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| Tokyo, Japan |  Review on April 1, 2010: |
OSXuser
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My families Visa was approved on 3/30 although we had our interview on 3/15 we were given a 221g Denial. But mainly just needed to get other documents. We sent them in an within a week as promised the Visa was issued.
All I can say is that the Tokyo Consulate is one of the easiest and friendliest consulates in the world. Let me give you a walkthrough :
We had our interview on 3/15... We were coming from Aichi Pref. with 2 kids so we decided to drive and look for a hotel. Since our interview appointment was at 9:15... It would of been impossible to catch the Shinkansen and make it on time. So we decided to drive and look for a nice comfortable hotel near the embassy. The closest hotels are the ANA, The New Otani or the Ritz but with prices of 80,000 yen per night. Forget it... We found some other hotels nearby about 1km away from the embassy but we needed something with a parking for our car. We found the Asia Center Hotel perfect for our needs. 10,000 yen per night, free parking, and if your a foreigner the buffet breakfast is free... Anyhow we walked from the hotel to the consulate on the day of the interview took us about 20 mins.
The Embassy is heavily fortified with Police Officers on every corners and huge police trucks near the entrance. At the gate there is a police officer who was very friendly and kind.... He checked our appointment letter and took all our electronics iPhones, iPods, Cameras etc... into a basket.... We then entered and went trough a metal detector, it was not necessary to take off jackets, belts or shoes...
Once we cleared the security checkpoint we walked in to the building.. There are two doors one is for Visas theo ther is for daily Citizen services (passport renewals etc...) we walked in an a nice Japanese woman asked for our names and checked of her list, she gave us a number and we waited.
Once inside it pretty much does feel like being at the DMV.... There are 10 Windows... the last 3 Windows ... windows 7through10 are where the interviews take place by the American Staff... The first windows are usually for the Japanese staff who take the documents....
Anyhow... we waited for our number and at the first window we turned in all our documents, mainly X-Rays since we filed with the NVC.... The second time my wife was called they ran a fingerprint scan on her....(where we ran into some trouble.. I'll explain later) The third time we were called it was the interview... I the petitioner was allowed to be there for everything.... Anyhow during the interview we were not asked many questions, just verified names, and she made a comment about how we met at work.... Laughed a bit..... but then she told my wife that the fingerprint scan showed that my wife had an arrest on her record.. My heart Stopped... about 10 years ago when my wife was in the states under her Student visa she was the victim of an abusive boyfriend... and to make a long story short.... She calls the police to protect her from her abusive boyfriend but she ends up getting arrested... because her ex bf at that time told the Police she hurt him.. They believed him and arrest her..Anyhow my wife hired an attorney at that time and the attorney told her that it would not affect her record so we believed him.... and when we filled the DS-230 we answered no for the question about ever being arrested.
Back to the interview..... the officer says we need to have a police report once you get that mail it in and we will process your Visa...
I was scared because I thought they would of taken our mistake on the DS-230 as a lie.. but we had no idea.... anyhow the police report was mailed directly from the consulate on 3.16 from the PD in the states. On the 16th of March and our Visa was approved on March 30th... They mailed our visas with passprts on April 1st ! such a huge relief as we thought we would be denied.
By the way inside the waiting room there is a vending machine and I saw no computers as others had described..... But we are so happy we just got back from eating Yakiniku !
In my opinion the Tokyo Consulate is one of the best if not the BEST ! The only thing I will recommend is not to use their paid service to ask questions.... You can write a letter with your email and they will email you back for free.....
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5865