US Immigration from Japan

Good morning all,

I do apologize for making two threads, but the topics are sufficiently different than it didn't make sense to include both in one.

We are considering leaving the US and moving to my spouse's home country as soon as August, but have not decided on this. That said, we are not sure the move would be long-term. We may want to (or have to) come back depending on how the visa process works out in that country. If my residency application is not approved for example, we would be coming back to the US within a few months. In order to apply for the particular visa we are looking at, I'm required to be physically present in Japan - it cannot be done through an embassy here in the US. It would be several months before I'd find out if I'm approved and can remain in Japan.

My spouse has pending ROC filed last year January 2023 and has the 48-months extension letter. I've tried to research this, but there is very little info on how pending ROC works if we leave the country. This is the main the reason I'm interested in ROC approval estimates for LIN as the Nebraska Service Center seems to be quicker than others. If we go by USCIS processing time estimates, our application could be approved around July of this year. VisaJourney is estimating February 2025.

If anyone can assist with the following questions, it would be much appreciated:

1. If we do move prior to approval and file an address change with USCIS and include a foreign address, will that result in the ROC being denied or cancelled? I assume we cannot use a relative's US mailing address, as we would not be physically present there - or can we?
2. Do we simply have to withdraw the ROC if we move out of the US and then have my spouse file for IR-1 if we ever move back? This would be extremely problematic if my residency in Japan is not approved (unlikely, but possible) as it would result in us being separated.
3. What if we apply for a re-entry permit during ROC?

At this point, we are really stuck on whether we should just wait out ROC approval, apply for a re-entry permit first, and then consider leaving. Some days we want to wait it out, and other days we question whether to keep putting our lives on hold for USCIS, as we could potentially be waiting years for ROC approval by what some on this forum have described. Others have suggested using N400 to "speed" up the process, but that is not a consideration for us as Japan does not allow dual citizenship.

We currently have pending ROC with LIN (Nebraska Service Center). The USCIS processing time for this service center shows 80% of cases approved with 18 months. This is the quickest of all service centers I checked as some are almost double that. There are also many recent data points on this site showing approvals 14-16 months post-receipt date for LIN.

That said, I keep receiving emails from VisaJourney stating that our approval estimate is late February 2025, which puts us at 25 months. What is this data based on? Is it drawing on data from all service centers and thus not factoring that LIN is faster than the others?

In addition, why does the https://www.visajourney.com/times/ page only show CSC and VSC for I-751, when there are many other service centers?

Hello, looking for advice.

I-130 standalone, I am a US citizen sponsoring my wife who lives in Japan.

I made enough money in 2021 and 2023 to meet 125% of the poverty guidelines. But in 2022 I had some health concerns and I was out of work. I did not meet the minimum requirements this year.

I can show that my current income is above the requirements, and I will continue to make enough.

Is it enough if the most recent tax year shows that I made enough to satisfy the requirements and if my current income meets the requirements?

I don't have a good relationship with my family and I don't have many friends. I have absolutely no idea who could possibly be my joint sponsor. I am panicking, I feel sick to my stomach.

Is it possible my income for 2023 and my current income will be enough to get approved?

My wifes green card expired 1/03/2022. The 2 year Extension I-90 expired 1/03/2024. During the 4 years of the 2 year Green Card and 2 year Extensions she has traveled back to Japan about 8 or 9 times to see her mother.

Her mother died last week and without a thought we booked her flight for the following morning and off she went. She was supposed to return yesterday but due to the fact the Green Card and i-90 expired on 01/03/2024 obviously she is not here with me or I would not be typing this right now.

1st thing she did was go to the US Embassy in Tokyo Japan, they told her to go on the USCIS website and file a form I-131.

I called USCIS and they told me that is not the form needed and to go on the US Embassy website and find the correct form there.

They would not tell me what form to file.

Then I called back and they said to schedule an appointment, but you can not make the appointment from here in the US and there is no link on the website to make an appointment either... kind of like the old man joke in Coming to America--- "Where's the spoon... Aaaahaaaaa"

I filed a form DS-160, Hope that's the correct form.

I have never had a problem with this process but now I am super pissed off.

Has anyone had an issue with leaving the US with an expired Green Card and how did you get back or get an exception?

Hello all,

I've had a very eventful year - namely in regards to marrying my Japanese spouse last year in November (2023).

I'm a USC, she's 100% Japanese.

Since she will be moving here, the next step was of course to file the I-130. My research at the time made it seem like processing times could be around 6 months. In hindsight, it's clear it can take much longer and that I should have researched further.

I filed on January 9, 2024 and received the "Case is being Actively Reviewed" status on January 11.

Our plan was that around June/July this year, she could expect to visit the US (with no intent to permanently stay yet) while we wait for the I-130 to progress.

She's currently in Japan. By July, she may no longer be employed at her current job and also may not renew her apartment lease.

She currently has a US visitor visa (ESTA?) and has visited a few times already (unsure about the specifics of this, I will check).

Since we are now already in the month of March - I'm starting to feel some stress and anxiety about what likely will happen.

Planning for the worse, I will assume that this I-130 will not be processed before July 2024.

Therefore by July she will not have a processed I-130, no job or apartment (because of the planned eventual move to the US), yet also cannot temporarily stay in the US for longer than the ESTA allows.

I'm beginning to research alternative visa's or processes that will allow her to temporarily stay for a longer duration during this limbo period.

Does anyone have any insight on situations like this? I've learned quite a bit already, but I'm a bit stuck now on the best path forward.