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| Tokyo, Japan |  Review on March 9, 2006: |
clubraf
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Although the interview already happened almost two years ago, I wanted to get around to letting some others know how it went.
Our appoitment was at about 12:30PM on a Tuesday. Getting to Roppongi Hills on the subway wasn't that difficult. After leaving the train station, there is even a map of the surroundings, with the American consulate on it. However, we read the map backwards from our location in the subway, and ending up walking around for 45 minutes. Despite the fact that consulate is about 12 stories (if I remember), you can't really see it from the street anywhere (Too many other massive buildings).
After we found the building, We waited around the lawn with the rest of the K1 and K3 applicants. They schedule all of us for a certain time. Getting through the security was no big deal. Once inside (and it will take you another 20 minutes to go through second level security), you take a number, and wait your turn to get called to the window.
My wife's interview was mostly non-eventful(mostly...). We both went to the window for the interview. Our interviewer was a little tired (probably because of all of the other interviews he has to do every single day). We had all of the documents necessary, except for one. And that was a BIG problem. A word of advice: quadruple check your list of what documents the consulate will need. We overlooked a birth certificate written in Japanese for my wife (we had a certified English translated one, which was also required, so we figured to get the English one, it was assumed you had an original. Wrong.) We were told my wife would be approved if we could get them the missing Japanese birth certificate.
By the time we got out of the consulate, we made a call to my wife's parents to see if they could get a copy from their town hall. We needed to figure out something, as my timeline to get out of the country was going to expire in two days. We stayed at the nearby ANA hotel (right across from the consulate- how convenient.) My wife's parents pulled through and managed to get a birth certificate to us at the hotel by express mail the next morning. The consulate won't take any faxes, pdf files, or other type of convenince... They like paper.
Now, I told you that to tell you this. There is a reason why the American consulate schedules K1 and K3 visas for only a certain day and time slot. When we came back the next day, it was open day for anyone and anything. Image a couple hundred people lined up outside the entrance... just to get IN. Your primary security checkpoint will run through just fine again, but the secondary checkpoint is where your American passport gets you in VIP (bypassing the hundreds of others). I was asked for ID (my wife as well). I tried to explain to the guard that I we needed to wait with the others, as it was my wife's interest to get in for a K1 clearance. As long as you have your American passport, you will get waived through "Express". Three hours taken off right there.
We were back inside. However, there were still about a hundred other people lined up and waiting for their visa interviews. Hurry up and wait. Or was it? Another person that managed the lines at the embassay asked us what we were there for. I was expecting at least another hour wait to get to the window. Flash that passport, and BUDGE! Five minutes to the front. We gave the clerk our documents asking us for the missing documents, and we showed the the express mailed birth certificate. A couple minutes later? K1! Outta there.
This process would have been a lot smoother for the both of us if we had only made sure we had every piece of paper. If you are going to the Tokyo Embassay, remember, bring your papers, and you'll be fine. I wrote this to remind you to remember EVERYTHING! You don't want Tokyo to steal your soul, as it almost did to me 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #465