Starting CR-1 Visa process for Japanese wife. Questions about I-130

[deepdishpizza 6]

I want to start by saying this community is fantastic.  I've been lurking for a little while and everyone seems so helpful and informative.  Hopefully, one day I can give back.  

 

A little history of our relationship to start, don't know if it will help with any of my questions though.  I lived in Japan from 2004-2007 and met my wife the last year I was there.  We stayed long distance while I lived back home in the states .  I came back to Japan for work in July of 2015.  We broke up for a little under 2 years, got back together in 2017, and recently got married in November.  We have known each other for quite some time.  Even though I live in Japan now, we are still long distance due my housing being heavily subsidized and my employer not allowing anyone else to live there.  My wife also has her own small business where she lives.   It's currently about a 90 minute flight between us.  In 2017 we made 4 trips to see each other, 11 in 2018,  and 10 trips in 2019.  She also visited me 3 times while I was living in the US.  

 

I hope to have the I-130 sent out by early February.  My parents are coming to visit next week to get professional wedding photos taken with both sets of parents.  I definitely want to include these in the I-130

 

The things I will include for evidence of bonifide marriage are as follows:

marriage certificate, and English translation (requirement)

Old photos of us together, from when she visited me in the US.

Recent photos we have taken together since I came back to Japan.

Receipts of all the flights we have taken to visit each other.

Engagement ring receipt

Wedding photos receipt (we aren't doing a ceremony)

copies of old emails we wrote when we were long long distance

 

Some questions:

 

1. We have always used the messaging app called LINE, which everyone uses here in Japan.  We also have always used LINE for voice and video calls.  I have our message logs all the way back from 2017 in a 6.4mb .txt file, 6,900 page when I convert it to a 20mb pdf.  Of course this includes very private conversations, nothing incriminating, but private nonetheless.  The history shows when calls and video calls were placed along with the length of the call, which I hear is valuable  Would it be a good idea to include this colossal messaging log in the I-130?  I definitely  could go back and reread 2 years of messages and delete any private or embarrassing things but that would take a ridiculous amount of hours.  If I filed electronically it would be very easy to include this.  Is there a way to attach a .txt file when submitting electronically?  PDF only?

 

2. She has taken on my last name legally in Japan, but her passport isn't updated yet.  It doesn't appear that her passport photo copies are needed for the I-130.

 

3. Filing the I-130 online seems like a great idea.  Are there any downsides to it over physically mailing the packet to the US?

 

 

 

That's all I have for right now but I'm sure I will have plenty of questions as I get closer to submitting the I-130.  Thanks in advance!  Have a great day everyone.

[geowrian 22,338]

1) Quality > quantity.

Would you read  6,900 pages of chats? Somebody who is going to spend minutes on your case isn't going to do so either. People generally provide a subset of messages to show regular communication over time.

Even then, chats are secondary. Time spent together is primary.

 

Note that Japan is low fraud, you've been together for years, you have multiple visits together each year, etc. Time spent in person is best. I doubt you'll have a problem with that piece of the puzzle.

 

2) Not an issue.

 

3) I'll defer to others as I haven't looked at the online form yet. Some people appear to really like it. But it is still quite new so there's no much to go by.

Personally, if I were to file myself, I'd go with the online version unless I saw a particular issue that required doing so via paper.

Edited January 9, 2020 by geowrian