US Immigration from Japan

US Embassy in Tokyo emailed a request for additional documents a week before the interview.

This caught us off guard because they were requesting this specifically

"Police Certificates from Japan (Unopenable) and China including English translation from the China s Notarial Offices"

We have the police certificate from Japan but we thought we didn't require one from China. She was a chinese national but naturalized japanese last year.

They linked us to this criteria on the state dept website:

"All applicants must obtain a police certificate if they are currently 16 years of age or older and have resided in their country of nationality for at least six months since birth and if they have resided in their current country of residence for at least six months. Police certificates are also required in any other country where the applicant has resided for at least 12 months and was 16 years of age or older at the time of residence."

The NVC didn't require us to submit this prior to being DQ. It also states that the applicant requires a police certificate IF she resided in her county of nationality atleast 6 months since birth. But her nationality is Japanese NOT Chinese. She left China to reside in Japan at 15 years old. Does the applicant meet the criteria to just use the Japanese police certificate?

Or does she still need both? We are caught off guard and surprised at this request as trying to get a police certificate in China is extraordinary difficult and time consuming.

We are a bit worried about this interview at this point and might consider rescheduling months ahead just because of this. Any insights?

Hi all,

My fiance is flying here from Japan to visit me in the US in June. She will be visiting on an ESTA visa. I'm kind of stressing over the customs interview since she will be visiting for 85 days and I heard that they may scrutinize longer stays. I'd appreciate any advice to help get her through customs without issues.

Some details:

She will stay from mid June to early September.

This will be her 2nd time visiting the US. She previously stayed for 1 week in January this year.

Her plane ticket is non-changable and non-refundable.

She can speak some English, but she's not skilled yet. She can understand me when I speak slowly for her.

She is in between jobs at the moment. I am supporting her financially. She has a part time job offer she can pursue when she returns to Japan in September.

We are planning to get married soon after she arrives and apply for the CR-1 Visa right away.

She is planning to bring our wedding rings with her on the plane ride to America.

She rents a house in Japan.

She has 2 living parents, a grandmother, and a brother in Japan.

I'm stressed about the long stay, the fact that she is between jobs, and the fact that we plan to get married. I'm worried these might be red flags for a CBP agent even though our intentions are within the law.

Would you recommend that we prepare supporting documents explaining our intentions, her situation, and her current ties to Japan? Or maybe just a note witb my name and number in case the agent would like to speak to me (I will be at the airport to pick her up)? If she is denied entry, is there any recourse for us before she is sent back to Japan?

I just want her to get here safe. We are both really looking forward to this time together. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

My spouse filed for a re-entry permit, and he received the text from USCIS three days ago with his receipt number starting with LIN. In all other cases we've had, the number worked on the USCIS Case Status website. This time, the site is returning "Receipt Number entered is invalid". What could be going on? I made sure we are typing the number in exactly as received.

Good morning. My husband (US Citizen) applied sent in I-130 back in 2019 for his sister (Japanese citizen). Yesterday, he received an email that they assigned a new receipt number to the case. Does this mean anything regarding movement on the case? It seems pretty fast. Why would they assign a new case number? Thanks for any insight you can provide, Google searches are turning up empty.

Hello VJ folks,

We are on NVC stage now and collecting the required documents.

We've encountered an issue with our most recent tax transcript our CPA mistakenly filed it under "SINGLE" status instead of "married filing separately."

Unfortunately, this version has already been uploaded to the IRS system.

We have submitted an amended version to correct the error and IRS has received it.

However, it may take up to 16 weeks for the amended version to appear in their system.

Given this situation, is it going to be a problem if we submit the current tax transcript (filed as "single") as it is?

Or should we wait until the amended version is reflected in the system?

Or is it acceptable to submit the current version along with a letter explaining the CPA's mistake and noting that an amended return has been filed?

Thank you in advance for your help and advice!!