All Japan Filers

[jmcl10 5]

1 hour ago, CS_Bradshaw said:

yeaahhh.... was thinking to change the date too, but trying to fly there in the end of this year if everything goes well, so i didn't change it, lol.

 

yes, i think they only accept the medical check up from 2 hospital for Tokyo area, so i am going to the one that closer from my place, gonna do it this Friday.

take the one near tokyo tower (tokyo medical surgical clinic) hassle free. Medical needs appointment btw.

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

38 minutes ago, jmcl10 said:

take the one near tokyo tower (tokyo medical surgical clinic) hassle free. Medical needs appointment btw.

Thank you for your information. I have booked an appointment already last week and they said this Friday is available. I am going to do it at the hospital that located in Shinjuku.

[m046186 0]

I'm looking for some insight from those that had to submit additional documentation following the embassy interview.

 

My wife received a 221(g) requesting additional documents to prove my domicile is in the US, and I submitted copies of our current lease (wife cosigned in September 2019 when I moved back to the US in anticipation of her visa),  insurance, August utility bill, and latest pay stub through CEAC as my wife was walking out of the embassy. Everything else with the interview was in order. I (wrongly?) assumed as a USC employed in the US with a steady residence in place since September 2019 my AOS was sufficient with what was submitted (W2s, Tax Returns, Passport).

 

Her interview was 8/27, we submitted the documentation immediately after her interview, and her status has been stuck as "Refused" for over two weeks now. The CO told my wife that they'd keep her passport and they'd approve the visa once the documentation was received and processed.

 

We submitted a status request immediately 10 business days after her interview per the Embassy's instructions, but it seems this is taking a lot longer than expected based on others with similar experiences. It's even more frustrating that our priority date is 3/12/2019, but we did not get sent to the NVC until March 2020. Thanks Nebraska Service Center.

 

Has anyone experienced a 221(g) at the Tokyo Embassy taking this long? My wife and daughter have been living within walking distance of the Embassy, since I left for San Francisco, and I really wish they would have let her come back the morning of her interview with the documentation. 

 

 

[exitlizard 1]

Update:

 

Last night we got another notice from NVC. They told me I need to provide them with Form 2555 for my taxes. I do not file Form 2555, and instead file Form 1116. Form 2555 is for people using the "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion". Form 1116 is for people using the Foreign Tax Credit. Anyway, They have my complete tax filing, including Form 1116, so they have already had this information for over a month. So I called NVC again (and again, another hour wait on the phone). I explained that I don't file Form 2555. She puts me on hold for a minute or two. She comes back and says I need to show them Form 2555 since I'm an overseas filer. I explain again that I don't file Form 2555, and instead use Form 1116, and that I can't go back and redo my 2019 taxes just to switch this choice. She puts me on hold again for a slightly longer time. She comes back and asks me to attach an explanation for why I don't have Form 2555.

 

Very frustrating that the NVC is asking esoteric tax questions, but doesn't have the relevant tax knowledge to understand these issues. They have my complete tax documentation for the past 3 years, which was prepared by a known tax firm. Virtually everything about my income and investments (including domicile) is in my tax documents, but the NVC still comes back and asks for information that I have already provided, or that doesn't exist. Its like asking for my army discharge papers when I've never been in the army - and then being told I have to provide a written explanation of why I don't have my army discharge papers. This is happening even though my documents were all marked "Accepted" back in early September. 

 

Hopefully they will take a look next week and give us DQ next week, but the frustration is taking years off of my life. 

 

 

[neokyo878 0]

On 9/14/2020 at 4:24 PM, m046186 said:

I'm looking for some insight from those that had to submit additional documentation following the embassy interview.

 

My wife received a 221(g) requesting additional documents to prove my domicile is in the US, and I submitted copies of our current lease (wife cosigned in September 2019 when I moved back to the US in anticipation of her visa),  insurance, August utility bill, and latest pay stub through CEAC as my wife was walking out of the embassy. Everything else with the interview was in order. I (wrongly?) assumed as a USC employed in the US with a steady residence in place since September 2019 my AOS was sufficient with what was submitted (W2s, Tax Returns, Passport).

 

Her interview was 8/27, we submitted the documentation immediately after her interview, and her status has been stuck as "Refused" for over two weeks now. The CO told my wife that they'd keep her passport and they'd approve the visa once the documentation was received and processed.

 

We submitted a status request immediately 10 business days after her interview per the Embassy's instructions, but it seems this is taking a lot longer than expected based on others with similar experiences. It's even more frustrating that our priority date is 3/12/2019, but we did not get sent to the NVC until March 2020. Thanks Nebraska Service Center.

 

Has anyone experienced a 221(g) at the Tokyo Embassy taking this long? My wife and daughter have been living within walking distance of the Embassy, since I left for San Francisco, and I really wish they would have let her come back the morning of her interview with the documentation. 

 

 

We are in the same boat, but it seems you are a couple of days ahead of use. My wife's interview was 9/4. We also submitted a status request exactly 10 business days after her interview, but no response yet.

Does anybody have any experience on how long the turn around for submitting additional documentation for 221(g) to getting approved?

 

[m046186 0]

5 hours ago, neokyo878 said:

We are in the same boat, but it seems you are a couple of days ahead of use. My wife's interview was 9/4. We also submitted a status request exactly 10 business days after her interview, but no response yet.

Does anybody have any experience on how long the turn around for submitting additional documentation for 221(g) to getting approved?

 

Quick Update - I called to complain and was told to resubmit the same documentation to the tokyoiv-at-state.gov email alias. Less than one hour after resubmitting, our "Case Last Updated" date finally changed and 5 calendar days later, we received confirmation from that same email alias that my wife's application had been processed (with another update to our "Case Last Updated" date and that we should now wait for her passport to arrive in the mail. It's been 5 business days since the last update, but we're still stuck at "Refused." I assume we're going through AP and the visa issuance is coming soon. Fingers crossed.

 

I worry for those that only submitted their additional documentation through CEAC. I fear that CEAC is somewhat of a black hole that isn't being looked at as often as the email alias. I'm not sure why they did not include the alias on the 221(g) instructions.

[neokyo878 0]

On 9/25/2020 at 4:23 AM, m046186 said:

Quick Update - I called to complain and was told to resubmit the same documentation to the tokyoiv-at-state.gov email alias. Less than one hour after resubmitting, our "Case Last Updated" date finally changed and 5 calendar days later, we received confirmation from that same email alias that my wife's application had been processed (with another update to our "Case Last Updated" date and that we should now wait for her passport to arrive in the mail. It's been 5 business days since the last update, but we're still stuck at "Refused." I assume we're going through AP and the visa issuance is coming soon. Fingers crossed.

 

I worry for those that only submitted their additional documentation through CEAC. I fear that CEAC is somewhat of a black hole that isn't being looked at as often as the email alias. I'm not sure why they did not include the alias on the 221(g) instructions.

Hey thank you for the update and the information.
I just want to confirm if you sent to Tokyoiv-at-state.gov or tokyoniv-at-state.gov? 
I found this information https://www.ustraveldocs.com/jp/jp-niv-documentsubmissioninfo.asp which shows the address tokyoniv-at-state.gov.

Also any updates to your visa?

[m046186 0]

1 minute ago, neokyo878 said:

Hey thank you for the update and the information.
I just want to confirm if you sent to Tokyoiv-at-state.gov or tokyoniv-at-state.gov? 
I found this information https://www.ustraveldocs.com/jp/jp-niv-documentsubmissioninfo.asp which shows the address tokyoniv-at-state.gov.

Also any updates to your visa?

TOKYOIV@ is the correct header that I used. TOKYONIV is for nonimmigrant visas.

 

Yes! My wife's passport shipped out today. Her status went from Refused to Ready last Friday (9/25), from Ready to Administrative Processing on Monday (9/28), and from Administrative Processing to Issued just before noon on Tuesday (9/29). Her LetterPack tracking went active later in the afternoon after being posted to the Akasaka Post Office. It was exactly 10 business days from submission to TOKYOIV@ to passport shipped.

[neokyo878 0]

36 minutes ago, m046186 said:

TOKYOIV@ is the correct header that I used. TOKYONIV is for nonimmigrant visas.

 

Yes! My wife's passport shipped out today. Her status went from Refused to Ready last Friday (9/25), from Ready to Administrative Processing on Monday (9/28), and from Administrative Processing to Issued just before noon on Tuesday (9/29). Her LetterPack tracking went active later in the afternoon after being posted to the Akasaka Post Office. It was exactly 10 business days from submission to TOKYOIV@ to passport shipped.

Ah, That make sense. 

We just filled out and sent to TOKYOIV today as everywhere else seems to be a dead end.

Hopefully we can get some progress. Ill update here in case anybody else is following this thread.

Thank you for your help.

Also congratulations on getting the visa! 10 business day turn around is not too bad. Its a shame they don't say to email that email address on the 221(g).

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

Hi guys, I had my interview on Oct 5 and just now my status changed to Issued! Just wanna share the good news

[exitlizard 1]

On 9/19/2020 at 7:37 AM, 2020ParkTower said:

Hopefully they will take a look next week and give us DQ next week

Update on my situation, NCV notified us Monday that we needed to provide W2 forms for the years 2017-2019. I just looked and I have already provided these. Well, I sent in the Japanese "Gensenchoshuhyo" forms with translations - since I work in Japan and don't have W2 forms. They've had these since September 12th.

 

Now its starting to get a bit frustrating, with the NCV asking me for documents they already have, or documents that don't exist. I will have to call them again tonight (my third time) and spend another hour waiting to get through, to find out why they are still asking me for W2 forms. 

[bubob 0]

just popping in to say hello to everyone. we just filed our I-130 yesterday and, shockingly on the same day, received what i believe is our NOA-1? our "tracker" updated and said they sent a notice, and that we have been assigned to Nebraska.

 

is there anything time-consuming that we can start preparing now for the next stage? i think i read on here that we can start looking into those dreadful police certificates.

 

 

[cculbertson81 43]

1 hour ago, bubob said:

just popping in to say hello to everyone. we just filed our I-130 yesterday and, shockingly on the same day, received what i believe is our NOA-1? our "tracker" updated and said they sent a notice, and that we have been assigned to Nebraska.

 

is there anything time-consuming that we can start preparing now for the next stage? i think i read on here that we can start looking into those dreadful police certificates.

 

 

Congratulations on submitting your USCIS phase documents!

 

You likely have another 6-8 months before you reach the NVC phase, but you're right that you can get a head start on gathering documents now. It might be a little too soon for the police certificate since they are only valid for one year, and must still be valid when entering the US on your visa. I don't know if your spouse needs certificates for any countries besides Japan, but the Japanese police certificate was very easy for us to obtain (Kanagawa prefecture). My wife was able to walk into the prefectural police office with the completed form, and a week or so later she had her sealed certificate. When your spouse does obtain it, scan the front and back of the sealed envelope to submit to the NVC. Your spouse will bring the sealed copy to the interview.

 

Similarly, you can look into the medical exam, but that is only valid for six months after the exam so you will probably want to wait until you receive your NOA-2. You can at least research which location will be most convenient and make tentative plans on your calendars for ~6-8 months from now.

 

One item you can definitely work ahead on is getting a copy of your spouse's birth certificate and translating it into English. It can be self-translated and certified. We used the short version of her family register (koseki shohon) formed after we were married and she changed her name. Your spouse's parents names and place of birth must be included on the certificate. If their short version does not contain that information, they will need to use the long version (koseki tohon).

 

You can also work on collecting your financial records that accompany your form i-864 such as tax transcripts and W2s for the past 3 years. If you end up filing your 2020 taxes before submitting your i-864, you can request your 2020 transcript and replace the oldest transcript and W2. You can also keep a rolling collection of your past 6 months of pay stubs. I also included an employment verification letter from my employer's HR department noting my length of employment and current annual salary. This may be more documentation than they end up requiring, but they will not refuse it, and it's better to be over-prepared. You can also fill out form i-864 in advance, but be aware that it's possible for them to update the form between now and when you need to submit.

 

I would highly recommend looking at a sample form DS-260 to get an idea of what kind of information is required. This form is completed online, and you can't start it until after your NVC fees have been collected. The biggest challenge for us what including a thorough record of living addresses (since age 16), employers (including addresses), education (including addresses), and past 5 dates of travel to the US. Finding records of previous US visas such as F1, J1, or H1B including the visa number will also help when completing the form. Having all of this information ready in advance is extremely important, as the system has very aggressive timeout periods (at least as of May 2019) and there is a high potential for losing entered data on the current page while you are looking up information.

 

Finally, I'd recommend to start setting aside money for the upcoming NVC and immigration fees so you don't get blindsided when they are due. Currently fees are:

• Immigrant Visa filing fee: $325
• Affidavit of Support filing fee: $120
• USCIS immigrant fee: $220

It looks like a lot, and it is, but you have a good amount of time to work through it all. Keep chipping away while you wait for your NOA-2 and by the time you hit the NVC phase you'll sail through it super quickly.

 

Good luck!

[shaolincrane 69]

We just received a letter for her biometrics appointment. So since we are finally seeing some movement, does anyone know if we can use her medical evaluation from Japan here, or at least part of it? I know we need vaccinations which we can get through our insurance but the rest of it I cannot find concrete info as of late.

[dandl0504 4]

E-filed the I-130 for my husband, priority date 7/29/2020. Initially was assigned Nebraska so we were expecting to have update sometime in the next few months, but found out today we got transferred to Vermont at some point, which has up to 30 month wait for I-130. Yikes.

 

Anyone applying from Japan get transferred to Vermont?? I feel like all the cases I see from Japan tend to go smoothly, so hard to believe we'll really be waiting until 2022 just to get approval on our I-130