Thank you for the useful information, Moltar.

As soon as my fiancé received the NOA2 hard copy, he will send me the copy so I guess I will go get the police record ahead of time. I live in Tokyo and actually have been the British Clinic once (long time ago...). Yes, I remember it looked like a condominium. I will double check the location through the website you gave me just in case! I have the immunization record so I can bring it. If you know, I would like to ask you one more thing. At what point, I can call to make an appt to the clinic? I guess I should just call them to ask but if you know, please let me know. I can print out the medical forms from the US Embassy's website anytime so I don't think I need to wait for the package from them. How soon, your fiancée could schedule her appt? I am sorry I have lots of questions.

Sounds like everything sets for you guys Please enjoy the visit here in March, it's next month already!!! Banzai!!!

Japan filer here in Massachusetts, going the I-130 route.

Met my old lady about three years back while living in Japan, began dating soon thereafter. Got ourselves hitched in Japan last summer, then I came back to the States a few months ago after about 4 years in Japan. She came along for a visit, then returned to Japan. At that point, I hired an immigration attorney.
We got all the photos, translations, tax forms, et cetera back to the lawyer and he sent all the stuff in to Chicago in the first week of January. The lawyer says he got the certified mail confirmation that they have it, but I'm now waiting on the NOA. I'll check in here when I get it and try to keep this forum up to date on our progress so that yet another timeline exists for people to make reference to.

Good luck to all, wish us the same.

Hey 55_buckeyes.

I asked her tonight about this, and she said that it seemed like to her that she could make the appointment for the medical exam at any time, however, you would want to wait to actually go to the clinic after you receive the packet 3 because the packet will contain all the documents, in their current acceptable forms, with American standard paper size of 8.5 x 11 inches. It would be pretty terrible if you went and had the exam, only to find out later that you missed a document that needed to be completed by the clinic physician. For the medical exam, I would wait until you get your packet 3 before making your exam appointment just to be safe. It didn't seem like you had to wait long to have your medical exam after you made the appointment. It's the interview appointment that you'll have to wait for. They only do the interviews on Mondays, and they seemed to be booked a month out. Hope this helps answer your questions. Our interview is in 20 days.

Hi Moltar, thank you for your response.

Yeah I think you are right. I will wait to make appt until I received the packet from embassy. I am hoping to fly to the US in April. I hope everything will go smoothly. Please say domo arigato to your fiancée for me

I just called the NVC and they sent our documents to the Tokyo Embassy on Feb 6th! I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with.

How long does it take for them to contact the beneficiary after Tokyo receives the documents?

Who sets up the interview; the embassy or the beneficiary?

Will my wife get a packet of documents or just a simple notice?

My wife has already gotten the medical exam out of the way and she still needs the Police certificate/report. She is waiting for notification from Tokyo before she does anything else.

Thanks everyone!

55_buckeyes: Hai, shimashita! Dou itashimashita.

dbzman: I don't know how long it took for the embassy to get my fiancee her packet 3 after the embassy received the case from the NVC. If I guessed, I would say no longer than a week. They were pretty fast, it seemed, compared to the rest of the process before...

My fiancee requested an interview date. And with a CR-1, I don't know what they would send, but I'm sure that they would be sending something.

We just had our check cashed from the Chicago Lockbox yesterday (2/7/2008) and we should see our NOA 1 coming soon I hope.

The details:

Mailed (USPS Express mail): 12/24/2007
Received and signed by USCIS Chicago Lockbox: 12/26/2007
Check cashed: 2/7/2008
NOA 1 arrived: Not Yet

So it was 43 days (unless I miss counted) from the receipt of the I-130 petition to the check being cashed. I hope this info can help others with expected time lines, just remember "mileage may vary".

Hello everyone!
It's good to see the Japan Filers thread is so active these days!

Yuibi and I are moving along in the process still- we applied in January for his Green Card and it seems like they are moving along much faster than expected. We already received a Biometrics appointment (which is at a USCIS office MUCH closer to our city than our 'local' District Office of El Paso) and this process looks to be much less stressful than the K-1 process. It gets much easier once you finally have your loved one with you.

As for where they do interviews. I was under the impression that they did interviews at 2 or three different consulates depending on where in Japan you were living. If I'm not mistaken there was one in Nara, Osaka/Kobe, and Tokyo. Yuibi lived in Saitama, so he went to Tokyo with no trouble. Perhaps though, they changed where they could do interviews. Things seem to change so much in the immigration world that's its hard to keep up.

Finally got our packet 3!

I was going over the embassy web page rules, and noticed the part about having to get all foreign language documents translated. I'm sure we can handle her birth certificate, but what other documents require translation? You aren't even allowed to open the police certificate, right, so I imagine we wouldn't be expected to translate that? Anything I'm not considering that I should be?

Thanks!

Hey takuhi,

The only things that I can think of that needed translations were the family register and any divorce documents. Have a look in the guides section, just to be sure.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...amp;page=guides

Also, the packet 3 should come with all the instructions your beneficiary will need, written in both English and Japanese. Those instructions will tell you what documents you need translated.

Good luck, and congratulations on your packet 3!

Yesterday when I got home from work our NOA 1 was there waiting for me! :)
So now just the wait until NOA 2 and hopefully no RFEs.

The receipting date on the NOA 1 is Feb. 5th, 2008. :)

Good stuff, brother.
Hope ours is soon to follow.

Hi everyone, how are you? I still have been waiting for my noa2. This is really crazy. It has been over 6 months and at the end of this month, it will be 7 months. I have no idea what's going on. He called USCIS date before yesterday and the lady told him that we should be approved within a few weeks. Well, ok, a few weeks, what does it mean? 6-7 weeks? We are planning to marry in June, and I am really tired of waiting.

Hey sunshine,

Sorry to hear about that girl! Well, if you're sure that there's no reason to hold the process up (as I've read in a post you made recently), then maybe they've just run into a lot of road blocks because of a name match, or something else, and they've had to do more research. If you don't get anything after two weeks from when he made the call to the USCIS, I would call them again. Just make sure that he is calm with them. And if you two aren't satisfied with the answers from that second call, he should contact his congressman to get a "congressional" going on your case. It's been long enough, IMO.

If your stuffs clean, and you know his is too, then it is just a matter of time... it will happen.

Ganbatte!

Got our NOA1 in the mail today from the Vermont Service Center.

Kinda slow to reply because I'm in Tokyo now visiting my wife but just wanted to post that I got my NOA1 on Feb. 13th
I still can't track it online though.

Really excited about what comes next!

Our online tracking didn't work right away either, just give it a few days and it should show up.

Also おめでとございます、on recieving your NOA 1! :)
That goes for you too Uncle_Wally! :)

All right, we got approved at the embassy!

She got there 40 minutes before her scheduled interview time. Loads of security. They made her leave her keitai and her passport at the entrance. She used an ATM thing near the entrance to pay for her application fee. They gave her a number, and told her to wait. Almost as soon as she sat down, they called her number and instructed her to go to window #1. There, a Japanese lady took all of her paperwork. After that, they took her finger prints. She said it didn't seem like they were taking anyone else's fingerprints, so we assume that they took them to verify her identity since she had a previous pending AoS case with her ex many years ago. Since her daughter is USC, they asked for her US passport, and then asked her to be seated until her interview.

An hour after her scheduled appointment, she was called up to window #10. There were 3 windows for interviews. There was a younger American man at the window that she was called to. He told her that he was impressed with how quickly our application went through (I'm assuming he meant petition), and checked her fingerprints. He then asked her the following questions:

• Is the name of the USC you intend to marry [Petitioner's Name]?
• What is your fiance's occupation?
• How did you and your fiance meet?
• Have you met your fiance's family?

He then took a copy of my divorce decree (good thing I sent her a copy, just in case, because for some reason he didn't have a copy from USCIS), my updated letter of intent to marry, then had her sign a document stating that she had completed the visa application process and that her visa has been approved. He said that we should get the visa in the mail within a week. The interview lasted 30 minutes.

Also wanted to mention, I sent copies of everything to my fiancee. My signed bank statements, my letter from my employer, my affidavit of support, and updated letter of intent to marry - all duplicates - and they were accepted by the embassy/interviewer. Though, I sent the originals just in case... even though they arrived at her house while she was on the shinkansen coming back home. (^-^; The interviewer gave her back the documents he didn't need and all pictures that I had sent to her for the interview.

Now we just wait for the visa to come in, pack my bags, and enjoy a nice 2 week vacation before bringing the girls home at the end of March. It's been quite a journey.

Hi all,

My wife is coming to visit me from March 5th through the 11th. Shes taking the shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo and flying directly from Narita to the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport so that I can be there in case of some issue at immigration. She will have a copy of our NOA1, her employment certificate, a letter from her boss (in English) stating that she has vacation leave and will return to work on the 13th, she will also have her employee ID badge and of course a return ticket. I am really hoping that none of this will be necessary but we don't want to take any chances. These things were on the recommendation from the Osaka - Kobe consulate, though they did warn that there was no guaranty and its pretty much up to the Immigration officer at the POE, which I already knew.

I know some people bring bank statements and lease/rental contracts but since she lives with her parents and all the documents would be in Japanese anyway we are hoping this will be sufficient. Of course I asked her not to volunteer any info to the immigration officer, but that she should have it if any questions arise. I am also hoping that if something does go wrong that she will be able to contact me either by her cell phone (US one) or by asking to have me paged or something.

How have visits during immigration proceedings worked out for others here who have Japanese spouses? Has anyone done this lately through the MSP POE? If so what was your or your spouses experience like?

We decided on MSP because we usually fly to Detroit from Osaka and then to MSP but the immigration officers at Detroit are real jerks. On my last visit to Japan (Dec 07 - Jan 08) I came back via Narita to MSP and the immigration officers seemed much nicer. That and, as I said before, I can be right there if there are issues.

Thanks,

Congratulations Moltar! :)

Have a good vacation and I hope the move goes well for your wife daughter! :)

Thanks Justin.

And I hear you about Detroit. I fly from Detroit to Nagoya each time I go out there, and hell, they even give me a hard time when I come back, and I'm Caucasian. While I've waited in line before, I've overheard them grilling other visa holders. We'll be coming back together through Detroit... so we'll see how it goes. It shouldn't be too bad. Just gotta remember to make sure that we leave with the I-94...

I can't wait to go back though. It's quickly becoming a second home to me. I miss the Toto Washlet. I am SO having one of those installed in my next house!

Omedetou, Moltar!!! I am very happy for you guys.
I got my interview date and your post is very helpful for me since I also have an US citizen child.
My fiancé is also visiting us soon. Please enjoy your time in Japan!

Wow! This is really exciting. My wife wants to try to come visit me when I get back in Texas but we are really worried about the whole denied entry thing. Please keep me updated and let me know how everything goes at the POE.
My wife also lives with her parents and unfortunately quit her job recently because she is pregnant.
Thanks

Oops. There was some mis-communication about the interview that she and I want to clear up here, and it doesn't look like I can edit my post. So, I'll explain a little more here.

1. Fiancee was not made to leave her passport at security, because it is needed for the interview. At the interview, they then kept her passport so that they could attach the visa to it and then they would mail it back to her. They just kept her keitai until she left.
   
2. There was no "ATM machine" there. She paid the visa application fee at a cashier window.
   
3. Taking fingerprints was one of the important steps for every visa applicants. For my fiancee's case, she was made to do it again to verify her identity because she had a previous case back in the States. She says that if an applicant doesn't have a previous record, just one fingerprint produced should be expected.
   
4. Fiancee was not called to the window to interview with the younger guy, but a middle-aged American man.
   
5. The interviewer did not return the unnecessary documents and photos at the end of the interview, but the Japanese woman clerk in the office.

We are both sorry if we have confused anyone with the earlier post. Hopefully, this will help to give a more clear insight into the process in Tokyo.

I will make sure to post and let people know how it goes. You just have to keep in mind that every case is different and it probably also depends a lot on the immigration officer. I just wanted to know if anyone had done this through MSP before.

@Moltar,

I get selected for "random" special searches every time I go through Detroit. I know how you feel. Those guys are just a bunch of jerks. It also annoys me how the walk around with their hand on the butt of their guns like their just itching to shoot someone. :(

OH GOD. I envy you guys. I still do not have NOA2 and cannot even plan anything. I am insanely upset about this situation. I understand that some June filers got approved after 7-8 months, so I have to be patient. But, I want to marry my fiance in June, but it might not be possible. He called up and the lady told him that our case is not even assigned to an officer. Oh great. then where is our file ?????

My wife is in Tokyo. She only sees this un-imaginary line with no one in front of her and no idea how long she will be in it. I see from other posts that some people wait for a very short time and others maybe a bit longer. She is getting borderline depressed and maybe, well maybe not maybe, a bit angry with the delay. I finish grad school in May and that is our anniversary. I would really like her here, but do not have a warm comfy she will be. I thought of sending a letter directly to the embassy, but email requests were answered "please wait". The state dept only confirmed all documents complete. This leaves politicians. I'm not sure that will help. Looking for suggestions and experienced thoughts about the wait times. Thank you, sincerely.

This is really confusing. What is the purpose of the priority date? I see here couples who submitted their packages after we started and already have interviews. I also see couple who completed package three since our package three was confirmed back at the embassy. They have had interview appointments set and in some cases interviews. Yet we still do not seem to be making progress. I have called the NVC line and they can only say soon and confirm everything on track. I wonder what track that is. It is encouraging to see the progress people are making, but discouraging to think we are still waiting.

Its time to write your senator. He/she might be able to find out more info through the use of a congressional inquiry. Also, I see you filed an I-129F (for K-3 I assume). From what I have read on the forums that could cause delays, but since you already left USCIS I don't think that would be an issue any longer. Since you can't get anything from the embassy I would strongly suggest writing your senator and get them to do an inquiry into your case. It would probably yield more information and may even give it a nudge in the right direction. Of course its up to you.

I give you the same advice I gave "Waiting on wife", send a letter to your senator and have them do an inquiry to try to get answers. The more people who write the more the problems with the immigration system will be brought to light.

Well, We applied for K1. Not K3. That's why it makes me so mad. Usually K3 takes longer. Well, we have not married yet. I kept telling him to use a congressional inquary but my fiance kept saying wait another 30 days. What ??? So crazy. No way. Over 6 months and not 7 months is passed.

So after reading some of the posts, I was curious about this online appointment system in Tokyo. Hmmm... it says that I can not use this because I filed in the US. So I wonder, if my priority date is before someone elses, why are they getting an appointment? So I emailed them and asked status and put that question in the remarks. Turns out that on the 325, we only went back 10 years. Now they want her to account for what she did during the 7 years before that. I haven't received the request. She said she just got it this morning and has already returned it. Hope she was as thorough as they will expect. I would guess she just said i.e. student 1997-1999 and did not provide sufficient detail. okay, after the obvious frustration ranting, please tell me this, (rhetorical in nature) why does the embassy think they need to go through extra security checks after the USCIS and NVC have already said Approved? Seems to me if the embassy received an approved NOA, they should not be trying to second guess big brother and screwing everything else up. Well thanks for letting me ask silly questions. I wonder if the embassy ever reads these posts, it would be nice.

I contacted my Senator (Russ Feingold) back in November and he sent back a letter with a Congressional Inquiry form. Just about a week ago I sent it (the Congressional Inquiry Form) back to them with a letter describing our current progress in the immigration system and explaining about my wife's impending visit. They of course warned that she may be denied entry when she visits and proceded to tell me that they could do the inquiry but that since we are well within normal processing times that it probably wouldn't do much good. She (our caseworker at the Senator's office) also told me that they were only allowed to do an Inquiry for a case once every two months. That sounds a bit odd to me, I am not sure who's rule that is but I intend to find out. Anyway, coming to the point, she also mentioned that the only way that a petition could be expedited is if there was some dire need like medical reasons or something. Basically it needed to be an emergency or because of some extreme hardship. The first thing I thought of after I was off the phone with her was that, to me, my wife and I suffer emotional distress and/or hardship from being apart for so long. I was thinking of calling her back and asking if that was a valid reason to expedite my case. What do all of you think?

I am joking a bit, but still what are your thoughts? It is absolutely true that being separated from our loved ones for such a long time causes us, and them, emotional stress that we would not otherwise be experiencing (at least not for being apart). There are even couples here who have come close to loosing, or have lost, their marriage because of the emotional distress that one or both are suffering from being apart. If it were not for the length and, perhaps worse the not knowing how long, those couples may not have come close to the brink of loosing their marriage or having lost it.

This is kind of a vent as my wife and I are currently quite depressed about our current situation. Especially my wife. I try my best to keep my hopes up and search for any way to speed things along and of course I try to cheer her up, but its hard when you can't even give your loved one a hug and hold them close and tell them its all going to be alright. Frankly there have been times when I am scared about loosing her because of the immigration hassles and slowness. And as I said before, its the lack of any time line to look forward to. If it was some specific time line like 6 months or something then at least you could look forward to it and know you were getting closer. But when there is no time line, there is no date to look forward to, its difficult to keep your hopes up. When there is no end in sight, its like you start loosing your hope. You never see any progress, all you see is a never ending journey where you will be separated from the one you love. You want to run to the end of that road but it just keeps going and going, no end in sight, just a never ending road that goes around and around like a mobius strip.

Sorry. I hope this doesn't depress anyone. I would hate to add to the stress I know you all must be feeling for the same reasons I am. Just needed to vent.

I hope we can get some more good news on this thread soon. And I certainly wouldn't mind if it was from me. :)

Wow, I must have depressed the hell out of everyone. lol :p

My wife comes in just a couple days now. Wish us luck at the PoE! :)

'Justin and Masako' ,

I just read you post. I have been hard at work on my wife’s immigration so I have not been on line in a while. Don’t worry about the Immigration trip. I started the paperwork for my wife an I in June and she has her interview on March 31st.
It has been a long journey but much shorter than some other peoples.
My wife is worth the wait. Immigration seems to take longer than it use to but it is still less than a year for most.
My wife came to visit me in America for three months (June - August) and she had no trouble at the port of entry. I hope that your wife will arrive with no trouble.

Good Luck!

I just went to Japan to be with Chi during her interview and also to meet her parents. Everything went very well. We have visa in hand. Ours went relatively fast. I'm going back in a couple weeks to have a "good-bye dinner party" since her family will be unable to go to the wedding. This is only the beginning for us.

First I just want to wish you guys luck! I look forward to your post about if there is any trouble or not. I hope everything will go smoothly.

Second, Man.... I can totally related with your previous post. I feel the same way about being away from my wife for so long. I was lucky in that my work let me take a couple of months off to come stay with my wife here in Japan but I go back to Texas in a couple of weeks and then its no telling how long it will be before I get to hold her or kiss her again. I saw her in November and then didnt see her again until January 17th and I felt like being away even for that long was stress on our relationship. I totally understand everything you wrote man. If we had a finish line to look forward to then things would be so much better.

Anyway, kuddos man. Great points.

I'm about to get married to a Japanese woman in the US and wanted to know if we need to register the marriage with the closest Japan Consulate (Houston) or the main embassy in DC and also does it need to be in-person or can it be via mail?

Daveamf79,

First off, congratulations! :)

Yes you should register your marriage with the Japanese government. I am not sure if you can do it in the US but I would think so. My wife did it at her town hall while I was there in December. They needed a copy of my passport and our marriage certificate, and translations of both. You don't need official translations, my wife did it herself. A couple days later they called and told us that we were officially married in Japan. :)

Ok, so for all of you wondering about my wifes visit while having an I-130 petition in progress here are the details.

She took a train to Tokyo (from Osaka) and then flew directly to the Minneapolis St. Paul airport (MSP). The immigrations officer was polite and only asked a few questions. He did know that we had an I-130 in progress and asked if she was moving here. She said she would be eventually but we were still waiting for the NOA2 at this point. She also showed him a letter from her company stating that she had requested and been granted vacation days from March 5th through the 12th and that she was expected back at work on the 13th, she also showed him her employee ID card. He welcomed her to Minnesota and wished her a good visit. They didn't take her to another room for questioning, this was just in the normal line. She also had with her an employment certificate showing when she started at the company, her flight itinerary (showing her return flight), and copies of our NOA1 and Marriage certificate, though she never showed them to him as he didn't ask for additional evidence.

She said they were much nicer then the people at Detroit, and we decided that would be her POE from now on, even though its not as convenient and costs more because of the train to Tokyo. But the flight is also about 3 hours shorter which helps. She returned to Japan going from Minneapolis to Detroit to Osaka and had no issues there either as they only take your I-94 (I think) slip from your passport as you get on the plane.

The visit was great but far too short. I hope this can give hope to those of you looking at visits during the immigration process. :)

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good phone card for calling from Japan to the US. I have a good one that gives me 6 cents a minute to Japan and while you can get access codes to call from Japan to the US the rate that direction is $1.77. :( My wife spends a lot calling me (just using her normal cell plan) and I would like to make it cheaper for her. Maybe close to what I pay calling her. So does anyone know of a good phone card?

Mine is an Aldi (grocery store) branded International calling card, it uses Sprint service. I have had very good luck with it and $30 gets you a bit over 500 minutes.

Thanks for any replies, :)

I'm using KDDI plus/world from Japan to US. Your wife can purchase it at any convinience store (Lawson, Seven Eleven, Family Mart etc.)

My husband is using Asia Express from US to Japan. You can buy it on line. Access to callingcards.com

Goodluck.

Thanks for the response sarudoshi! :)

Do you happen to know the rate on that card? (per minute)

Thanks again, :)

Wow!! thanks for updating Justin. Thats really great news and gives me hope maybe my wife can come visit me.
I know every place is different but I think Dallas, Texas is really laid back too and maybe there is a chance she wont have any hassle.
You said he already knew about the I-130 in progress and asked if she was moving here but did he ask to see the employment letter and stuff or did your wife just offer it to him?
Unfortunately my wife is not working now because she is pregnant. I wonder if she just brought a copy of her rental agreement or bills or something like that if it would be enough.

Thanks again man, this made my day.

Try giving her a Vonage device. I took a Vonage modem to Japan back in July and now I can call my girl by calling a Los Angeles phone number. She now can call me using Vonage as well. FREE. Except for the monthly $24+ charge. My calling cards we adding up to around $60 dollars a month.

We use skype.com to talk for free over the internet. All you need is a headset. Webcam is optional.

Anyone file for K1 in December (California CIS center) and hear anything back yet? Just curious.

k1visajapan,

How is your reception?

Mine is not so good. We use Skype every weekrnd but we have trouble with reception.

The reception is ok...not always great...I think it just depends on the day. She thinks it might have to do with the number of people online at the time. Calling a phone from skype is still pretty cheap and the reception is usually better.

We use Skype every weekend to video chat but we need to be able to call cell phone to cell phone too. Thats why I was asking about calling cards. The Skype call quality is usually pretty good but there can be issues with either the call or sometimes the client crashes or freezes. But that is pretty rare.

As for phone cards, I use and highly recommend Brastel for anyone. My fiancee and I use it whether calling from Japan to the USA or vice versa. Once you have a card, it's rechargeable, can be registered for use with certain phone numbers to avoid having to enter an access code, and has rates that are just about as good as I've found with any other services.

The quality is almost always very good. There was a week or so last year which shook my faith, but aside from that it's been perfect nearly every time. (Note: It does use IP as a transport mechanism, but I've hardly ever been able to tell the difference.)