Who makes the decisions ?

[ciao]

We've been considering DCF in Guangzhou (we live in China).

But I'm worried that some of our documents will be rejected because they are from Japan (we got married in Japan and our daughter was born there). I can translate them, of course, but they might still be strange and unfamiliar to the folks in Guangzhou. Documents like birth, marriage, and divorce certificates don't really exist in Japan -- everything is held in a single "family register" (koseki) document. I can imagine the guys in Guangzhou saying "we don't know what a koseki is -- you need to show us a real birth certificate".

 

I was wondering if I can avoid these sorts of problems by submitting my I-130 via the lock-box in the US, instead of DCF. I expect that the authorities in the US *do* know what a koseki is.

 

So that brings me to the real question -- who makes the decisions about whether our documents are valid and sufficient ? If I DCF, then presumably all decisions are made in Guangzhou. How about if I file via the US ? Which decisions are made where, and by whom ?

 

thanks

 

ciao

[Randy W]

The USCIS does in either case - going through their Guangzhou office will be much faster

 

Birth Certificates

 

Available. The birth record of a Japanese national is contained in the Japanese family register (koseki shohon), showing date/place of birth and parents' names is issued by the Municipal Office of the applicant's legal domicile (honseki-chi).

 

A non-Japanese citizen born in Japan who is stateless (and therefore has no consular report of birth) may present a certificate of acceptance of notification of birth (shussei todoke juri shomeisho) from the Municipal Office where the applicant was born. This record is maintained for ten years.

 

Marriage and Other Records

 

Available. The Japanese extract of the family register (koseki shohon), available from the Municipal Office, generally contains all current information that would be found in separate birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, or death records. Therefore a married person's koseki shohon serves as evidence of both birth and present marriage.

 

The koseki shohon usually omits outdated records such as annulled adoptions, a former marriage, divorce or the death of a former spouse. Further, in the case of a person who was removed from one koseki and placed into another by adoption or marriage, the current koseki sometimes does not indicate the person¡¯s place of birth. If the omitted portion is required, an extract from the canceled koseki (joseki shohon) must be obtained from the Municipal Office holding the applicant's previous family register.

 

Records of civil actions pertaining to non-Japanese citizens, such as marriage, adoption, divorce or death are available from the Municipal Office where the action was registered, in the same manner as the birth record of a non-Japanese citizen. Marriage and adoption records are maintained for 50 years. Divorce and death records are kept for 10 years.

 

They are aware of these things - http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3591.html

Edited June 30, 2010 by Randy W (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Plenty of folks DCF in different country than marriage.

 

When you submit the petition at the consulate it is being handled by the USCIS unit located at the consulate they are familiar with documentation where ever it may come from.

 

As for child born abroad you should register the birth at the consulate and claim US citizenship, this will get child a US passport.

 

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/se...y-in-china.html (Note child could have been born elsewhere as in Japan, and you can register the birth at the US consulate in China)

 

Child will need to obtain an exit visa from the local authorities where you live in China. {Edit} Prior posts indicate child is from prior marriage.

 

As for translations, it is best to have a third party do the translation and certify the translations. The third party does not need to be a professional translator, just someone fluent in English and the foreign language (Japanese).

 

Please submit certified translations for all foreign language documents. The translator must certify that s/he is competent to translate and that the translation is accurate.

 

The certification format should include the certifier's name, signature, address, and date of certification. A suggested format is:

 

Certification by Translator

 

I [typed name], certify that I am fluent (conversant) in the English and ________ languages, and that the above/attached document is an accurate translation of the document attached entitled ______________________________.

 

Signature_________________________________

Date Typed Name

Address

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

 

 

 

The only bastard thing will come later when trying to obtain a police cert from Japan for visa interview, they have been known to be a pain when dealing with the Japanese Embassy or consulate.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=34396

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30344

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31115

 

I would be working on obtaining the Japan Police certs now, they are valid 1 year, and more than likely you would get interviewed for visa in less than a year.

Edited July 1, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[Rob and WeiLing]

We've been considering DCF in Guangzhou (we live in China).

 

Looking at some of your back posts, you mentioned that you are living in Shanghai. If this is still the case, you will submit the I-130 petition in Beijing--not Guangzhou. You're lucky: Beijing is newer, cleaner, friendlier, and (most importantly) faster.

 

If you are comfortable with your petition going through the Chinese mail system, you can pay the $355 fee in the Shanghai consulate. When I DCFed in March, one option was to give my petition to the Shanghai consulate who would mail it for me. (I opted to take it to Beijing myself and pay there; Nice excuse for a weekend trip.) However, I don't know if this service is still available. The webpage http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrantvisasnv.html states that the Shanghai ACS cannot collect it, but I believe the meaning to be that they cannot process it.

[dnoblett]

We've been considering DCF in Guangzhou (we live in China).

 

Looking at some of your back posts, you mentioned that you are living in Shanghai. If this is still the case, you will submit the I-130 petition in Beijing--not Guangzhou. You're lucky: Beijing is newer, cleaner, friendlier, and (most importantly) faster.

 

If you are comfortable with your petition going through the Chinese mail system, you can pay the $355 fee in the Shanghai consulate. When I DCFed in March, one option was to give my petition to the Shanghai consulate who would mail it for me. (I opted to take it to Beijing myself and pay there; Nice excuse for a weekend trip.) However, I don't know if this service is still available. The webpage http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrantvisasnv.html states that the Shanghai ACS cannot collect it, but I believe the meaning to be that they cannot process it.

Good point, USCIS has two offices in China, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

 

You file the I-130 with USCIS, however ultimately the visa interview will be held in Guangzhou since that is where the Immigrant Visa Unit is located.

 

I have seen some cases here couple gets called up to Beijing to answer some questions posed by USCIS, this is not a visa interview.

[xiaofeizhu]

Ugh. I just lost my entire post. Stupid Stupid Stupid. I will try to recreate what I was writing about...hope I remember it all...

 

Sorry I just saw your post today! My husband and I had no problems with our Japanese paperwork when we went through GUZ. We DCF'ed in Beijing. We were married in Kyoto at the 下京区区役所. Since my hubby is Chinese and I am American, we obviously don't/didn't have a koseki.

 

For our marriage certificate, we got a 受理証明書、婚姻届 from the ward office where we registered. They give them out for like 300 yen or something, so we had like a whole bunch of them (I think we ordered 10, lol). We had a few of them translated at the American consulate in Osaka because they have a nice form that you just fill in the blanks (like name, citizenship, birthdate, filing date, etc.) Then they put a nice translation certification on the back, so we had three pages all together. If you have the certificate of acceptance in Japanese only, of course, you could just do the translation yourself.

 

Since your wife has a koseki, I am going on the assumption that she is Japanese (please correct me if I am wrong). As dnoblett mentioned, we went through hell and back to get the police certificate. When we were in Beijing, they kept giving us excuses and all kinds of BS. It seemed like Japanese citizens were getting them done, though, because we overheard several conversations about it. Even still, I would try to see if she can get one already.

 

If worse comes to worse, a girl with a lot of similar circumstances, Vanessa, went through the same thing, and her hubby ended up going to Japan to get the police cert himself since he still had time left on his student visa. Her link about that is here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=388454

 

As for the birth certificate, I am sure you could get something similar to the 受理証明書, just explain to the ward office what you need it for.

 

All the other documents I translated myself and we had no problems with them. The types of documents we had were college certificates of the Japanese language courses we took together (to show that we could communicate in Japanese), an affidavit from a Japanese friend who attested to our ability to speak in Japanese, etc.

 

I would definitely reccommend the DCF route. You shouldn't have any problems with the documents, just make sure you have everything translated.

 

Best of luck, and let me know if I can help you with anything!

 

 

 

*****edit*****

 

Ok, looking at your posts, I think your wife is actually Chinese, right? So the only thing would be the marriage certificate. Does this mean you have a koseki? I am slightly confused, but hope my info helps anyway.

Edited July 10, 2010 by xiaofeizhu (see edit history)