I work for a Japanese company, local hire, and am being transferred to my home country (USA). I have 2 young children with dual citizenship. My wife is Japanese, married for 6 years.
I wanted to know if anyone has experience getting a visa for their spouse in this kind of situation. Does it matter that my company is sending me and I’m not bringing my family on my own?
Any idea on timelines of when she would be able to live in the US?
7 comments
Why not ask a U.S. immigration forum? The process is the same for any spouse and Japan literally has nothing to do with it.
I had a Japanese co worker and her American husband trying to go to the USA and it was taking over a year. It was during the pandemic, so that might have been a factor.
State department website says it is a case by case basis on how long it will take.
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normally you would have to file a I-130 *through USCIS* which takes about 1.5-2 years, but since yours is work related you can apply for direct consular filing which takes less than a year depending on circumstances.
pm me if you want, im currently going through the process myself.
Edit:
make sure to call the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. They are the ones that decide if you can file direct with the consular.
Just what ever you do, be careful on having her come visit you before the visa is processed. US immigration throws the fraud accusation around very commonly when Japanese people come visit American spouses as it’s really easy to do a status change and get them to stay without the BS waiting a year apart. I know several families this has happened to and the spouse got their tourist visa taken away. Please be careful.
I would highly recommend having your company handle the immigration paperwork, fees and consultations. As many have stated the waiting times are quite high, but an immigration attorney may be able to advise if your spouse can remain in the US while the paperwork is underway.
I know if my SO’s case, she was able to remain in the US while her paperwork was being processed — granted she was unable to work. The exact timing is important however so consult before she (re)enters the US.
I did it all myself and only hit a few snags (thanks to Congress on changing the fees and repealing them all while my application was in the mail).
FWIW – I did a transfer and we applied for a green card. The good thing about being married for over 2 years was that it was not a conditional.
IMO, it starts with the conversation around the transfer. Like, how much lead time do you have? I had 9 months and we got the green card in 6 months. If we hadn’t received it, I had already discussed with the US office that I would work from Japan for the period of time until my wife received her green card.
This is 10 years ago. I hear it is taking longer to get them issued now.