Fiancee Lives in Japan and Visa Expires Soon

[smokeface 17]

My fiancee is a Philippine citizen and is currently living in Japan and working. I filed the I-129f and received an NOA1 on Aug. 16th and it will go to the US Embassy in Tokyo. The way things are looking we will not even receive an NOA2 until late Feb. early March. The issue is her visa expires Apr. 18th and she will likely be unable to get it renewed as her contract with her work will be up and they will not renew because they know she is planning to move here. I put in a request to expedite the case today due to this, but I feel it is unlikely to be approved. While it is an emergency situation for us, I don't believe the USCIS will see it that way, and that was the only option in the criteria for expedition that made sense. Does anyone here have any other ideas if the expedition gets denied? Is there anything else we can do? 

Edited January 11, 2018 by smokeface

[Greenbaum 12,259]

5 minutes ago, smokeface said:

My fiancee is a Philippine citizen and is currently living in Japan and working. I filed the I-129f and received an NOA1 on Aug. 16th and it will go to the US Embassy in Tokyo. The way things are looking we will not even receive an NOA2 until late Feb. early March. The issue is her visa expires Apr. 18th and she will likely be unable to get it renewed as her contract with her work will be up and they will not renew because they know she is planning to move here. I put in a request to expedite the case today due to this, but I feel it is unlikely to be approved. While it is an emergency situation for us, I don't believe the USCIS will see it that way, and that was the only option in the criteria for expedition that made sense. Does anyone here have any other ideas if the expedition gets denied? Is there anything else we can do? 

I don't think there is much you can do to interview in Japan. The one thing you guys can do is have your file sent to USEM and interview in the Philippines.

 

Maybe Hank will way-in with his experience.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Greenbaum

[TNJ17 1,329]

It’s really rare when cases get expedited. I don’t think your reason is pressing enough for USCIS to approve it. You’re gonna have to request a change in embassies for the interview. 

[smokeface 17]

This is horrible news. If she has to move back to the Philippines with no work it's going to be an extreme struggle. We thought she would be here by the time her visa expired. We never expected it to take this long to process the case. If we got denied then she could just say that to her work and they will renew her contract and things would have still been manageable. We are currently in this limbo where we know she will not be here before her visa expires but we also do not know if we will be approved or not. If she moves back to PI and we also got denied, this would honestly be a life ruining situation for her as she would no longer have work or a way to get back to Japan where she can get work. 

[payxibka 10,045]

6 minutes ago, smokeface said:

This is horrible news. If she has to move back to the Philippines with no work it's going to be an extreme struggle. We thought she would be here by the time her visa expired. We never expected it to take this long to process the case. If we got denied then she could just say that to her work and they will renew her contract and things would have still been manageable. We are currently in this limbo where we know she will not be here before her visa expires but we also do not know if we will be approved or not. If she moves back to PI and we also got denied, this would honestly be a life ruining situation for her as she would no longer have work or a way to get back to Japan where she can get work. 

How long is her contract renewal period?  6 mos?  1 year?

[smokeface 17]

1 year.

[Hank_ 9,174]

16 minutes ago, smokeface said:

My fiancee is a Philippine citizen and is currently living in Japan and working. I filed the I-129f and received an NOA1 on Aug. 16th and it will go to the US Embassy in Tokyo. The way things are looking we will not even receive an NOA2 until late Feb. early March. The issue is her visa expires Apr. 18th and she will likely be unable to get it renewed as her contract with her work will be up and they will not renew because they know she is planning to move here. I put in a request to expedite the case today due to this, but I feel it is unlikely to be approved. While it is an emergency situation for us, I don't believe the USCIS will see it that way, and that was the only option in the criteria for expedition that made sense. Does anyone here have any other ideas if the expedition gets denied? Is there anything else we can do? 

For sure not a reason for an expedite in my book.  

 

Did you list as your fiancee's mailing address as that in Japan in PART 2?   That is where NVC determines which embassy, they don't seem to bother looking at items 62a-b.

 

You will have to wait for the file to arrive at the embassy in Japan if you need to get it send to Manila.   Not much chance of it being redirected before

 

16 minutes ago, smokeface said:

This is horrible news. If she has to move back to the Philippines with no work it's going to be an extreme struggle. We thought she would be here by the time her visa expired. We never expected it to take this long to process the case. If we got denied then she could just say that to her work and they will renew her contract and things would have still been manageable. We are currently in this limbo where we know she will not be here before her visa expires but we also do not know if we will be approved or not. If she moves back to PI and we also got denied, this would honestly be a life ruining situation for her as she would no longer have work or a way to get back to Japan where she can get work. 

Why would you think you would get denied?   

[smokeface 17]

3 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

For sure not a reason for an expedite in my book.  

 

Did you list as your fiancee's mailing address as that in Japan in PART 2?   That is where NVC determines which embassy, they don't seem to bother looking at items 62a-b.

 

You will have to wait for the file to arrive at the embassy in Japan if you need to get it send to Manila.   Not much chance of it being redirected before

 

Why would you think you would get denied?   

Yes, her address in Japan is the one listed. Also, I don't believe we would be denied, but if we did it would be horrible for her as she would have no money or work, which is a chance I would rather not take. Also you guys are saying this isn't a reason to get the case expedited, but if it doesn't and she can't get her visa renewed she must move back to PI which causes major financial loss. Which hasn't happened yet., but why is it not worth it to prevent that if the case can be expedited before her visa expires? 

[payxibka 10,045]

I hope you get it because then i am right behind you with the same type of request.

 

But on a serious note, the serious financial loss is because of a personal decision not to renew not something out of your control

 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by payxibka

[Hank_ 9,174]

9 minutes ago, smokeface said:

Yes, her address in Japan is the one listed. Also, I don't believe we would be denied, but if we did it would be horrible for her as she would have no money or work, which is a chance I would rather not take. Also you guys are saying this isn't a reason to get the case expedited, but if it doesn't and she can't get her visa renewed she must move back to PI which causes major financial loss. Which hasn't happened yet., but why is it not worth it to prevent that if the case can be expedited before her visa expires? 

Not saying don't try for the expedite.  (judging by those that have applied before you) I am saying odds of you getting an expedite are between slim and none..       I hope you get the expedite.

 

As the saying goes .. Ask and you shall receive.  Doesn't say what to ask or from whom .. just ask.   

 

What I do say is be prepared for heading back to the Philippines for the visa application.  Also expect another month or two delay once the case file arrives in Japan before it is transferred to Manila

[TNJ17 1,329]

1 hour ago, smokeface said:

1 year.

Just have her renew her work contract. You will most likely be looking at closer to a year from now anyways for K1 in hand. 

[geowrian 22,337]

I concur....there's no real basis for an expedite here. You can try, but I wouldn't hold my breath, sorry.

 

You can try to catch the I-129F while it's at NVC (after NOA2) to request that they send the petition to USEM instead of Japan. I both filed a letter and had this sent to USCIS, and called a couple dozen times (speaking with 2 tier 2s and a supervisor) and was unable to do so....but I have heard of success cases.

 

Beyond that, it's a matter of waiting for Japan to receive the case, then contacting USEM to request that the case is transferred from Japan to them. My now-wife and I had to do this (with Riyadh to USEM), with a timeline in my signature. We got pretty lucky in that it only delayed our process by about 2 weeks.

[smokeface 17]

5 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

Just have her renew her work contract. You will most likely be looking at closer to a year from now anyways for K1 in hand. 

We got NOA1 on Aug 16th. There is no way it will be close to a year before she has an interview and comes to America. 

[smokeface 17]

41 minutes ago, payxibka said:

I hope you get it because then i am right behind you with the same type of request.

 

But on a serious note, the serious financial loss is because of a personal decision not to renew not something out of your control

 

 

It's not a personal decision. She literally can't renew because she needs to have work to renew it. She will not have work because she has already informed them she is in the process of getting a visa to the US. I guess she could lie to her company and say she was denied her K1 visa, renew the contract, then bail once she really gets the K1 visa. That is an incredibly dishonest thing to do though and I don't believe she would even consider it.

[Hank_ 9,174]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

I concur....there's no real basis for an expedite here. You can try, but I wouldn't hold my breath, sorry.

 

You can try to catch the I-129F while it's at NVC (after NOA2) to request that they send the petition to USEM instead of Japan. I both filed a letter and had this sent to USCIS, and called a couple dozen times (speaking with 2 tier 2s and a supervisor) and was unable to do so....but I have heard of success cases.

 

Beyond that, it's a matter of waiting for Japan to receive the case, then contacting USEM to request that the case is transferred from Japan to them. My now-wife and I had to do this (with Riyadh to USEM), with a timeline in my signature. We got pretty lucky in that it only delayed our process by about 2 weeks.

Not saying it isn't so ... but I have yet to hear of NVC redirecting a case file.  I know many that tried but all had to wait for the case file to arrive at the embassy before they could request it be forwarded.  NVC is not "user friendly"  at all.