I can't find answers for my questions anywhere. At least, I can't really find any clarifications specific to my situation.

I have just sent the I-130 to Laguna Niguel to be processed, though it seems that they can now be processed at the Consulate here in Japan once again. First of all, does anyone know how long it's supposed to take before my wife can get the interview at the consulate?

I also would like to list some things about our situation that make it different than most. We've been married for almost 3 years now. Also for 3 years I have been living and working here in Japan, though I have been very careful to file all my taxes and claim domicile in the United States. Does any of this have any bearing on our situation regarding the Green Card process? I'm asking because according to this website as soon as my wife enters the country, after a successful interview, she gets a stamp on her MRIV (Machine Readable Immigrant Visa) that is "equal to the I-551 card that will be mailed to them, also known as the Green Card." Then a few lines down this same page it says "If you have applied for the Social Security number via the visa application, your SS Card is mailed to you separately within a month. Your Green Card will be mailed to you in the same time frame."

This all comes from here:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...om&page=dcf

Does this mean that after a successful interview, when I prove I have means to support my wife for the I-864, after all other documents are deemed acceptable and are approved, basically she gets a Green Card that fast? And if she doesn't receive the Green Card right away she has the actual Visa available to act as a Green Card in its place?

I have a feeling there is more to this than is said here. Actually I'm worried about it. I hear nothing but terrible, negative things about the immigration process but nobody I know is in a situation as particular as mine (married for more than two years, job in America, means to support, all other documents secured and in order, etc.). Every other situation I hear about is someone that just got married in America and had to wait. Other's are about people coming into America under fiance Visas. So I have no other person to compare my situation to. Also, I'm wondering if it even matters.

Any and all help is welcome.

Furthermore, when we get this whole process finished I will definitely be contributing to this and any website I can find. Up to this point, Visa Journey has helped me and my wife tremendously.

Thanks all around and I look forward to the responses.

hi muckson & welcome

First of all, it really IS that simple. Remove 99% of the experiences you have heard from friends etc because it's very likely they involved someone applying to Adjust Status to Permanent Resident/AOS instead of someone arriving with an Immigrant Visa. You can check out the Arriving In America thread linked in my siggy for more stories to confirm the Guide.
And yes, the DCF Guide is really out of date--things have only just settled down. But for you, nothing has changed, because you are a genuine resident of Japan.

Your options now are:

1-Wait out the petition you've just sent & prepare for about 9 months of back and forth mail to get the the IV appointment

2-Kill the current petition, eat the $200 and re-file in Tokyo. Guesstimates are 3 or so months to IV.

You haven't really said anything about your desired timeline, so it's hard to say which is better (well, DCF is better, buuuut )

I was living outside the US for a couple of years, and like you, filed my taxes and did other things to maintain my US domicile. This didn't impede us at all; the direct filing method is made for USCs living abroad.
Provided you can do something with the I-864 and your wife has no issues that make her inadmissible, you turn in your petition, it gets approved, she gets her paperwork together and goes to her interview. If she passes (you've posted nothing to indicate she wouldn't--read some interview experiences), they stick the visa in her passport and she flies to the US. At entry, her visa is endorsed and she is a Permanent Resident immediately.

There are a couple of folk just getting started with Tokyo this week.. read through some of the threads and you will see how simple it really is!

best wishes

thank you very much meauxna. my JET programme contract (any JETs in the house?) will be over july 25th. i'd like to be in america around that time so DCF and swallowing $200 is the only option.

basically this answers my questions as well as the tokyo embassy thread. i think this may go much better than i thought it would. MUCH better.

muckson, welcome to VJ!

When did you send your package to CA? The Tokyo embassy has been accepting I-130 petitions since March 23. Filing at the embassy has always been and apparently still is faster then filing stateside with USCIS. I myself got caught in the middle of the fiasco where the embassies stopped accepting petitions on Jan 23 until they revised the process (for history, see "Embassies no longer will accept I-130s" ).

I filed a petition at USCIS CA in early Feb, and it's still pending. As I've been regularly checking on it's status I can tell they haven't even touched it yet. I decided to re-file at the embassy, even though I knew that I had to pay the fee again. See this thread for more. Anyway, I went yesterday and at the end of the appointment, they told me it would take about 2 weeks to process the petition, and then another few weeks to finish everything and get the visa interview and then get the visa.

For the I-864, there a 3 main things: Filing tax returns (as you say you've done), financial status, and domicile. They say that proving domicile is a complex issue and is considered on a case-by-case basis. I've been living in Japan for 24 years (11 in the US military and 13 as a civilian), and considered my domicile by maintaining US bank accounts, my US driver's license, voting registration, etc.

When I leave Japan this summer I will be un-employed, so my current income here doesn't count. So I relied on my assets that put me above the poverty level x 3.

As meauxna said, it really is pretty simple. Just follow the instructions on the Tokyo embassy website.

If you have more questions, ask away!

As meauxna said, your wife will become a Permanent Resident instantaneously when she enters the US and has her visa stamped as executed. The stamped visa is the same as the "green card", and then you begin the wait to receive the actual card and her SSN card in the mail.

thanks all around.

i have a bit of a setback right now and that is regarding money. since i don't have a job in america yet, although i have an interview lined up, i have to rely solely on assets. i don't have much. i've had to borrow some too and i will have to borrow more. if all works well enough we will be able to reach the $49,500 goal-line and get have the submission for the I-864 ready. everything else is filled out and waiting but until i have the money and the affidavit of support ready i shouldn't make an appointment, but train tickets, take time off work, etc.

i'm sure it will be fine but i was hoping to get all this taken care of NOW. i would really like for it to just be over.

soon enough i suppose. soon enough.