Akiko

They erase the history of you overstays after a certain period of time. I don't know exactly how long that takes. It could cause problems to obtaining a visa but it doesn't hurt to try and keep going for it. Why people get their approvals faster than others? I don't know. Some cases, they have to research deeper. Then there are some people who are stupid and lazy to get their work done. I got my NOA2 after 7 months. Some people have to wait longer, some get it in less than 3 months. Its a long and painful wait, but it was sure worth it. Good luck to you and your fiance.

Hey everyone!

They just sent out our visa yesterday. I called Congresswoman Eshoo the day after I called the Embassy and told her what happened and what they told me and she sent in an inquiry to them that same day. She called to tell me that they promised her that they would send the visa right away and that there was no problem with the case, but we were still on pins and needles until we saw that it had been sent. Whew.

Thanks for the support everyone~! And for not complaining about my rants.

Congrats to Mike and Sachie for making progress on your case~! I hope everything else goes smoothly!

Congratulations!

Its good to hear things are finally going to move forward for you.

Hi everyone. We still haven't gotten anything from the embassy, so I sent them a $20 e-mail yesterday asking what is going on. We'll see what they say.... I think they might be a little behind because it took them two weeks to mail the visa to another VJer who interviewed in Tokyo a week before we did. We're really anxious about it now that it's down to the wire, I got the mother of all sinus infections two days after the interview and Kenchin has barely been sleeping.

redglasses - Yeah, the separate room part was the result of a fiance who had only gotten one hour of sleep and me talking too fast. He's not that talkative to begin with, I can't get straight answers out of him unless I ask him really specific questions and he was tired and bummed, so he was even less communicative than usual. And I have a slightly overactive imagination. Just a bit. I'm glad now that I didn't mention the OTHER room, the torture room with the nipple clamps.

Thanks everyone for your support, I'll let everyone know when we get our visa. (We've assumed at this point that we've just been approved and it's just a matter of when and not if anymore).

And Kenchin's working on the other way around. He doesn't speak much English. Not yet, at least. He really likes movies and I've got him hooked on South Park, so I've got him watching movies with subtitles (both English, so he can see and hear the words at the same time) and we watch South Part together and I try feebly to explain the madness to him. When I'm feeling patient I'll speak English to him too. I don't mind that he's learning at all because he's actually really resourceful when going to restaurants or places where he has to interact with salespeople and manages to communicate, which I appreciate.

Good luck, everyone!

Haha South Park, thats classic

I'm looking forward to hearing the good news!

Keep us updated.

My husband and I were 20 when we filed for the K-1. I think just as long as you're legal to marry, you're eligible.

Not a problem. Japanese paper is slightly different from the U.S. and the USCIS should know that.

She's going to have to fly to Tokyo for it.

Good luck.

Okalie dokalie... yeah, somehow I'm not surprised at this point, but poor Kenchin had a pretty hard time. After waiting for his interview and watching other people talk to an officer for five minutes and then scream, "Yatta!" and dance around, it came to his turn. The officer he got spoke some Japanese... at first. Then, he got pulled into a room with the officer and a Japanese translator and grilled for over an hour. Luckily, I had spent a lot of time explaining immigration law and our situation to him so even though they asked him over and over if he had overstayed and about his work and B2 application and other such potentially incriminating questions he understood and was able to answer them honestly (that he hadn't done anything illegal or that would get him an automatic visa denial) and knew what was going on. Also luckily, we guessed that they would give him a hard time about my divorce from my abusive ex-husband and I sent a huge packet with all of the restraining orders and letters from the District Attorney and a few pretty gruesome evidence pictures of my beaten up face (take that, evil embassy!) to take with him to his interview just in case. Apparently he showed the pictures to them and they moved on with the questioning.

He said that the question he was most surprised with was when they asked him how much he paid for our engagement rings after he showed one of them to the officer. Um... he had the certificate of purchase and he was wearing one of our matched pair and they had a picture of me wearing mine, why would they ask how much it was? I think we already made it pretty clear that they really existed. Were they going to accuse him of buying a cheap brand ripoff or something? Does that make one ineligable for a visa? "Your ring was made in Taiwan. No visa for you."

Even though he was pretty frustrated, apparently the interview went as well as it could... and then they collected his passport and he asked them if he was approved. They said, "We have to check some things in the computer and if everything's okay you should probably get the visa. We'll send your passport back within a week." He said, "Probably?" and they said, "Well, we think that everything should probably be okay we have to check some things in the computer." He then asked, "So, can I assume that I passed?" and they replied that they thought that he would get the visa but they weren't sure. So we STILL don't actually know what's going on. Jeebus. Figures.

I asked Kenchin several times but he said that they claimed that they would send his passport back within a week. I'm just worried that they secretly mean that they'll send it within a week AFTER they've run the checks which might take several months, knowing immigration process.

Has this actually happened to anybody else or just us?! Does anybody have any input?

I've never heard of such a thing.

But if they took his passport, I would think it means good news. They should look up everything on the computer at that spot during the interview. Or they can at least tell him to have a seat so they can make the finishing touches. If there was something wrong, I'd assume he'd get denied right then and there. I think everyone has the right to know if they passed or not instead of taking your passport and make you go through the pain & agony of waiting.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Although you might want to get another person's input on this.

Anywho, I hope he receives his passport with the visa as soon as tomorrow.

Good luck!

Yes it has been quiet around here.

I will be sending in applications for AOS soon. Just doing the finishing touches.

Hope everything is going well for everyone else as well.

Johnny & Yumi - Thanks! Hope things are going well with you two as well!

Lauraandfrogger - Sorry to hear about the medical. I didn't need to get any shots, just a blood test. Maybe because I was raised in the states, I already had the vaccine done or something. I'm not sure which one we're talking about here. As for plane tickets, I fly JAL too. I searched for one way tickets at first but they were 2-3 times more than roundtrip. So I just ended up buying a roundtrip and thinking of abandoning the ticket back. I don't think its a big deal. I mean, you paid for it and all... theres nothing they can do about it.

Thanks for all of the replies. I am going to try one of the other boards since this topic isn't necessarily specific to Japan. Hopefully I can find someone who has been in a similar situation.

Good luck!

Johnny & Yumi - Thanks! Hope things are going well with you two as well!

Lauraandfrogger - Sorry to hear about the medical. I didn't need to get any shots, just a blood test. Maybe because I was raised in the states, I already had the vaccine done or something. I'm not sure which one we're talking about here. As for plane tickets, I fly JAL too. I searched for one way tickets at first but they were 2-3 times more than roundtrip. So I just ended up buying a roundtrip and thinking of abandoning the ticket back. I don't think its a big deal. I mean, you paid for it and all... theres nothing they can do about it.

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the replies, vny and Akiko! And congrats again on the marriage, Akiko~! Are you going to have a ceremony in Japan as well later? I wouldn't worry about AOS, it'll be fine. Even if it does take as long as K-1, as long as you get your employment authorization and permission to leave the country thingie in a timely manner, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

We got our interview date!! September 8. Nice.

So what happened is that Kenchin, in his depressed boredom did some research by reading all of these ladies blogs (LOL- Kenchin is not the kind of person to read ladies blogs under normal circumstances) and found out that the letter that he got was completely different than everyone else because of the RFE. He also found people claiming that the Tokyo embassy will just sit on your application unless you harass them with the $20 ripoff e-mails. So he asked me to send them an angry e-mail. I instead sent them a mildly peeved e-mail, worried that they would just sit on it longer if we tried to fight with them, and low and behold they sent us a mail the next day claiming that they had just happened to finish processing our case THAT DAY and that they just happened to send him a letter about the interview THAT DAY.

Yeah. It was pure chance. But at least he got his interview date. He's so excited.

Thanks for everyone's support and advice during this ridiculously stressful process! Were it not for VJ, we would still probably be waiting at USCIS for NOA2.

Will let you know how the interview goes

Thank you!

Im happy to hear you got your interview date!

I didn't even bother contacting the embassy. This whole process just costs too much money! Although it is all worth it in the end.

Good luck with the interview! Keep up updated on how everything goes!

Thank you to everyone!

It was a short and simple wedding, nothing big but it was the happiest day of my life

Hey MRS. Bronson,

Simple or whatever, it is over and done. A BIG congratulations. Yes, it must have been a happy day, but probably even a better night, huh!!! lol. Kidding....

Anyway, a BIG hug and congratulations is due to you.

vny

P.S. Good luck on the AOS. That is another whole journey in itself, but I'm sure you will do just fine.

Thanks!

We had a bunch of people over the weekend so it was pretty busy. We didn't really have much time for ourselves haha. But surely, it was a dream come true.

I'm starting to work on the AOS. I'm just hoping it doesn't take as long as the K-1.

Hope things are going good with you and your wife!

Okay, so now I have a question for all the K-1 filers.

I was just reading the FAQ about the US Embassy in Japan here on VJ and it states that there is no actual packet 4, that they send you an e-mail or something?

What exactly happens? How will I know that I can schedule an interview?

Oh, and where do you get the documents for the medical? Do they have them available at the hospitals listed on the embassy website?

Thanks for you help, everyone.

Thank you to everyone!

It was a short and simple wedding, nothing big but it was the happiest day of my life

Lauraandfrogger - US Embassy Japan doesn't have a Packet 4. They are supposed to send you an email notifying you that they received the Packet 3 but I went ahead and requested an interview date on the Embassy website the night I sent it. The day after I got a confirmation email for my interview! So it was pretty simple for me. If you have all the documents required for the interview, I don't think it would be a problem. They do tell you to print out the interview confirmation email but they didn't check mine when I actually went in for the interview.

As for the medical documents; you go into one of the hospitals listed on the embassy website, they prepare all the documents for you. An original immunization record is needed for it so make sure your fiance doesn't forget his! They'll tell him what he needs when he calls to make his appointment.

Good luck with everything!

Net - Immigrant visas can't be processed in Osaka (it would make our life much easier too if they could) the nearest embassy that can process your application is Tokyo. You really don't have much of an option. At least they're not as bad as some of the other embassies that you hear about here on VJ.

Akiko - Thanks for the reply. We actually got our letter and a RFE from the embassy last Friday. They wanted evidence of our relationship and a timeline of events (probably because I started dating him the day that I legally seperated from my ex). Luckily, he's had all of the stuff that he needs to complete his part of the application since NOA2, so he sent them the requested evidence by rush mail on Monday. And this is funny... he called the ripoff $20 visa line on Monday to ask about how to get the police certificate, and got the same EXACT person that I did when I called, who apparently also spoke poor Japanese. After telling him that she basically knew nothing about how this whole process was supposed to work, he gave up. He tried to bring his packet 3 to get his police certificate and they told him that it didn't say 'fiance' on it, so they wouldn't accept it. To which he again pulled out the NOA 2 that I sent him that had been refused by the police before and said, "This one says fiance". Then the police were like, "That's the paper we need!" Um... yeah, it was the same exact paper that they had rejected a week or two ago.

So now that we've got the police certificate and packet 3 taken care of, we just have to get packet 4 for the medical check and we're good to interview. Finally

Hope everything's good in Hawaii.

Its so good to hear you got your packet 3! Its about time. Sorry to hear about the RFE though but I'm glad you two got that cleared up. So I guess you can request your interview date soon? I hope its a smooth process from here on.

Bronson and I are getting married tomorrow. Then we're going to start working on my AOS. Haha just when I thought the k-1 was over, theres a whole new journey ahead of us!

An update... so after waiting until last Friday (in Japan) with no word from the embassy, I called the $20 ripoff line and talked to an extremely unhelpful person who spoke very little English and seemed to almost deliberately misunderstood everything I said. I was shocked, to say the least, because I called them several times three years ago during the first visa application process for my ex and never, ever had any problems with them and the people I spoke to were always very nice and had accurate information. At first she just told me that she wasn't going to do anything to help me and that I just had to wait, but after I basically refused to let her off the phone until I got something, and putting me on hold to talk to a supervisor, she forwarded an inquiry to the embassy about my visa.

She claimed that the processing can take basically as long as they feel like it should take, and when I told her that most people got letters from the embassy a week after the NVC sent their stuff over, she just said that some cases take longer than others to review.

The one thing that you and Ken have in common, Akiko, is that you both lived here in America before. My theory is that's why this whole process has been taking so long for us, and took so long for you. It makes me really angry that they would suspect people who lived here legally before because if you guys were interested in breaking the law, you'd probably already have been able to get fake green cards and just overstay indefinitely, it certainly wouldn't have taken as long as this whole process, instead of going back and waiting for your visas.

So now I have to break the news that they're still reviewing the case to Ken. I feel so bad, he was so hoping that he would magically somehow get the letter today.

I'm sorry to hear about that.

I was actually really afraid throught my visa process because I lived in America, basically my whole life. But I was under my parent's names at that time. This was the first visa that I've applied on my own. So eventually, I knew it was going to be okay.

Its nonsense that they suspect everyone because of their past. At the interview, I was asked certain questions regarding my previous stays and visas. Such as... what visas have I entered the US with, have I overstayed after the age of 18 and what not.

I really hope Ken receives the letter soon. You two will be in my prayers.

Hey Guys! Glad to hear that you got to Hawaii safely, Akiko. I hope that everything goes smoothly for the AOS. I heard that they're scrutenizing the applications a lot more closely than they used to.

Thanks for informing everyone about the weight change too, vny, it really sucks but it's nice to know before you get to the airport and are forced to take apart your suitcases in the checkout line.

As for us, NVC sent my application to Japan last Monday, but we still haven't heard from them. I tried calling them on Tuesday just to check on it but they said that I have to use their $20 rip off line to ask even if they have received my application, so I put it off, but I'm going to call today I think. It looks like almost everyone (there aren't many other recent K-1 applicants with fully filled out time lines) got their packet 3 in about a week or so after NVC sent their cases... except for Akiko. What happened with the month gap, if you don't mind me asking?

Kenchin said that all of the Japanese blogs say that it takes about three weeks to a month after the NVC sends the case for everyone to get packet 3... does anybody have an opinion?

Thanks!

And about my packet 3, I have no idea why it took a month to get to me. Actually, throughout the whole journey, I didn't know what was going on. After 7 months of waiting for the NOA2, Bronson called the USCIS to see where our case was at. They told him that they had already sent him a notice... and it turns out that they sent it to his old address when he called months ago to let them know he had moved. From then on I was just waiting and waiting to get my packet 3. When I finally did, I looked at the dates on the papers and it said the embassy received it about a week after the petition had passed. Soooo I have no idea why it took so long. Maybe they sent it overseas and it came back to Japan? I don't know... Maybe it was just me cause I noticed others have gotten theirs sooner. But I really hope you get yours asap.

Good luck!

Hello everyone!

Im now in Hawaii with Bronson.

POE took about an hour for me and you should hand carry your x-rays because they ask for it.

Hey Akiko (and Bronson),

Welcome back to Hawaii. Well, not Bronson because he lives here, but you Akiko, but you will live here now too. Anyway, best wishes and a happy marriage to you!!! Good Luck!!!

vny

Thanks vny!

Hope you and your wife are doing great!

Hey Akiko,

Same to you. Hope everything is working out with you and Bronson. I guess you guys have to get married within 90 days. Hope all your plans are working out if you didn't already tie the knot.

We are fine, except she went back to Japan this past Sun to take care of some work stuff and will be back in about a month.

Anyway, have a great time at your wedding if you didn't already, and enjoy your life together.

Hey you other Japan filers, what's happening with you all. Sorry, couldn't advise on the moving stuff, cause my wife and I have been going back and forth to Japan and moving her THINGS (and I mean MANY THINGS) here two suitcases at a time. And shoots, JAL just recently lowered the allowed weight of the suitcases from 70lbs to 50lbs. I keep telling her to throw things away cause I have everything here we need, but she insists on bringing them. Shoganai ne.

Anyway, hope all had a great 4th of July and have a nice time with your SO.

Later,

vny

We still haven't married yet. We're planning on going to get our marriage license this week and getting married before this month ends. We're not having anything big. Maybe a party in the future. Bronson's been busy with work and I've been at home being a "housewife" and getting other things together such as AOS, SS, and all that. I also plan on going back to school next year. Theres just so much to do.

I was upset to hear that JAL lowered their suitcase weight limit. I had so much to bring back and shoved everything in my 4 suitcases (2 of mine and 2 of Bronson's). But when I weighed them, they were over 50lbs. So I had to rearrange my suitcases and leave some things behind. But its not a big problem for me I guess cause my things are safe at my mother's place.

Anyway, I hope your wife will be back soon!

Hello everyone!

Im now in Hawaii with Bronson.

POE took about an hour for me and you should hand carry your x-rays because they ask for it.

Hey Akiko (and Bronson),

Welcome back to Hawaii. Well, not Bronson because he lives here, but you Akiko, but you will live here now too. Anyway, best wishes and a happy marriage to you!!! Good Luck!!!

vny

Thanks vny!

Hope you and your wife are doing great!

Hello everyone!

Im now in Hawaii with Bronson.

POE took about an hour for me and you should hand carry your x-rays because they ask for it.

Hello everyone! I just returned from Japan this morning after spending nearly two wonderful weeks with Yumi. Congratulations to everyone who got their visas on the 22nd! Our interview went well, but we also got those strange "Where will you live, and what do you plan to do there?" questions. That was it. Now, we just have to plan moving her things to Seattle.

A question to Akiko and Klester: You guys are planning your entries pretty soon, right? Yumi won't be coming until late September/early October. What shipping companies are you using to move your things?

Thanks again to everyone for your help and support!

lauraandfrogger, glad to hear that you got your NOA2! Hopefully the rest will go smoothly for you.

Hey Johnny and Yumi,

Congratulations on your visa approval! Its good to hear that you had a wonderful stay here and Im glad we all got through this process.

I am currently living in Japan with my family so I wont have much things to move. If anything, Im going to buy a lot of things when I get back to Hawaii. I plan to fly back with Bronson so I will have an extra hand to carry all of my belongings. Also, I can leave some things that I dont need right away. I can always take it back with me when I visit Japan again.

I would think Kuroneko Yamato is the company most people use. There is also a company called Nippon Express (Nippon Tsuun), which is a company my family used when I used to live in Hawaii when I was younger.

Good luck with the moving and the journey from here on!

Good for you! I'm glad the embassy moved up your interview.

I called NVC today and they said that my petition was received yesterday and that it should be sent to the embassy in a few days. I can smell my interview getting closer and closer as well

Congrats on your NOA2.

I really hope this process is speedy for you!

Oh, I forgot to ask... how long did it take to schedule your interviews once the US embassy received your cases? I know you have to make an appointment and they schedule you in wherever they feel like it. Were they pretty booked out? Did anyone have to wait a a month or more?

I requested the interview a month ahead and they gave me a reply the very next day! Though I think it varies on the day & person. But I think the U.S. embassy in Japan is very organized. Shouldn't be a problem.

We passed!

Whoohoo!

Anyway, congrats to the others who passed.

Our interview went pretty smooth. The interviewer asked a lot of questions, especially because I've lived in the U.S. all my life. Questions were pretty simple though. What language do we speak to each other? When do we plan to get married? What do I plan to do when I get there? What my mother thinks about it?... so on and so forth.

We got there a little before 8 and we were out at about 9:30. Its good to go early. First come first serve.

And I think I saw Johnny and Yumi there? Sorry it took me awhile to realize. I was super nervous about today. I hope things went well with you two!

Anyway, thanks for everyone's advice and support!

I should be going back to Hawaii with Bronson on July 7.

Good luck to everyone else who haven't gotten their interviews yet!

well actually, I was raised in Hawaii. I'm back in Japan now but my fiance's in Hawaii.

vny - Thanks! You've been such a big help and encouragement throughout this journey. I really appreciate it. Your wife gets there tomorrow? Bronson gets here tomorrow too! hahah. I bet you're excited to see her again! I'll keep you updated after the interview

katochan - hey, I'm from Hawaii too! welcome to visajourney!