Questions for those of you who filed from Japan

[elvenshadow 19]

For those of you who filed from Japan, I have a few questions.

For your address on the i-130, did you include the”〒” (post office mark) in front of the zip/postal code in section 2? I read that the address block on the forms is the data field captured for all of the mailings and that the data is entered exactly as indicated on the forms when mailing documents, so I worry that if it is not included, there could be a mailing error. However, I also worry that if I include it, people at the USCIS might not know what it is and it could delay processing our application.

Also, for the Japanese address, when written in English, it is required to write “Prefecture-ken” for prefecture instead of just the prefecture name or “City-shi” instead of just the city name.How about on say, the G-325A in sections for other things, such as place of birth for my wife.Did you write “City-shi, Japan” or just “City, Japan”?It would save me some hassle to not have to include the suffixes in non-address fields because then I have more space and don’t need to include as many things on an extension sheet.

Also, for section 22 of the i-130, it says “Complete the section below if your relative is in the United States and is eligible for adjustment status.”Did you put Tokyo, Japan for City and Country after the part for “If your relative is not eligible for adjustment of status, he or she will apply for a visa abroad at the American consular post in:” or did you put N/A?It is confusing because the first part says “If your relative is in the United States” which she isn’t, but she is going to have her interview eventually at the Tokyo embassy so I’m rather confused.I already saw another thread addressing this question but several people gave conflicting information so I wanted to make sure which way was actually correct.

Sorry for so many questions.Any help is very much appreciated.

[ncjp 3]

Hi elevenshadow,

I am from Japan and my husband is a petitioner of my I-130(IR-1).

About Japanese address, we just put "City, Japan" no "Ken"(as Im from Tokyo) or "Shi"

We didn't even put post office mark and postal code.

About the section22 on I-130, we put N/A.

Our petition was sent to USCIS in Phoenix on 17th March 2014, received on 19th, and we got NOA1 hard copy couple days after that and routed to Nebraska service center.

Hope it'll be a little help for you.

Good luck!

Edited April 7, 2014 by ncjp

[elvenshadow 19]

@ncjp,

Yes, that is very helpful thank you! About the address though, you are using a Tokyo address. Most addresses in Tokyo do not have any “-shi” or “-ken” in them normally. The only part that has a suffix would be the “-ku”. Our address is in Gunma and almost every address uses “-shi”, “-machi” or “-ken” in every instance I have seen it written in English. So, I worry that it will cause problems. I was almost certainly going to just use the suffixes in the address sections, but I was more concerned about the fields like “place of birth” where it isn’t a written address. May I ask if you used “-shi” or “-ken” in your place of birth field? Or were you born in Tokyo?

@Dave, yea perhaps we are overthinking things a bit but I have read a lot of stories online about people’s packets getting delayed and I just want to make sure that things get processed as fast as possible.

[ncjp 3]

elvenshadow,

In general, 23 boroughs(areas with "-ku") are treated as "inside Tokyo," and the other local authorities are distinguished as "suburban Tokyo"(areas without "-ku").

I live in suburban Tokyo and almost every areas in "suburban Tokyo" do have "-shi" but I didn't put "-shi" on my I-130 form. Tokyo has "-to" instead of "-ken" like Gunma and other prefectures has but I didn't put it either.

I was born in outside of Tokyo and the address has -ken, -gun(its just about the same as "shi"), -machi but I didn't put any of them on my petition. I really don't think those would be a problem so that it is up to you to use them or not :-)

Im also new on this process just like you and hope some other experienced people would be able to help you out too.

[elvenshadow 19]

I am filling out the G325-A for my wife. I have to fill out the part where her parents were born. Both of them were born in small villages that merged with other villages to form larger towns about 8 or 9 years ago. So, do I write the name of the small village as it once existed or do I write the name of the large town that these villages are now a part of?

[elvenshadow 19]

Yea, I think I am just going to go with that. I tried calling the Tokyo Embassy to ask but of course they refused to offer any help and told me to call USCIS which I can't do until it becomes midnight here.