David Borgeson

Good news to report - we got our interview at the Embassy in Tokyo and passed everything successfully. My wife now has her temporary I-551 stamp in her passport and we will be traveling to immigrate to the US in about two weeks.
 
About our experience with the Embassy portion of this process: for better or for worse, the day at the Embassy was quick and painless.
 
For better, obviously because it was quick and painless (and successful!).
 
But for the purposes of this forum and for helping others, we did not get a chance to talk with any officers in any detail nor get any feedback of any kind about the effect our several decisions (e.g. to claim 0.00 in income; to claim personal assets that were close but didn't quite satisfy the financial requirements; the inclusion of our joint sponsor's wife as a household member; perhaps others that I can't think of right now) had on the outcome. My wife's interview lasted about 90 seconds, and contained a total of two questions, which were "How long have you been married?" and "Do you have any questions?".
 
My big takeaway from our experience here is that whatever we did worked, though I don't know exactly why, and that our thoroughness and honestly throughout the process, as well as of course our relatively straightforward situation (IR1 visa with no issues), made the final day at the Embassy quick and smooth.
 
This has been our experience and everyone's situation will be different, and unfortunately I did not get clarity I was hoping for, so I don't think anyone should take this as a blanket endorsement of our decisions or assume what worked for us will necessary work in your situation.
 
Best wishes to you all!

Good news to report - we got our interview at the Embassy in Tokyo and passed everything successfully. My wife now has her temporary I-551 stamp in her passport and we will be traveling to immigrate to the US in about two weeks.
 
About our experience with the Embassy portion of this process: for better or for worse, the day at the Embassy was quick and painless.
 
For better, obviously because it was quick and painless (and successful!).
 
But for the purposes of this forum and for helping others, we did not get a chance to talk with any officers in any detail nor get any feedback of any kind about the effect our several decisions (e.g. to claim 0.00 in income; to claim personal assets that were close but didn't quite satisfy the financial requirements; the inclusion of our joint sponsor's wife as a household member; perhaps others that I can't think of right now) had on the outcome. My wife's interview lasted about 90 seconds, and contained a total of two questions, which were "How long have you been married?" and "Do you have any questions?".
 
My big takeaway from our experience here is that whatever we did worked, though I don't know exactly why, and that our thoroughness and honestly throughout the process, as well as of course our relatively straightforward situation (IR1 visa with no issues), made the final day at the Embassy quick and smooth.
 
This has been our experience and everyone's situation will be different, and unfortunately I did not get clarity I was hoping for, so I don't think anyone should take this as a blanket endorsement of our decisions or assume what worked for us will necessary work in your situation.
 
Best wishes to you all!

That makes sense. Thanks David. 

Thanks for this, I think it sounds prudent. Perhaps a bit over the top but I'd rather be too prepared than under.

Thank you so much for your quick reply! I agree- better be safe than sorry. 
 
Thanks again!

Hi Gaby, 
 
I did end up claiming my US assets on my I-864, even though I know that you can't combine assets with your co-sponsor to meet the threshold. I am going by the "too much information is better than too little information" approach to this whole thing. I'd rather avoid having to go back and provide more information or have a question I can't answer come up during the interview.
 
Best wishes and good luck to you guys, too!

Thanks for this, I think it sounds prudent. Perhaps a bit over the top but I'd rather be too prepared than under.