Will we be able to immigrate to the US during this pandemic?

[delighte 0]

I am a US citizen who is currently living in Japan with my non-American wife.

We have applied for a spousal visa for her, and we are near the end where they have just given us the interview date.

So moving back to the US (specifically California) is coming up very soon.

 

What I am worried about is that we get her visa, we pack all our stuff up, quit our jobs, etc, then at either the Japanese Airport or on arrival to America, we get rejected due to corona.

Between Japan and the US, there is no strict "NO TRAVEL!" ban, but there is a sort of "recommended not to travel" warning.

Does anyone have any information about this worry of mine, or first hand experience with it?

 

P.S. Sorry if this is a repeat question, i tried to search the forums but couldn't find this question

[delighte 0]

Oops i realized this thread belongs more in a different subforum

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/110-ir-1-cr-1-spouse-visa-process-amp-procedures/

or

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/133-general-immigration-related-discussion/

 

Idk how to move or delete this thread, so if a mod could move it I would appreciate that

Edited August 25, 2020 by delighte

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

A us citizen is never barred from entering the country. As you said there is no ban from Japan but even if there was and it mirrored the current ban- US citizen spouses and children are exempt. It’s recommended to not travel anywhere in the world yet airplane and passengers are still flying.

[Crazy Cat 42,033]

4 hours ago, delighte said:

I am a US citizen who is currently living in Japan with my non-American wife.

We have applied for a spousal visa for her, and we are near the end where they have just given us the interview date.

So moving back to the US (specifically California) is coming up very soon.

 

What I am worried about is that we get her visa, we pack all our stuff up, quit our jobs, etc, then at either the Japanese Airport or on arrival to America, we get rejected due to corona.

Between Japan and the US, there is no strict "NO TRAVEL!" ban, but there is a sort of "recommended not to travel" warning.

Does anyone have any information about this worry of mine, or first hand experience with it?

 

P.S. Sorry if this is a repeat question, i tried to search the forums but couldn't find this question

Non-issue.........you will be allowed to travel. 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

I think you will be fine. And since your wife will have a spouse visa, she is allowed to enter US. So you got DQ from NVC? What was the date?

[delighte 0]

1 minute ago, S & C said:

I think you will be fine. And since your wife will have a spouse visa, she is allowed to enter US. So you got DQ from NVC? What was the date?

DQ is the interview date? Interview date is set for Sept 10. We got notice from the NVC site that our documents were approved on Jul 24, so it took about a month and a half to get this interview date (i thought it would take like 6 months)

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

no, DQ is Documentarily Qualified, which you got it from the NVC before they transfer your case to the embassy. that's nice that your interview is set for Sept 10th. I am also living in Japan, and my DQ date is Aug 18th. So looking from your case, I might get an interview date around Oct.

[delighte 0]

3 hours ago, S & C said:

no, DQ is Documentarily Qualified, which you got it from the NVC before they transfer your case to the embassy. that's nice that your interview is set for Sept 10th. I am also living in Japan, and my DQ date is Aug 18th. So looking from your case, I might get an interview date around Oct.

oh okay so my DQ was Jul 24

yeah this 2 week notice for the appointment is quite short and stressful >.<

especially because of the medical exam. it takes 4-5 working days for it to be processed, so we are very lucky that we were able to get an appointment for tomorrow.

if we had to do the medical exam in like the next week, it might not be finished processing by the time of the interview

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

18 minutes ago, delighte said:

oh okay so my DQ was Jul 24

yeah this 2 week notice for the appointment is quite short and stressful >.<

especially because of the medical exam. it takes 4-5 working days for it to be processed, so we are very lucky that we were able to get an appointment for tomorrow.

if we had to do the medical exam in like the next week, it might not be finished processing by the time of the interview

i see, yeah, it takes almost a week for the medical check up. is your wife gonna have an interview in Tokyo?

i heard that you can change the interview date up to 3 times and you can discuss it with the embassy. anyway, good luck with the medical check up and interview, if you don't mind, please share your experience once the interview done

[delighte 0]

3 hours ago, S & C said:

i see, yeah, it takes almost a week for the medical check up. is your wife gonna have an interview in Tokyo?

i heard that you can change the interview date up to 3 times and you can discuss it with the embassy. anyway, good luck with the medical check up and interview, if you don't mind, please share your experience once the interview done

Yes at Tokyo. We were thinking to change the interview date, but i think it looks bad to do so. So we are trying to do it without rescheduling.
By the way, do you know if any English translations of japanese documents need to be notarized by the embassy?

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

55 minutes ago, delighte said:

Yes at Tokyo. We were thinking to change the interview date, but i think it looks bad to do so. So we are trying to do it without rescheduling.
By the way, do you know if any English translations of japanese documents need to be notarized by the embassy?

i see, that is make sense. i never heard of it, but i dont think so, as long as you use the sworn translator or there is a statement letter that shows if the translation are right. 

[delighte 0]

2 minutes ago, S & C said:

i see, that is make sense. i never heard of it, but i dont think so, as long as you use the sworn translator or there is a statement letter that shows if the translation are right. 

so self translations are not allowed?

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

1 hour ago, delighte said:

so self translations are not allowed?

i am not sure about it. but if you passed OK on I-130 and NVC steps, i think it should be ok with the embassy also. our agent just suggested to use the sworn translator since at the beginning, so we just following it (attached is what our agent said).  i think it wont be problem if you understand both languages Japanese and English while you translated it.

Edited August 26, 2020 by S & C