.j.j.s. 1]

Hi all, US citizen here petitioning for a Japanese fiance on an I-129F. It looks like our application will be moving on to the NVC soon, and I find myself swimming in a sea of questions with no clear answers. If anybody could help me clear up any / all of these concerns, I'd be much obliged. Here goes:

1. After marrying in the U.S., are we required to submit a Japanese marriage registration (kon'in todoke) as well? If so, can we do that in the US, or does it have to be done in Japan? How long do we have after our marriage to submit the kon'in todoke?

2. What's the process for entering myself as a "footnote" (bikou, 備考) on my fiance's family registry (koseki)? I don't plan on becoming a Japanese citizen, so I can't get entered on her koseki as per Japanese citizens; and from the information I've found, according to her koseki it will appear that my wife is not married and that our future children will be fatherless.

3. When should my fiance change her residence form (juuminhyou)? Before leaving Japan on her US fiance visa? After arriving to the US? After we receive our US marriage certificate?

4. Changing names: Can my fiance keep her family name in Japan as written in her koseki, and adopt my family name in the US? If she doesn't change her name, will our children be required to take her family name if they wish to have Japanese passports / citizenship?

Again, any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

＿＿＿＿＿＿

ＵＰＤＡＴＥ

ーーーーーー

I got in touch with the Japanese general consul in NY, and got some of these questions cleared up. I'm posting the answers I got here for anybody who finds themselves in a similar position.

1. Yes, you are required to submit a kon'in todoke, and it must be done within 6 months of receiving the US marriage certificate. It can be submitted abroad (E.g., at the Japanese general consul in NY), and there are forms and instructions on the Japanese general consul's website.

2. This can also be done abroad. The Japanese spouse must contact his/her family in Japan in order to complete the process.

3. The Japanese fiance should change his/her residency form in Japan, before departing for the US on the fiance visa.

4. No clear answer here. I don't think the person who took my call understood my question ...

Anyway, if anybody has conflicting information, please share.

Edited December 28, 2012 by mr.j.j.s.

[kaikou 1]

hello! my fiancee had to get a canadian police cert too. we did the same thing as visanese. just be sure if you do the money order in usd you send the equivalent of $25 cad. we requested the police cert a couple of weeks before filing the I-129F.

oh... and I don't know about other cities but sapporo police wouldnt sign the fingerprint form, but the canadian embassy has a letter explaining this policy you can mail in along with the completed form.

My fiance took a US FBI fingerprint form to a Japanese police station to get her fingerprints to send to Canada for a background check. Does anyone think this will be a problem?

What is this form that explains the policy on what to do if the person taking the fingerprints refuses to sign?

[cookiesandcream 7]

CR-1 Visa question:

I know at NVC stage all documents are supposed to be translated, but the Japanese Police Certificate is invalid if you open it. Are we supposed to open it and translate it or just leave it as is?

[Holliver 0]

CR-1 Visa question:

I know at NVC stage all documents are supposed to be translated, but the Japanese Police Certificate is invalid if you open it. Are we supposed to open it and translate it or just leave it as is?

Just leave it sealed. You don't need to worry about translating it.

[Holman come down 10]

みんなさんこんにちは！

I must be the newest member to this K-1 visa club. I mailed the package off on New Years Eve. It's pretty exciting, and it seems when I look at the timeline statistics that Japan K-1's move pretty quickly (knock on wood.) Especially for the Texas Service Center which is where I sent mine. A lot of people seem to get their NOA2 after just 30 days. Amazing. We hope she can get the visa by mid-June. Then I'll go back to Japan, ask her father for permission, officially get engaged, then move her stuff here. Wish us luck! If anyone else is still waiting on their K-1 visa please Friend me or send me a message, it will be good to keep track and compare our progress.

[P A U L 14]

みんなさんこんにちは！

I must be the newest member to this K-1 visa club. I mailed the package off on New Years Eve. It's pretty exciting, and it seems when I look at the timeline statistics that Japan K-1's move pretty quickly (knock on wood.) Especially for the Texas Service Center which is where I sent mine. A lot of people seem to get their NOA2 after just 30 days. Amazing. We hope she can get the visa by mid-June. Then I'll go back to Japan, ask her father for permission, officially get engaged, then move her stuff here. Wish us luck! If anyone else is still waiting on their K-1 visa please Friend me or send me a message, it will be good to keep track and compare our progress.

Texas Service Center does not process I-129f. You sent your files to the Dallas Lockbox, which probably redirected it to Vermont for you. Vermont is known for its slowness in regards to I-129f processing. Your NOA2 would arrive somewhere around 6-7 months after it has been mailed. Your NOA1 will tell you where it was sent, either California or Vermont. If sent to the California Service Center, expect to receive NOA2 around 5 months after it has been mailed.

Hate to burst your bubble, but I figure it would be to your benefit to have accurate expectations.