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| Tokyo, Japan |  Review on February 19, 2026: |
my-human-guardian
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Overall, I had the impression that the Tokyo Immigration Unit was pretty efficient. It took only 5 days from them receiving the case from NVC to sending me an instruction email. Thankfully I had recommendations from a community member who went through the process a month before me, so I could do all the necessary things (book medical, schedule interview on online system etc) before even receiving the instruction email. Have to say, the instruction email was not very informative besides asking for documents.
For the interview itself, I did not wait too long until an officer checked my documents. As a Japanese citizen born outside of the country, they were very weird about not wanting to accept my original birth certificate from my country of birth. They needed a Japanese certificate of birth, which resulted in my first extra document that was requested (mind you, this was never mentioned on their website as necessary for Japanese nationals). My second extra document that was requested was due to a wrong format of a foreign police certificate (cannot show fingerprints and/or photo). After I had requested a clear instruction guide for the foreign police (since I had ordered a police certificate for U.S. immigration purposes, but apparently they gave me the wrong form), they simply printed out the instructions from the U.S. gov't website, which I originally had given to the police. They told me to figure it out on my own, which was not particularly helpful.
Besides the document issues, the interview went well. No weird questions. The consul officer was kind.
After I had submitted my 221(g) response, I was very anxious because my case did not change to "Received" for a week, although other similar K1 timelines showed an update usually on the next date. I emailed the embassy after a week, and that made my case move forward, switching to "Received" and "Issued" within 2 days of my inquiry. I am a little scared to think how long I would have had to wait if I did not inquire. The whole ordeal about getting your passport with the visa through a third-party company was also weird. Interesting how they have to make everything more complicated than necessary.
I would've given 5 stars if all the information was available online to avoid the 221(g), but it wasn't. And another minus point for not being helpful about the wrong foreign police certificate that delayed my case by a month.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33933