K-1 Interview & Overstay of Japanese Visa

[hej1 0]

Hi, everyone--

I have some questions and wanted to hear about other people's experiences. Here is the situation: My fiance was in Japan and overstayed his Japanese visa (more than 10 years ago)-- this is a civil (not criminal) issue in Japan-- he was stopped at a traffic stop, found to be without proper papers and deported. He has no other blemish of any type on any record.

I want to understand how/if we need to communicate and provide documentation related to this situation, especially as it seems it will probably not appear on his Japanese police certificate as they do not report non-criminal items that happened more than 10 years ago (we are still waiting to receive it)-- not even sure if they would ever report this. Our interview is Nov 5th and we have been advised by the embassy not to change our interview date as we can submit the police certificate later (of course no visa until the certificate is provided and reviewed).

Here are my questions, in the spirit of proper disclosure and minimizing complications:

1) On the DS-156, question #38 - do we mark yes or no since it was a civil issue?

2) If we need to mark yes, what other documentation do we need to have at the interview? We have called the police stations in Japan and Japanese embassy who was not able to help us or provide any information on how to obtain documentation related to his case.

3) For anyone who may have been through this, what was your experience and did you have delays due to addiitonal reviews of your case?

Thanks so much for any help and advice. This week I started consulting with a lawyer on this, but they are still researching and have not given me any guidance yet...I figure real-life experience is always good to understand as well

[baron555 934]

Hi, everyone--

I have some questions and wanted to hear about other people's experiences. Here is the situation: My fiance was in Japan and overstayed his Japanese visa (more than 10 years ago)-- this is a civil (not criminal) issue in Japan-- he was stopped at a traffic stop, found to be without proper papers and deported. He has no other blemish of any type on any record.

I want to understand how/if we need to communicate and provide documentation related to this situation, especially as it seems it will probably not appear on his Japanese police certificate as they do not report non-criminal items that happened more than 10 years ago (we are still waiting to receive it)-- not even sure if they would ever report this. Our interview is Nov 5th and we have been advised by the embassy not to change our interview date as we can submit the police certificate later (of course no visa until the certificate is provided and reviewed).

Here are my questions, in the spirit of proper disclosure and minimizing complications:

1) On the DS-156, question #38 - do we mark yes or no since it was a civil issue?

2) If we need to mark yes, what other documentation do we need to have at the interview? We have called the police stations in Japan and Japanese embassy who was not able to help us or provide any information on how to obtain documentation related to his case.

3) For anyone who may have been through this, what was your experience and did you have delays due to addiitonal reviews of your case?

Thanks so much for any help and advice. This week I started consulting with a lawyer on this, but they are still researching and have not given me any guidance yet...I figure real-life experience is always good to understand as well

Visas to stay in Japan and any consequence of such has no bearing whatsoever on a visa petition to the US. They are two totally different things.

Edited October 21, 2009 by baron555

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi, everyone--

I have some questions and wanted to hear about other people's experiences. Here is the situation: My fiance was in Japan and overstayed his Japanese visa (more than 10 years ago)-- this is a civil (not criminal) issue in Japan-- he was stopped at a traffic stop, found to be without proper papers and deported. He has no other blemish of any type on any record.

I want to understand how/if we need to communicate and provide documentation related to this situation, especially as it seems it will probably not appear on his Japanese police certificate as they do not report non-criminal items that happened more than 10 years ago (we are still waiting to receive it)-- not even sure if they would ever report this. Our interview is Nov 5th and we have been advised by the embassy not to change our interview date as we can submit the police certificate later (of course no visa until the certificate is provided and reviewed).

Here are my questions, in the spirit of proper disclosure and minimizing complications:

1) On the DS-156, question #38 - do we mark yes or no since it was a civil issue?

2) If we need to mark yes, what other documentation do we need to have at the interview? We have called the police stations in Japan and Japanese embassy who was not able to help us or provide any information on how to obtain documentation related to his case.

3) For anyone who may have been through this, what was your experience and did you have delays due to addiitonal reviews of your case?

Thanks so much for any help and advice. This week I started consulting with a lawyer on this, but they are still researching and have not given me any guidance yet...I figure real-life experience is always good to understand as well

The question asks if you were "arrested or convicted of any offense or crime..." Since they separate "offenses" from "crime" I would say you answer YES. However it is not an offense that would disqualify you for a visa to the US and the US does not care if he overstayed a visa in Japan. Of course he will have to have a Japanese police certificate (required of any country where he lived for more than 6 months after age 16) and that will show no criminal offenses. I would attach trhe Japanese police cetificate and a letter of explanation of the answer to question 38.

[hej1 0]

Hi, everyone--

I have some questions and wanted to hear about other people's experiences. Here is the situation: My fiance was in Japan and overstayed his Japanese visa (more than 10 years ago)-- this is a civil (not criminal) issue in Japan-- he was stopped at a traffic stop, found to be without proper papers and deported. He has no other blemish of any type on any record.

I want to understand how/if we need to communicate and provide documentation related to this situation, especially as it seems it will probably not appear on his Japanese police certificate as they do not report non-criminal items that happened more than 10 years ago (we are still waiting to receive it)-- not even sure if they would ever report this. Our interview is Nov 5th and we have been advised by the embassy not to change our interview date as we can submit the police certificate later (of course no visa until the certificate is provided and reviewed).

Here are my questions, in the spirit of proper disclosure and minimizing complications:

1) On the DS-156, question #38 - do we mark yes or no since it was a civil issue?

2) If we need to mark yes, what other documentation do we need to have at the interview? We have called the police stations in Japan and Japanese embassy who was not able to help us or provide any information on how to obtain documentation related to his case.

3) For anyone who may have been through this, what was your experience and did you have delays due to addiitonal reviews of your case?

Thanks so much for any help and advice. This week I started consulting with a lawyer on this, but they are still researching and have not given me any guidance yet...I figure real-life experience is always good to understand as well

The question asks if you were "arrested or convicted of any offense or crime..." Since they separate "offenses" from "crime" I would say you answer YES. However it is not an offense that would disqualify you for a visa to the US and the US does not care if he overstayed a visa in Japan. Of course he will have to have a Japanese police certificate (required of any country where he lived for more than 6 months after age 16) and that will show no criminal offenses. I would attach trhe Japanese police cetificate and a letter of explanation of the answer to question 38.

Thanks for your help! That does make sense-- I guess "offense" is meant to mean civil offense?