Tokyo Embassy K1 Interview Experience

[nathan688 4]

We had our interview today! A little bit of background: I'm the petitioner, from America, and my fiancée (beneficiary) is British, we both live in Osaka, Japan. We applied for a K1 fiancée visa.

We were worried about how the interview would go, (especially as we had to make a trip to Tokyo, as the Osaka embassy doesn't do interviews for the K1 visa, which was kinda expensive!) but it ended up being pretty quick and painless.

The instructions said to arrive no more than 15 minutes before the appointment time, and said that only the beneficiary will be allowed into the waiting room for the interview. However, once we got there, they said I could enter if I had brought my passport (which was sitting at home in Osaka), and we also arrived 45 minutes before the appointment time and they let us in no questions asked.

Here's my fiancée's account of the appointment experience:

I was in such a stress on the day that I left my book and purse with my fiancé who went to wander around whilst he waited for me, so make sure you definitely have everything you want to bring in with you. There are vending machines and I couldn't even buy a drink or anything because I had no money, oops! They had some magazines in there to keep you busy if you don't have a book.

At first, I was asked for a print out of my 'appointment confirmation', which I didn't have, but it turned out to not actually matter. Then I transferred everything they were interested in to a clear plastic folder given to me by the embassy. I had brought with me a lot of extra things (extra photos, some proof of relationship, the copy of the i-129f that was sent back to me, letters of intent to marry from both of us), but none of these things were asked for in the end. They have photo machines in there too, so don't worry too much about finding a photobooth that can take the proper sized square photos they ask for.

I waited about 30 minutes and then was called to the first window, I handed over my documents and waited about 40 minutes more for the second window where I gave my fingerprints. About 20 minutes later I was called to my interview, they asked me only a few questions and it took about 2 minutes in total: "Where did you meet? Have you travelled anywhere together? Have you met his family? Has he met your family? Have you lived anywhere other than the countries stated in your application?" All my answers were pretty short, most of them were just a quick yes or no.

After the interview window, I was told I would get the visa in about a week's time. Dazed and a little confused by how simple it was, I asked if I was supposed to go and was pointed towards the exit. It seemed like a huuuge anticlimax compared to how stressed I had been about it for the past few days (weeks)!

I was inside the embassy for around 1 hour 45 minutes total from entering to exiting. I'm so happy it's all over (for now) and wish everyone the best of luck for their interview!!

[Hondatphcm 3]

Good, lucky for you guy

 

[tpmd 155]

Hi Nathan688! I am new to this forum and trying to figure out the process, but your situation sounds similar to mine so was wondering if you had any advice. My fiance is from the US and I'm British, but we both live and work in Hanoi. We have a lawyer in the US to help with the process, but he's being pretty unresponsive. 

 

Was the application process any different because you are abroad? How long did the process from filing ~ interview take you?

 

Also we are assuming we will need a co sponsor as when we get to the US my fiance won't have any work history from inside the states (been working abroad since graduating). Did you have to deal with that? 

 

I have tried reading through the process but it's all so new and confusing to me! Thanks in advance for any help you can give and congrats on getting your visa! 

[nathan688 4]

2 minutes ago, tpmd said:

Hi Nathan688! I am new to this forum and trying to figure out the process, but your situation sounds similar to mine so was wondering if you had any advice. My fiance is from the US and I'm British, but we both live and work in Hanoi. We have a lawyer in the US to help with the process, but he's being pretty unresponsive. 

 

Was the application process any different because you are abroad? How long did the process from filing ~ interview take you?

 

Also we are assuming we will need a co sponsor as when we get to the US my fiance won't have any work history from inside the states (been working abroad since graduating). Did you have to deal with that? 

 

I have tried reading through the process but it's all so new and confusing to me! Thanks in advance for any help you can give and congrats on getting your visa! 

Our interview took 207 days from our I-129F NOA1 date, but that was with one RFE (underexposed passport photo... ugggh). The application was pretty much identical, as far as I can tell. It's our first time filing for this, so we don't have any previous experience. I do believe there was one address that was different when sending things off, but I don't remember precisely. 

 

You will definitely need a cosponsor in the US unless you go and live there for a time and get a job that shows you earn above the poverty line.

[tpmd 155]

4 minutes ago, nathan688 said:

Our interview took 207 days from our I-129F NOA1 date, but that was with one RFE (underexposed passport photo... ugggh). The application was pretty much identical, as far as I can tell. It's our first time filing for this, so we don't have any previous experience. I do believe there was one address that was different when sending things off, but I don't remember precisely. 

 

You will definitely need a cosponsor in the US unless you go and live there for a time and get a job that shows you earn above the poverty line.

Cool, thank you! Hopefully we can figure it all out. It's such a long winded process that we weren't expecting!