melissaroo

That's correct. The Japanese police certificate envelope must remain sealed until your wife gives it to them at her interview. It shouldn't be necessary to send them the police certificate before the day of her interview. When my husband had to upload his Japanese police certificate to CEAC, he only needed to upload a scan of both sides of the envelope. (Actually, it got rejected the first time because the person who reviewed it wasn't aware that Japanese police certificate envelopes have to remain sealed to be considered valid, so in response, we re-uploaded the scan and included a letter explaining what was on the Document Finder as well as a screenshot of the section explaining about Japanese police certificates.) On the day of his interview, he brought the Japanese police certificate, still sealed in its envelope, and submitted it to them at the intake window. If all of your required documents are accepted (and you have nothing else that needs to be corrected/submitted), your wife's interview should be scheduled in the next few weeks. Once her interview is scheduled, she can contact the Embassy to double check on the police certificate.

Oops, I'm so sorry, I forgot to actually say thank you!!! Did exactly what you said and our case got DQ'ed earlier this month! (The police certificate with the Reciprocity page reference was easy enough to upload, but my husband also needed to obtain the unabridged version of his birth certificate from Brazil, so that took about a month to actually get and then translate.) His interview has been scheduled for July, so now we're in the process of preparing for his interview as well as scheduling his medical exam.

Hello everyone! My husband (beneficiary) and I have applied for IR-1, and our case is currently at NVC. Today, we received a message regarding his Japan police certificate that he uploaded to the CEAC website: "Please replace this with an acceptable police certificate from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines." When my husband went to the prefectural police headquarters to obtain his Japan police certificate, they informed him that he couldn't open the sealed envelope--that he needed to keep it sealed and take it as such to his interview. We also checked the NVC website, and it says the same thing regarding Japan police certificates: "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." (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Japan.html) So, I'm not sure what's the problem. The photocopy of the envelope is clear and legible. On the envelope, it's indicated that it's a "Certificate of Criminal Record" for my husband from the "________ Prefectural Police Headquarters," and it also states "To be opened by the addressee only." The addressee is indicated as "The Authorities Concerned, United States of America." What do we need to do? Do we need to contact NVC? Or re-upload the photocopy of the envelope and indicate what's stated on the NVC website regarding Japan police certificates?

On the USCIS website, you can click on "Ask Emma" in the top-right corner to open up the chat box with Emma. I think I just typed in something like, "I need to talk with a live agent," and then Emma connected me to a live agent via chat. But you have to do it during their business hours. If you try to prompt Emma for a live agent after hours or on weekends/holidays, she will just direct you to the USCIS contact page on the website instead.

Out of curiosity, have you ever contacted USCIS to see if your case is really at Nebraska Service Center...? My NOA1 came from Nebraska Service Center. But a couple months ago, I talked with an agent through Emma, and they told me that my case was actually at California Service Center. When I asked them why I hadn't been notified about the transfer, they told me that Nebraska Service Center was simply the center that sent the NOA1--but the same day that the NOA1 had been sent, my case was sent to California Service Center for review. So it wasn't considered as having been "transferred" because it was never initially reviewed at Nebraska Service Center.

Thank you for your words of support! Another person who received the same kind of RFE said that when they contacted USCIS, a Tier 2 officer told them that they did have their I-130 online, but they have to do what the RFE says anyway. And I've been told on the forum to follow what the RFE says. So I'm just gonna do what the RFE says because I'll do whatever I have to do for my petition. (Plus, it sounds like I'd just be wasting my time if I try to contact USCIS.) On the one hand, it's great to have had some kind of update on my petition (after over a year of nothing new), but on the other hand, it's frustrating. I guess all I can do is hope that once I respond to the RFE, it won't take too much longer for them to resume looking at my petition.

Okay then, thank you! I'm going to do it now.

Don't I need to wait for the physical notice in the mail before I can respond? Online, the RFE says "The original notice must be submitted with the requested evidence." So I was assuming that "original notice" meant the one that they're mailing to me. Edit: I do plan to submit it online, but I thought I had to wait to receive the notice in the mail first, and then scan that and submit online along with what they requested.

January 2022 filer here. I'm really upset and frustrated. 😞 This morning, I received an email that there was an update on my case--and at first, I was so excited because I thought it must be an approval since I've been seeing other people get approved here. But when I logged into my account, I found it was an RFE... According to the RFE: "Your Form I-130 petition is incomplete because Pages 1 thru 12 are missing. Per the form instructions, the petitioner is required to fully complete the form. Go to https://www.uscis.gov/i-130 for the latest version of the Form I-130 and fill out and complete the entire petition. Please ensure all items are completed." I filed online, and I can see and even download the electronic version of my form that I filed online. But based on info that I found in the forum, as well as a confirmation from someone else in the forum, I just have to follow the instructions of the RFE. 😔 What makes it even more frustrating is that I don't even understand why I have to do the I-130 form again...like, was something incomplete on it? I filled out all the areas on the online form, so I don't know what's wrong. Yet I have no choice but to do what the RFE says...and I have to wait for the original notice to arrive in the mail before I can respond to the RFE. (The online RFE says the original notice has to be submitted, so I assume that means the physical one that I'll get in the mail--not the online version that I could download from my USCIS account.) I can't help but feel depressed. 😞

Thank you! Okay then, I'll just respond to the RFE and do as it says.

I received an RFE from USCIS stating that my Form I-130 (which I filed back in January 2022) is incomplete because "Pages 1 thru 12 are missing." But I filed online, and I can view the electronic version of the form online--so I know that I did complete it online. However, in "The Stupid RFE Thread," someone else shared that they had received the same RFE, and when they contacted USCIS, they were told to follow the instructions of the RFE anyway (even though it was confirmed by whoever they contacted that they did have it online). So my question is about how I should submit my I-130. Should I download the electronic version of my original form (from January 2022) and submit that? Or should I complete a new I-130--as in dated for today--with all the information? EDIT: Actually, I went back to "The Stupid RFE Thread" and saw that the post about the same RFE was back in 2020. Has anyone else received this RFE recently, or seen someone post about receiving this RFE recently? Should I contact USCIS about it? (Of course, I'm only interested in contacting USCIS if it would make a difference. But if not, I'll just follow what the RFE is telling me to do.)