jamesv

Hey Ar&A, did you have any luck?

My wife  is sponsoring her mother (Parent Visa). I-130 was approved, NVC application moved to DQ (Documents Qualified) in late November, 2020, saying this:

"NVC will work with the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General in TOKYO, JPN to schedule an interview appointment for you. Once we have confirmed an interview date, we will send a notice to you, your petitioner and attorney (if applicable)."

But so far nothing -- it's been almost 3 months since the DQ and we have yet to be prompted to even schedule an interview. Police certificate will likely expire and she's waiting to do the medical.. 

I tried calling the embassy, and they just forwarded me to the NVC main call center without even letting me finish my sentence... anyone else have to wait 3+ months after DQ to even put an appointment in? Can anyone recommend the best place to call to check on the status of this? It seems to be stuck in between bureaucracies at the moment.

Do you still have other family members in China with your mom in THEIR Hukou? If so, you will be able to generate a new Hokou from a local Gong Zhen Chu. Immigrating to Hong Kong shouldn't really be a reason to not have it.. it's not like the HK government takes away your mainland Hokou, no? As long as someone else has her in theirs, you can get a new one for her.

But, worst case, you may able to get something from the Hong Kong government in lieu of everything else based on a sworn statement.

Approved. Thanks to all! Good luck everyone.

There's some more discussion on this here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/466016-tokyo-embassy-k-1-interview-questions/#entry7355150

I'm actually going to attempt to attend myself next week with my fiancée.. what I did was making a separate ACS booking for myself, as I couldn't figure out where to request it otherwise on the booking for her interview. Fortunately I was lucky to get a booking for "other services" as a citizen at the exact same date/time as her interview, so that should cover me regardless. You go into the same building for both types of bookings - I've been in there before.

It's also listed on here that people are generally allowed to attend: http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Japan&cty=Tokyo

It should be fine .. sounds like a lot of people go in even without ACS bookings ..

Yes - there are a number of other people who have attended with fiancees/spouses in Tokyo.

NOA2 about 1.5 months ago from CSC and got an initial packet from Tokyo embassy about 1 month ago. Currently chasing down the correct version of a chinese both certificate, which is difficult because we both live in Japan. That's been our major delay.

Sorry for all you TSC folks -- pretty sure I would be pulling my hair out.. especially if we were separated..

This sounds like good advice. Do we not get the copy we submit for the K-1 back?

The cover page would look like this.

http://www.eduglobal.com/sgp/image/info/20080519_151536_2_926.gif

inside would be a chinese page that look like this

http://www.eduglobal.com/sgp/image/info/20080519_151514_596_890.gif

and also english page

http://www.eduglobal.com/sgp/image/info/20080519_151450_580_323.gif

Exactly what we were after....thank you!

Just trust your judgement. I have no idea why you went and contacted the husband, though.

Does anyone have an example of the correct form of this birth certificate by any chance? (the 4-page English/Chinese one). I think we're on the right track, but I just want to confirm we're getting the right document. I've googled everywhere but can't find it!

OK - I think we're on the right track now. Thanks for all of your advice.

I'm just trying to find an example of the 4-page Chinese/English birth certificate that everyone seems to be using. At the embassy, they noted that the hospital/medical version we had was quite different, and that the Chinese/English one was more simple and didn't come from a hospital (I'm assuming the Guang Zhen Chu generates this more simplified version of the front page, or at least they'll direct us where to go for that.. I've been googling all over the place - including here, trying to find an example of this document -- just to make sure we're getting the right thing this time.

Does anyone have an example, by any chance? .. just for confirmation!

Also, Ryan (or other mods),

Posts split from old thread as poster is asking about their own situation.

This topic is relevant to a K-1 visa application -- not spouse. Might be more appropriate for the China regional section, though, as it's about Chinese birth certificates.

Also there's a type-o in the split topic name

Just an update from my side if anyone's curious (or it helps anyone in the future)..

I did go into the Embassy and asked for some advice. I was pleasantly surprised with how helpful they were, actually .. unfortunately, I can't use the birth certificate we have, despite it being 4 pages with pages 2 and 4 being (japanese) translations of the 1st and 3rd Chinese pages, and being embossed/notorized/stamped/etc/etc.

They want the aforementioned specific format produced in English. I mentioned we're not in a good position to obtain that, with no family in China being available, and she did pull up some documentation which notes that we can potentially ask a friend to do it (rather than family). I am hopeful this is the case that we can do this without relying on a trip to China.

http://i.imgur.com/EOXvRKl.jpg

She also noted that if it takes a while to sort this out, we can extend the petition so it doesn't expire (we're good til February for now). That was actually a big relief.. not too stressed by this because we're already living together in Tokyo and life isn't too bad.. but I do miss home (and making a lot more money). I think if we were separated because of this my blood would be starting to boil.

So the part that's still up in the air is exactly which office will provide this to one of my fiancée's friends, and what documentation they'll require to get it.. hopefully we can figure that out over the next week or so.

I'll post any info here to help people in the future who get stuck in this little pitfall.

Thanks - great idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Real humans are the best! I booked for next week.

Surely the "white book" version of the police report is something she can get from the Chinese embassy here... i hope...please china...yikes.

That's cool - I didn't realize that was actually an option.

What do you mean "during ACS appointment time"? Is that something I need to book?

Edit: aha - I think you mean just use the normal booking interface for citizens and chose "other" as a reason. I'll do that!

you be a USCitizen - I think you should walk in next week to the Embassy during ACS appointment time, ask for Vice-Consul that handles IV matters, and show the stuff to him/her, get a real opinion.

Seriously.

Yeah, crossing my fingers .. simply because, even if we do go to China, we have no idea which offices and where to run around to.... and my fiancée's mom is saying it took 2 months for her to get this existing version of the birth certificate we have. That's pretty scary to me.

So there's a chance that if we have to chase down this "white book" (the existing one we have is white book (in chinese/japanese), so I'm not sure if that's the best thing to call it?) ..and we have to go to China in January to get it, then we'll miss the I-129F approval slot and have to start from the beginning.

Do you know if there's a way to extend I-129F approval validity period?

I called the embassy and they recommended I put it in writing. I just emailed in this. I don't know what kind of response I'm going to get in "1-2 business days."

Good afternoon,

Hey Darnell,

First - thanks for your help. Looking back through a lot of stuff .. you have been helpful to everyone here.

Our situation is a little tough because the only family which might be helpful in this situation is here in Japan with us...but she's still going to try to reach a few people. She's been in Japan for 10+ years, so seems like connections are a little thin. We decided we want to take a trip to China to her hometown anyway before we head to the US, though (small/medium sized city in Liaoning), and we're bringing her mom back too. Earliest we can get time off is January though.. worst case, if we can't get anyone to help in China before, we'll chase it up ourselves there. We're not in a huge rush because we're already living happily together, but I really don't want to have to apply for the I-129F again.

Our I-129F approval validity ends in mid February, and it looks like this Tokyo approval will come in a couple of stages. I'm wondering if January would be too late, or if it's even going to take a few months itself to get this special copy of the birth certificate. On another note, I had a look over that one she used for her Japanese PR, and it's not too dissimilar from what I understand the English one to be. It's in a 4-page format - but instead of Chinese/English/Chinese/English, it's Chinese/Japanese/Chinese/Japanese...but the same exact documents (3 being some recognition of the notary and 4th being a translation of that into Japanese).

So I'm actually going to call the Tokyo USEM in a couple hours with these same questions .. what I'm hoping is that we could get the 4 page'r we have here translated to English as well, but it sounds like that's not going to acceptable from what everyone has said. Bummer.

Her mom seems to think we won't use the hukuo book, but rather the existing certificate to get a new "English 4 page" version of the certificate. but we'll need to confirm that.

Very slowly things are coming to light, but if anyone has any additional comments, that would be awesome.

Your fiancee has a hukuo book. Her family members back in China have a hukuo book, that lists her in it. Anyone that has her listed in _THEIR_ hukuo book can get a new set of chinese docs made, then get the notarial translations made, and then ship them to her in Japan - no plane ride needed. and yes, DOCS are made in her hukuo city.

Hey guys, just another question to resurrect this thread if you don't mind.

We got our NOA2 about a month ago, and the letter from Tokyo USEM last week. They're requesting we mail a few things in. My fiancée has a Chinese passport, but has been living here 10+ years. They're requesting only a birth certificate, Japanese residence card, and old passports, and DS-230.. No mention of a health check or affidavits of support or anything like that yet. I found this surprising.

Will they request we bring health checks and support affidavits to the interview later on? They actually process health checks and support affidavits at the interview? I'll be attending the interview with her.

I'm just surprised the list of requirements was so light, so far. I just want to be sure we don't need to send in the health check/support affidavits now, and they just neglect to mention this. On the I-129F instruction form, for example, there's no mention of 70% of the requirements described on this site - I just wanted to make sure this isn't the same situation with the Tokyo USEM.

Thank you so much for any info.

James

This happened after the interview? I am not familiar with a "blue slip".. ?

Just got the "K1 Instructions" packet from the Tokyo embassy.

The list of requirements seems extremely light .. no mention of affidavits of support or health checks in here .. just birth certificate, japanese ID card, passport and previous passports, and DS-230.

Is this normal? Are they going to ask for affidavits of support, health checks, etc later? Perhaps I'll ask this another forum too.

Filed August 30th.. routed to CSC .. NOA1 Sept 9th.. NOA2 yesterday (Nov 2nd).. woohooo!

So fast.. we haven't even looked at what to do next yet! I was expecting January.

Best of luck to the rest of you!

I just got back from my interview, which was fairly short.

All the lady said was "So, tell me about your fiance.. oh wait, the affidavit isn't good enough. Hmm.. it's a bit low. Well, I got a meeting in 8 mins, so I have to go. We'll call you somewhere next week to see what we'll do with you."

That was it..

So what I get from that is that the affidavit of support doesn't meet the requirements. Even with our co-sponsor. And with properties without a mortage and a lot of savings in the bank..

What does this all even mean? It sounds to me like a denial is coming up.

I really don't see why that affidavit would be good enough in a few days if it isn't now. I mean, the numbers on it don't change overnight.

What can I do now?

Was our long journey in vain?

What's the next step?

So disapointed.

Ugh..just curious..can you let us know how this turned out in the end?

Thank you both for your comments.

Does the CR-1 interviewing process is "easier" as we are already married? I mean: no point on taking a pile of printed conversations since we are married... how does it change from a fiancee interview.

Also, how does unemployment impacts the process? considering with obtain affidavit support would it be a big deal if she is unemployed?

Hey ricnun86,

Just curious .. which one did you end up deciding on? Did you go with a K-1 while overseas?

Both my and my fiancée are living in Tokyo at the moment .. we filed the I-129F and are starting to look at preparations for the interview so we can request it as soon as the NOA2 comes in .. I was fairly well assured that doing the K-1 abroad was fine..just curious about the I-134.

I'm trying to figure out the affidavit of support, since I'm not sure they'll count my income here. I can probably get it from my parents as cosponsor, but I'm wondering if I actually have to or not. I can't actually find many posts about what people did in this situation despite looking quite a bit.

If you went the K-1 route, could you tell me what you did for the I-134?

Would appreciate it so much.

Thanks,

James