DCF Tokyo June 15 2009

[bokbokbok 0]

Ok, well, everyone's experiences have been useful so I thought it would be wrong not to give my experience doing DCF Tokyo on June 15 2009.

Me, being American, and my wife being Japanese.

I had a 2pm appointment. They let everyone get in line early. Don't bring anything except your papers. No food, no drinks. There is a photo booth in the waiting room for emergency re-takes.

I filed everything possible.

I-130

G-325a for me and wife

DS-230 I and II (don't sign part II)

I-864 + taxes for the past three years

Letter explaining my stable work situation in returning to the US plus contact info for that.

Copies of passports

Proof of marriage:

4 affidavits (2 friends, me, and wife's mother, who was there when we filed marriage - none notarized)

Timeline of relationship. 2 pages. Lots of details.

9 pictures. Including friends in affidavits, her family.

Anyway, they opened the doors and everyone waiting outside went into the entry area where they check you off and give you a number to wait to be called as well as a list that states the order that everything must organized in.

Tip: buy a bunch of clips and keep all related documents bound together. They say about 5 minutes until they call you, but its feels like about 2.41 seconds. There is so much junk to file that you can't organize it fast enough even though we had everything quite organized.

We were called and in a rush, ran over to the window. One paper didn't get in order, but it seemed like it was ok.

We waited for about 30 minutes or so. then she called us to have us pay the $355 fee, or however much it was.

We wanted another 15-20 minutes, and they called us to a different window where there was an American guy. He asked us just a few questions confirming my work, what my wife did before she stopped working, and confirming that my work will continue.

Then he said everything is in order, and the rest of the process will take about a month. Since the background check for me takes "a few weeks depending on the work load", we have a bit of time to get the Japanese police report taken care of. He said they will send the next packet straight away. When the background check is finished, we can schedule the interview...assuming the police report comes in time!

Since my salary is pretty good and I provided all of my taxes, the "most likely reason for rejection" was not a problem.

MY question: in Tokyo, what is the best way to get the doctor/health check/vaccination requirement taken care of? If she goes the day before the interview will that be ok or do we need to do that in more advance?

Feel free to grill me on this. It is a LOT of work getting the paperwork in order and getting backup information in case they ask for more details.

bokbokbokbok :dance: :dance:

[redglasses 1]

MY question: in Tokyo, what is the best way to get the doctor/health check/vaccination requirement taken care of? If she goes the day before the interview will that be ok or do we need to do that in more advance?

Thank you for sharing your experience

Please share it at the embassy review page as well.

Your wife cannot go for her medical exam the day before her interview because designated facilities are closed on Sundays.

As far as I know, Tokyo British Clinic is the only one open on Saturdays.

Many people from non-Tokyo area seem to go to TBC on Sat and request the expedited service with additional fee.

With the service, you can pick up your result two hours after your exam.