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[kiracle]

My husband (non-US citizen) and I will be returning to the States next April and we thought to start the aplication process for a green card now. The first step is a petition with a whole bunch of other documents and payment. The documents we got together but I'm stuck on payment and was hoping somebody who has done this before might know what to do.

The US forms (which assume you are in the States) say send a $150 dollar US Postal Money order. The Am Embassy in Tokyo's website says $185 postal order and gives an address that was indecihperable to the post office here. The Japanese post office told me that even if the address made sense they are incapable of sending $US dollars to the embassy or rather anything (yen or dollars) to a non-japanese entitiy like the US Embassy. So what does the embassy want? A US postal order? I sent them a few emails but no reply. They have an automated info system I can call but it costs 850 yen to call and an unspecified charge each additional min. Thought I'd try here first.

If anybody has gone through this and knows what to do, I'd really appreciate it!!

Cheers!

[Sherri]

We applied a couple of months ago, so I know the problem you are talking about. What we did in the end was to use travelers' checks (in US$). I signed them and put them in the post with all of the other documents. I guess it was OK, because they accepted our application in a week and gave us an interview date.

Also we were not keen to put our passports and some other important documents in the post, so I went to the embassy and had notorized copies made. When they heard the reason why I needed them, they did it for free. I was lucky to live in Tokyo and close to the embassy though.

In the end my husband got the visa! And now we are in the US (BIG HURRAY!)

Please write if you run into any more snags.
Best
Sherri

[kiracle]

Thanks Sherri,

I hadn"t thought of traveller's checks. I suppose I could get them at a bank? Or do I need to go to to a special American Express office? Did you pay the 185 or the 150?

Yikes! I hadn't thought about sending the passports. That is unsettling. I live near Nagoya but I'm not sure if the consulate there could notarize them.

Just one more question. Obviously things worked out (lucky you in Hawaii) ...were the Embassy people professional and competent? I am a little worried about this process. Their wenbite is really vague and unclear and FULL of typos and grammer mistakes. (Ex. ......where the marrage took plae. If the marrge occured in Japan, please ssubmit a copy of the Family Registry) Kind of frightening.

Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll look into the traveller's checks and notarized copies.

Cheers,

Ciera

[Sherri]

Hi Ciera
We just got regular traveler's checks from the bank in US$. I think we paid $185 but it was in Jan so I can't remember exactly.

I didn't remember seeing lots of typos on the website, so I had a look again and see that they have moved since I was using it and there is a new address. That is a shame if they changed this section because it was fairly clear with no typos before. I did find some inconsistancies between what was printed and what was online, but somehow we overcame that. I used the fax service which was free.

Overall the Tokyo embassy staff were really friendly and helpful. At the consulate where I had the passports notorized, they were great. Then for the "interview" (interview here means standing at a window and answering 2 or 3 questions--all the while I could see the approved stamp on our application).

Later when we passed through immigration at Honolulu the guy who handled my husband's visa was very helpful, thorough and friendly.

Hope this helps. all the best
Sherri

[kiracle]

Thanks, that does help. I feel more relieved. I'll try to find a way to get traveler's checks. I think I heard you can get them online nowadays.

I guess I shouldn't complain about typos since I seem to be fond of them as well...

Cheers,

Ciera