fiftytwo05g

A little update, so I sought a little legal advice on our situation and according to him, the consular officer has the final say on my proof of domicile despite the NVC approving the documents. And my domicile has to be crystal clear before the interview. All the advice given is great here and I will be gathering evidence to mail in. I made the conscious decision to move back to the states next week with the kids and leave the wife behind to await their decision. I'm quite uncomfortable with the situation, but I'm positive that we will get through this once everything is finished and mailed out. I will keep everyone updated if everything pans out.

Thank you for reaching out to help! I provided a bank account with a billing address and driver's license. I will be staying at a family home I grew up in till we get on our feet, but drawing up a lease or a tenant contract seems out of place for my family (or most families IMO). Wouldn't seem strange to the agent that I would draw out something in a short notice for the sake of paperwork? I've been browsing around here I noticed that school registration, utility bills, and insurance seem like strong evidence of my residence in the home. We also can obtain a translated document from the Japanese government certifying that I am revoking my Visa and Japanese residence. The interviewer was also asking if our co sponsor was living with us, but he's not, he is only a childhood friend.

My thoughts exactly, it looks like they want a more detailed plan on life there. We are considering adding more evidence such as school enrollment, health insurance, utility bills, and car registration, potential job offers but this looks like a work in progress. Seems like family separation for a few months might be in cards just to prove domicile.

Hello, Unfortunately my spouse's visa was refused based on lack of proof of domicile according to this letter. I submitted my proof of domicile via nvc showing my bank account, federal tax returns (but we used a joint sponsor), and my renewed driver's license. They asked my spouse during the interview if I had any work lined up back in the states, but told them that I was still searching. They took her passport and it seems like they would be awaiting mail from us. How would I respond and proceed with this? Would it be better to just take our kids back to the US and try to apply for school? Any other evidence I can provide them?

Yes, we've been digging around and luckily she has her old passport with her Japanese residence visa on it and arrival stamp. We may just proceed with the interview, and just point that out to the interviewer as milimelo advises. But we are crossing fingers here at this point.

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?

Yes, I believe some cases we're scheduled a few months after DQ, but the medical emergency is for our 5 year old son, he is suffering from severe mental illness and is on heavy antipsychotics because he is self harming and suicidal. Our doctors don't recommend family separation even for 1 month and health insurance doesn't cover most mental disorders in Japan.

I checked my case status and it's still marked "at nvc". They haven't scheduled me an interview date.

Not doing DCF. My i-130 was approved on January, received nvc letter and submitted all documents and paid fees via ceac. After I was DQ, i emailed a letter to NVCExpedite with a health certificate from the doctor stating our medical emergency. Here was the first response from the NVC "To Whom It May Concern: The National Visa Center (NVC) will send your request for expedited processing to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Please note: Although only the U.S. Embassy or Consulate can approve or deny expedite requests, NVC will send you the result of your request when completed. You do not need to contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. However, if you do not receive a response from NVC within 30 days, please follow up by email to nvcexpedite@state.gov. IMPORTANT: Do not let more than one year pass without contacting the NVC concerning this visa petition. If a period of one year passes from the last date of contact (by telephone, mail, or e-mail) with the NVC, all submitted fees and documents expire. If this occurs, the fees must be paid again and documents must be resubmitted in order to continue the immigration process. " After 2 days, I received a response from the embassy, which is on the first post. It does seem like the embassy is confusing my case with a DCF.

I'm in the same situation and tried to apply for an appointment but with no success. I tracked my case here https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx If it is still "at nvc" or "in transit", then the embassy has not received your case yet and I don't think you can make an appointment directly. Not sure if your embassy is different, but this is usually the case.

Hellox, I made an expedited request due to family health emergency through the NVC expedite email after my DQ, and I got a reply from the embassy in Tokyo. The request is quite vague. Are they requesting documents pertaining to the applicant or petitioner? I (petitioner) sent a letter to the NVC on behalf of my spouse. Documents A and B isn't possible if it's pertaining to the applicant becuase my spouse has no SSN. Also we both reside overseas and still using the national health insurance in Japan. I'm not employed at the moment and we used a co-sponsor. Any thoughts on what I should upload? We are in a pinch right now, and we just needed to move our interview date closer. "Thank you for your request. Please provide us the following documents. a) A scanned copy of job offer or contract in the United States. b) A scanned copy of health insurance in the United States. c) Any other proof of financial support/mean in the United States. Thank you. Sincerely, IV Unit"

Yes, and after much research, I noticed that not all the white book birth certificates are the same. We received her birth certificate with the first page bio information with a notarization. Then I also saw examples of a notarized bio page with an additional notarization page after that as if it was notarized twice. 4 pages total in the booklet with English translations. I've also heard mixed stories that it should be translated by an authorized state translator in China and other advice telling me to get it notarized via Hague certification or through the ministry of foreign affairs. Also horror cases on here where they can't get a new one because they no longer hold Chinese citizenship. All this is too confusing. And I'm just looking for some advice on here before I consult an attorney.

She was born in China, but naturalized in Japan. She has a copy of her original birth certificate which is translated into Japanese when she naturalized. Quite frustrating that this RFE isn't specific, but we suspect that it might be a missing piece to the document. From another thread on this regional forum it states: White book: Every official document in Chinese, you have to get a ‘certified translation’ in English. There are ‘authorized translation agencies’ in China in almost every major city. The ‘certified translation’ they make, is the "white book". It has a white cover, and the translations inside. A "white book" is not a notarial translation. It is legal certificate (both in Chinese and English) to prove your fiancée’s marital status, criminal history and birth. White books contain: *certified copy of original document * notarial translation of original document * translators translation statement While USCIS may accept a self translation or even an 'official' translation from the US. Guangzhou is usually (always?) insistent on getting the official Chinese notarization in the form of 'white books'. When it comes to the interview, make sure you have the 'white books'. 1 of 3 problems here and I only see 3 ways I might be able to get around this. A) Assume a technical issue with the scan, and scan on a bigger scanner to make sure no cut offs and better resolution while following guidelines. Then submit and hope they accept. B) Get another translation with certification then submit. ( but wouldn't they rfe about translation in the first place?) C) Try to get the case expedited to the embassy, have the BC translated and certified by a translator, and show and explain to the embassy. This has been exhausting for my family, thanks for those helping out. I'm not sure what we should do.

The ceac portal recommend only 150 DPI, but we scanned at 200 DPI and all our documents other than the BC were accepted. There is a 4mb limit for a single file. Another potential issue is a certified translation to the BC. I've seen that chinese documents require certified translations, but i see contradicting reports that self translation and signing and certifying it yourself is sufficient. This RFE is strange because I'm not sure if it's the document itself or the scan.

Hello, this may be long and complicated so bear with me. We are at the NVC stage and I got a second RFE for my wife's birth certificate. And we're in a pickle. We live in Tokyo and plan on going to the embassy there. But the NVC is giving us the run around. We followed the scan directions on the website. "Part of this document is missing or is difficult to read. Please replace this with a scan that shows the complete text of the document. Please ensure all sides of every page are scanned and visible." Her birth certificate was translated to Japanese, but she self translated to English and signed our own affidavit with her info. Is this a scan problem? Do we need a bigger scanner? Or does it need a "certified translation" page on the white book (birth certificate). Trying to get another one is very difficult because she changed her citizen to Japanese. Another big problem we have is our son has severe mental illness and we need treatment in the US and seperating him away from my wife would worsen his condition. We are considering on sending a expedited request to the NVC and bring all the documents to the embassy and show and explain the situation there. All our documents, including the AOS and Civil documents are all accepted but the birth certificate. What shall we do? I feel this can turn into a problem down the road. Anyone have advice on what we should do?