All Japan Filers

[cculbertson81 43]

On 12/19/2018 at 1:29 AM, nekojita said:

A few tips I've picked-up to fast track things as I go through this process (K1 visa at Tokyo)...

1) You can get your police report done with your NOA1 (no need to wait for NOA2)

 

 

We're gathering some documents ahead of time for the NVC phase (CR1 visa) and we were wondering if the original NOA1 was required to get the police certificate, or if a copy is OK. My wife's residence is in Kanagawa-ken so we'll have to request it from the Yokohama-shi police department, if that makes a difference. 

[Naes 12,205]

3 hours ago, cculbertson81 said:

We're gathering some documents ahead of time for the NVC phase (CR1 visa) and we were wondering if the original NOA1 was required to get the police certificate, or if a copy is OK. My wife's residence is in Kanagawa-ken so we'll have to request it from the Yokohama-shi police department, if that makes a difference. 

I got mine with a copy of noa1 and from the same police dep.

 

however the department she will go for Kanagawa residents is not yokohamashi police department. Please check the link.

 

https://www.police.pref.kanagawa.jp/mes/mesc5004.htm

[cculbertson81 43]

5 hours ago, Naes said:

I got mine with a copy of noa1 and from the same police dep.

 

however the department she will go for Kanagawa residents is not yokohamashi police department. Please check the link.

 

https://www.police.pref.kanagawa.jp/mes/mesc5004.htm

That's excellent news, thank you! 

 

And yes, that's the office I meant to refer to. Just a slip of the tongue I guess. 😅

 

Thank you again for the quick response! 

[cculbertson81 43]

Thank you again for the police certificate assistance! My wife was able request her certificate without any issues. We also received our NOA2 on 1/31 a couple days after I originally posted, so I sent her with a copy of that as well just in case. She said she was in and out of the office within 20 minutes.

We are still waiting on the NVC to receive our case as of 2/6. Having pretty much everything gathered for the NVC phase, we are now we are thinking ahead to the embassy phase, particularly the medical check. We are curious on the timing with scheduling the exam as well as receiving results. Our main concern is that she will be moving from the Greater Tokyo Area to back home in Yamaguchi-ken around mid-March and we want to minimize the number of trips she needs to make back to Tokyo, ideally only around the time of her interview and exiting from Japan. Is it realistic to be able to schedule and receive results for her medical check results prior to her moving, or in the same trip prior to her eventual embassy interview? We just want to be as efficient as possible.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice or personal experience anyone is able to provide!

[kikume 12]

On 2/7/2019 at 11:42 AM, cculbertson81 said:

Thank you again for the police certificate assistance! My wife was able request her certificate without any issues. We also received our NOA2 on 1/31 a couple days after I originally posted, so I sent her with a copy of that as well just in case. She said she was in and out of the office within 20 minutes.

We are still waiting on the NVC to receive our case as of 2/6. Having pretty much everything gathered for the NVC phase, we are now we are thinking ahead to the embassy phase, particularly the medical check. We are curious on the timing with scheduling the exam as well as receiving results. Our main concern is that she will be moving from the Greater Tokyo Area to back home in Yamaguchi-ken around mid-March and we want to minimize the number of trips she needs to make back to Tokyo, ideally only around the time of her interview and exiting from Japan. Is it realistic to be able to schedule and receive results for her medical check results prior to her moving, or in the same trip prior to her eventual embassy interview? We just want to be as efficient as possible.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice or personal experience anyone is able to provide!

 

Keep in mind that medical exams are valid for 6 months after they are conducted. The medical exam results must be still valid when she enters the US.

 

On medical exam scheduling and results: I think I received my results within 1-2 weeks in the post. You can choose to have your results mailed to you, you just have to pay the extra little bit for that tracking envelope. You could always do the exam right before you move, and have the results mailed home - so the exam is still valid till mid-Sept.

 

On overall timelines: (These times have some buffer!) I would give it ~1 month from NOA2 to the embassy receiving your case. Then around another 1-2 months to schedule and attend the interview (could be less, I did this around summer when all the kids were getting student visas...). Then after that, allow time for potential Administrative Processing, and however long it'll take for her to get ready and leave for the US. (Edited to add: These were the times I experienced for K-1 visas though, am wondering if there is any difference in the spousal visa you went for.)

Edited February 8, 2019 by kikume

[heykatydid 3]

It took my husband the same 1-2 weeks (about 10 days, I think) to get the medical results in the mail, and they came right to our apartment. They came to us as a signature-required package. The hardest thing was scheduling his medical check! They had only a few appointments, and a few weeks out, even though we called right away. As for the rest, we were on vacation when we got the email notification that his interview had been scheduled, and it was 5 weeks later, but I've heard the summer months get really busy, and any time there's a holiday (like Golden Week), things get really backed up at the Embassy, so that can definitely affect how quickly the process works.

 

However, my husband was really worried after his interview, because they came out of nowhere when he showed up at the embassy telling him he needed another signature (my mother's) because my parents' sponsorship information used joint-filed taxes. They had given us no information about needing this prior to this point (though we had the normal "we need the police certificate" even though Japan's rules specifically state that you can't open the police certificate letter), and I had already left Japan to move back to the States. He was understandably panicked, but then got his passport with visa inside only 2 days later in the mail.

 

It looks like I sent our NOA2 in end of February, and received our notification mid-April that they'd scheduled his interview. It moved a lot faster at that point, but not fast enough to make a single visit to Tokyo (we lived there, so it wasn't a big deal for us). Let me know if I can help any more, it was pretty recent for us! :)

[azuki 1]

So for the Affidavit of Support is it ok for my mother (the sponsor) to email all the files and I print them out? Asking primarily because of the signature one the form itself. Is it ok to be a photocopy? Or should I have it express mailed to Japan?

[Naes 12,205]

4 minutes ago, azuki said:

So for the Affidavit of Support is it ok for my mother (the sponsor) to email all the files and I print them out? Asking primarily because of the signature one the form itself. Is it ok to be a photocopy? Or should I have it express mailed to Japan?

I would get the form mailed. Last time we asked embassy there they said officers may prefer original for the form. The rest can be emailed.

[azuki 1]

3 minutes ago, Naes said:

I would get the form mailed. Last time we asked embassy there they said officers may prefer original for the form. The rest can be emailed.

Thank you, I've got little less than four weeks so I gotta get on that. 

 

Appreciate the input. We've got police report and medical check done so it's kind of the last thing on our to do list. 

[Naes 12,205]

27 minutes ago, azuki said:

Thank you, I've got little less than four weeks so I gotta get on that. 

 

Appreciate the input. We've got police report and medical check done so it's kind of the last thing on our to do list. 

I think it took 5-7 days for me to receive. Good luck! 

[azuki 1]

Very disappointing results from interview today, I accidentally missed the tax transcripts for Affidavit. 

 

And the interviewer also said it seems like I (petitioner) did not have plans to change domicile back to US. 

 

I was at embassy with my fiance so after he got the denial I went up myself and asked about it. They still have his passport and we have to send doc's. 

 

So depressed

 

[heykatydid 3]

10 hours ago, azuki said:

Very disappointing results from interview today, I accidentally missed the tax transcripts for Affidavit. 

 

And the interviewer also said it seems like I (petitioner) did not have plans to change domicile back to US. 

 

I was at embassy with my fiance so after he got the denial I went up myself and asked about it. They still have his passport and we have to send doc's. 

 

So depressed

 

Oh no! Are you still working/living in Japan? When I (the petitioner) was doing my tax documents, none of my income qualified because it was all earned in Japan and not America, so my parents had to co-sponsor my husband's petition as additional Affidavits of Support. You may also need to have this be your packet of information. If this is the case, you'll also need their documents and signatures. The tax documents were the bulk of our 2nd packet, I believe.

 

As for changing domicile, what I included to show that I had always intended to return to the US was: my up-to-date voter registration card since I was voting absentee, my up-to-date driver's license from back home, my current bank account still open with money in the U.S., emails I'd sent to one of the household goods moving companies in Japan as we were getting our things ready to go, and my current job application profile through a U.S. teaching agency to find employment (including some emails with the agency on specifics on which areas in the U.S. we were looking for). This was enough for me. It could have been overkill, but I was worried since I was still in Japan when we sent the second packet to the NVC and didn't want any issues.

 

They certainly don't make it easy for the American spouse/partner to remain with the non-American spouse/partner. I had to have a lot of extra information as a result, but who wants to spend over a year apart? It was worth it to give us that time together, even though tracking down all the documents was stressful. I hope that list helps with what qualified for me as 'intending to move back to U.S.'

[heykatydid 3]

On 2/8/2019 at 7:40 PM, azuki said:

So for the Affidavit of Support is it ok for my mother (the sponsor) to email all the files and I print them out? Asking primarily because of the signature one the form itself. Is it ok to be a photocopy? Or should I have it express mailed to Japan?

 

Sorry, just scrolled up to see that you had your parents' Affidavit of Support. You also have to have your own, mostly to show that you've filed taxes since you were in Japan. Did you also fill out an Affidavit of Support? Were you missing your tax documents or your mother's? Hopefully it's an easy fix to get, but you may want to make sure you have more than necessary just to cover your bases. I believe the documents said you could need to attach up to 3 years worth, and I did that no matter what out of fear, so they got my last 3 years of taxes in copy form.

[azuki 1]

1 minute ago, heykatydid said:

 

Sorry, just scrolled up to see that you had your parents' Affidavit of Support. You also have to have your own, mostly to show that you've filed taxes since you were in Japan. Did you also fill out an Affidavit of Support? Were you missing your tax documents or your mother's? Hopefully it's an easy fix to get, but you may want to make sure you have more than necessary just to cover your bases. I believe the documents said you could need to attach up to 3 years worth, and I did that no matter what out of fear, so they got my last 3 years of taxes in copy form.

Thank you for your reply. I actually didn't know that I needed my own---I only included my mother's and it had three years of W2s, but no tax transcripts. I think the tax transcript request was regarding the one submitted as I asked the interviewer and he said the W2's alone were not enough now with a new rule change or something. I feel like the best course of action now is just submit what they specifically asked for versus filling one out for myself... I feel like it could bring more opportunities for extra document requests than it would be worth. Or am I wrong?

[heykatydid 3]

3 minutes ago, azuki said:

Thank you for your reply. I actually didn't know that I needed my own---I only included my mother's and it had three years of W2s, but no tax transcripts. I think the tax transcript request was regarding the one submitted as I asked the interviewer and he said the W2's alone were not enough now with a new rule change or something. I feel like the best course of action now is just submit what they specifically asked for versus filling one out for myself... I feel like it could bring more opportunities for extra document requests than it would be worth. Or am I wrong?

I'm almost positive that you also always need your own- one of the big things when other Americans I know who have sponsored is that they get ready and haven't filed their taxes living abroad for years, so they have to show up at the Embassy and get an accountant to do 5 years worth of back taxes completed. It's one of the only reasons I always remembered to file my own while in Japan, despite it being a huge pain to have to do in two countries every year. However, if they didn't ask about it... maybe have it on hand just in case? The last thing you'd want to do is not have something you needed. I'd make copies just to cover my bases in case they need them later. The K-1 visa may be different from the spousal one; I had to show I could support my husband even if my income didn't qualify. But if they want your mother's, that's definitely what you need. The tax documents have more information than W-2s. W-2s only show earned income, but your tax documents can show assets owned, investments, etc. and those are all used to help calculate whether or not the sponsor is fit to financially support the immigrant.