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Tokyo, Japan | Review on November 25, 2013: | jwc72
Rating: | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our experience at the Tokyo embassy was very smooth and pleasant.
We were not able to get written confirmation that I (USC) was allowed to attend with my fiancé, but because we had put in the interview request that I would attend (with my full name), this was enough to satisfy the police at the first checkpoint. I am pretty sure that if we didn't have that paper to show with my name on it, we would have had a problem. At the second checkpoint one of the staff was confused by my presence, but the other staff member clarified that for the K-1 visa interview the USC fiancé is allowed to attend, and we were allowed in without hassle.
We went with ~100 pages of documents and proof of relationship, etc. In the end, all we were asked to submit was:
- Passport
- 1 photo
- DS-160 confirmation page
- Certified Family Register (equivalent of birth certificate) with translation
- I-134 with supporting docs
- Police Certificate
- Medical Exam report
About the photo: the packet 3 instructions from the embassy are misleading -- you MUST submit a photo on the day of the interview even if you send in 2 recent ones already as requested. Many people had to run to the passport photo machine to get theirs taken on the spot; luckily we had brought 2 extra copies along just in case.
Total time for us was 1 hour and 40 minutes, start to finish. The consular officer who interviewed us (actually, all of the window staff) was extremely friendly -- his first comment was to note that he and my fiancé have the same birthday and so they already have a lot in common. Nice to start on such a light note. He told me I could stand with my fiancé during the interview or wait in one of the chairs, my choice. I chose to stay. Then he gave my fiancé the choice of proceeding in English or Japanese, and the rest of the interview was done in Japanese. In the end he only asked a few questions:
- When and where did we meet
- Have we lived together the whole time (we have lived together in Japan for 11 years)
- What work I do, and what work my fiancé does
- How long have I lived in Japan in total
- What port are we planning to enter the US
- When we are planning to move to the US
After flipping through our file a little more (he didn't ask to see anything else we had brought), he told us "your visa is approved, congratulations!" Actual interview time was about 5 minutes.
Overall, a very pleasant, efficient, and low-stress experience. Not everyone seemed to having that experience though; seems like some people didn't have all the documents required, and others had more complicated case histories than us. Even though we weren't asked to show any other documents, I am glad that we had them with us, just in case.
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