All Japan Filers

[JapanResident 86]

1 minute ago, JGG5 said:

Thanks for the heads up. My wife actually already had her medical and the results were mailed to the embassy. Assuming this should speed things up after the actual interview. Congrats again and thank you. 

That should definitely speed things up. Getting the medical afterward dragged things out for us. I can't say for certain, and I don't want to get your hopes up too high, but I'd expect you to have her visa in hand by the end of next week, if not earlier. Once we answered the embassy's final medical question in an email, it took four or five days for my wife to get hers. (They did send us a notice that they were backlogged and to expect delays, but following that notice there were no delays at all.)

[JGG5 39]

9 minutes ago, JapanResident said:

That should definitely speed things up. Getting the medical afterward dragged things out for us. I can't say for certain, and I don't want to get your hopes up too high, but I'd expect you to have her visa in hand by the end of next week, if not earlier. Once we answered the embassy's final medical question in an email, it took four or five days for my wife to get hers. (They did send us a notice that they were backlogged and to expect delays, but following that notice there were no delays at all.)

We started this whole mess back in September 2019 so at this point I would be fine if the embassy said a few weeks. Seems like the process could use a bit of streamlining but I guess all things considered (COVID) we should be happy with the results we've seen this far. I'll be sure to post up the results of the next couple weeks so people get an idea of how things are moving along.

[shaolincrane 69]

We just received an RFE for our I-485 for her birth certificate, which we submitted a copy of, along with a translation that she certified yet they are asking for it again. Anyone else run into this and have any tips on how to proceed?

[cculbertson81 43]

6 hours ago, shaolincrane said:

We just received an RFE for our I-485 for her birth certificate, which we submitted a copy of, along with a translation that she certified yet they are asking for it again. Anyone else run into this and have any tips on how to proceed?

For us it was with the I-130 and our marriage certificate, but we received an RFE because the translation for our marriage certificate was missing the language stating "... and I am competent to translate from Japanese to English" in the certification statement. It was my fault for not double-checking, but the translation template provided by the State was also missing it. We resubmitted our translation with the additional language and it was accepted.

 

You should check exactly what language language was used in the certification block. It must say "I certify that the above translation is complete and accurate, and that I am competent to translate from the Japanese to English language." If either part of the statement is missing they will send an RFE.

 

Did they give any indication what was missing in your translation? For reference, here is what was in our RFE:

[shaolincrane 69]

1 hour ago, cculbertson81 said:

For us it was with the I-130 and our marriage certificate, but we received an RFE because the translation for our marriage certificate was missing the language stating "... and I am competent to translate from Japanese to English" in the certification statement. It was my fault for not double-checking, but the translation template provided by the State was also missing it. We resubmitted our translation with the additional language and it was accepted.

 

You should check exactly what language language was used in the certification block. It must say "I certify that the above translation is complete and accurate, and that I am competent to translate from the Japanese to English language." If either part of the statement is missing they will send an RFE.

 

Did they give any indication what was missing in your translation? For reference, here is what was in our RFE:

We submitted three copies for each packet, a copy of the certificate, the translation page and a certified statement of translation. I missed a signature on the i485 and the sent the whole packet back, stapled together and when I doubled checked everything I saw all three in there. 

 

We have no indication, just that it wasn't included at all from the wording and we used the Koseki Shouhon. I was considering submitting both the translated Shouhon and Touhon to be safe.

 

 

[cculbertson81 43]

5 minutes ago, shaolincrane said:

We submitted three copies for each packet, a copy of the certificate, the translation page and a certified statement of translation. I missed a signature on the i485 and the sent the whole packet back, stapled together and when I doubled checked everything I saw all three in there. 

 

We have no indication, just that it wasn't included at all from the wording and we used the Koseki Shouhon. I was considering submitting both the translated Shouhon and Touhon to be safe.

 

 

Looking at the bulleted section, it's possible that her Koseki Shohon did not contain information on at least one parent. We used her Koseki Shohon for the NVC phase and were fortunate that it included her place of birth and parents, but I have read that some prefectures don't include that information, in which case you would need to provide a copy and translation of the Koseki Tohon instead which is much more thorough. Here is a redacted version of my wife's Koseki Shohon and translation which was accepted on the first try.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[shaolincrane 69]

Hers looks identical and so did our translation form. Guess I can call for further information or just resubmit them and cross our fingers.

[cculbertson81 43]

Getting in touch sounds like your best bet at this point. It's always possible that your documents were lost or mistakenly separated from your case file. This is just a small snag in the scheme of things though, so hopefully it will get resolved quickly and you will be well on your way to finishing AOS. Good luck!

[shaolincrane 69]

I could usually buy that they were lost, if, they didn't send me back the entire packet for a signature. Guess I'll call them. Thanks for the tips

[Nathan B 48]

Our interview date in Tokyo is set for August 18th! I hope everyone else is sent some good luck also!

[TaKane 53]

I'm glad that I found out this Japan Filers group. All the comments and experiences sharing are very helpful.

 

We got DQ'ed: mid May

Interview letter received: mid July

Interview at Tokyo embassy: mid Aug 

 

Any pointers or suggestions on 1) interview questions and 2) document to bring (was told the embassy would send document list couple days prior to interview) would be appreciated.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by TaKane

[TaKane 53]

On 7/30/2020 at 7:50 AM, Nathan B said:

Our interview date in Tokyo is set for August 18th! I hope everyone else is sent some good luck also!

Good luck! 

[islanderfever 14]

On 8/1/2020 at 11:38 PM, TaKane said:

I'm glad that I found out this Japan Filers group. All the comments and experiences sharing are very helpful.

 

We got DQ'ed: mid May

Interview letter received: mid July

Interview at Tokyo embassy: mid Aug 

 

Any pointers or suggestions on 1) interview questions and 2) document to bring (was told the embassy would send document list couple days prior to interview) would be appreciated.

 

Hi  @TaKane, I suggest checking out the Japan embassy reviews here on VJ. Some users talk about the interview experience and questions that were asked.

https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=Japan&cty=&dfilter=5&topic=

My wife has her interview in mid August as well. Good luck!

[TaKane 53]

1 hour ago, islanderfever said:

Hi  @TaKane, I suggest checking out the Japan embassy reviews here on VJ. Some users talk about the interview experience and questions that were asked.

https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=Japan&cty=&dfilter=5&topic=

My wife has her interview in mid August as well. Good luck!

Thanks @islanderfever

Edited August 3, 2020 by TaKane
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[TaKane 53]

Thanks @islanderfever Good luck with your wife's interview!