Japanese Police Certificate Upload

[Krin 0]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I have gotten to the uploading of civil documents for the Consular Electronic Application Center.  We are applying for a CR-1 visa from Japan.

He got his police certificate and we uploaded it to the website due to these instructions from here:

 

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Japanese Police Certificates are issued in a sealed envelope. If the seal is broken, the certificate is considered invalid. Visa applicants should not open a sealed envelope containing a Police Certificate. The applicant must bring the original Police Certificate in a sealed envelope to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate at the time of his/her interview. Applicants should only send a photocopy of the sealed envelope to the National Visa Center, but not the actual police certificate itself.

 

We scanned the sealed envelope and uploaded it.

 

 

Today, we got an email from the CEAC.  The message said:

 

The police certificate required for JAPAN does not need to be submitted through CEAC. The issuing authority will send the police certificate directly to the interviewing consulate or embassy. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines.

 

What???

This is super confusing- we are located in Japan so my husband could go get another police certificate, but do we need to?

I also cannot remove the Police Certificate upload from our documents.

 

I don't know what to do :< Any guidance?

[HRQX 4,145]

On 10/2/2020 at 3:28 PM, Krin said:

I don't know what to do :< Any guidance?

Follow the following instructions: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Japan.html They are more accurate than the CEAC email.

[stringpuller 74]

On 10/2/2020 at 6:28 PM, Krin said:

Hi all,

 

My husband and I have gotten to the uploading of civil documents for the Consular Electronic Application Center.  We are applying for a CR-1 visa from Japan.

He got his police certificate and we uploaded it to the website due to these instructions from here:

 

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Japanese Police Certificates are issued in a sealed envelope. If the seal is broken, the certificate is considered invalid. Visa applicants should not open a sealed envelope containing a Police Certificate. The applicant must bring the original Police Certificate in a sealed envelope to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate at the time of his/her interview. Applicants should only send a photocopy of the sealed envelope to the National Visa Center, but not the actual police certificate itself.

 

We scanned the sealed envelope and uploaded it.

 

 

Today, we got an email from the CEAC.  The message said:

 

The police certificate required for JAPAN does not need to be submitted through CEAC. The issuing authority will send the police certificate directly to the interviewing consulate or embassy. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines.

 

What???

This is super confusing- we are located in Japan so my husband could go get another police certificate, but do we need to?

I also cannot remove the Police Certificate upload from our documents.

 

I don't know what to do :< Any guidance?

Is this the normal procedure for all police records? Meaning they are not opened until interview? 

Edited October 5, 2020 by stringpuller

[HRQX 4,145]

44 minutes ago, stringpuller said:

Is this the normal procedure for all police records? Meaning they are not opened until interview? 

It's specific for Japanese police records.

[stringpuller 74]

22 minutes ago, HRQX said:

It's specific for Japanese police records.

Oh ok thanks

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

On 10/3/2020 at 7:28 AM, Krin said:

Hi all,

 

My husband and I have gotten to the uploading of civil documents for the Consular Electronic Application Center.  We are applying for a CR-1 visa from Japan.

He got his police certificate and we uploaded it to the website due to these instructions from here:

 

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Japanese Police Certificates are issued in a sealed envelope. If the seal is broken, the certificate is considered invalid. Visa applicants should not open a sealed envelope containing a Police Certificate. The applicant must bring the original Police Certificate in a sealed envelope to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate at the time of his/her interview. Applicants should only send a photocopy of the sealed envelope to the National Visa Center, but not the actual police certificate itself.

 

We scanned the sealed envelope and uploaded it.

 

 

Today, we got an email from the CEAC.  The message said:

 

The police certificate required for JAPAN does not need to be submitted through CEAC. The issuing authority will send the police certificate directly to the interviewing consulate or embassy. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines.

 

What???

This is super confusing- we are located in Japan so my husband could go get another police certificate, but do we need to?

I also cannot remove the Police Certificate upload from our documents.

 

I don't know what to do :< Any guidance?

I did the same thing as you did. I took a pic of the sealed envelope and upload it to the CEAC site, but we didn't get any message like you did.

 

Maybe you can try to email the US embassy Tokyo and ask them what to do. I was confused with my Indonesia Police Certificate (whether I should get that or not), and I emailed embassy and they said it is not necessary. But since on the CEAC site asked me about it, I just uploaded the email that I got from the embassy and it was OK.  so you can to do it that way. or you can just take screenshot from the below site where it mention about the Police Certificate. I brought the envelope myself to the embassy at the time my interview.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Japan.html

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by CS_Bradshaw

[Krin 0]

On 10/6/2020 at 10:13 AM, CS_Bradshaw said:

I did the same thing as you did. I took a pic of the sealed envelope and upload it to the CEAC site, but we didn't get any message like you did.

 

Maybe you can try to email the US embassy Tokyo and ask them what to do. I was confused with my Indonesia Police Certificate (whether I should get that or not), and I emailed embassy and they said it is not necessary. But since on the CEAC site asked me about it, I just uploaded the email that I got from the embassy and it was OK.  so you can to do it that way. or you can just take screenshot from the below site where it mention about the Police Certificate. I brought the envelope myself to the embassy at the time my interview.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Japan.html

 

 

Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification.
Seems like everything is okay because they accepted our documents now and we have an interview scheduled!
He will take the sealed envelope to his interview~

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

On 10/30/2020 at 9:59 PM, Krin said:

Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification.
Seems like everything is okay because they accepted our documents now and we have an interview scheduled!
He will take the sealed envelope to his interview~

that's good to hear. I hope his interview will go smoothly.

[TedBrosby 26]

On 10/30/2020 at 9:59 PM, Krin said:

Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification.
Seems like everything is okay because they accepted our documents now and we have an interview scheduled!
He will take the sealed envelope to his interview~

Hello,  

Can I ask a few questions?  

How long after DQ did you get interview email? And how long after the interview letter was the interview itself?  

  

What did you end up having to do for the police certificate? Did you take it with you sealed? Did you have to order a new one because the old one is expired?  

  

Thank you and congrats on your new life together in the United States!