Hello,
I have a question regarding the SB-1 Visa (Returning Resident Visa) and I was hoping that someone here has either gotten this visa or has some experience with it and can help me out. Ok, here goes.
I am a US citizen and my wife is a Japanese citizen. We have been married for over five years and got married in the United States. At that time, she was on a student visa. She finished college and then we applied for a Green Card. The process went really quickly and without any problems, and within 4 months she got her Green Card.
After she got her Green Card we both lived in the US for one year. I was working full time as a computer programmer and she was doing part time jobs while looking for full time employemnt. In October of 2002, I got laid off (along with most of my department) and was out of a job. I continued to look around for a job for about a month when we both thought that maybe this was a good time for me to experience Japan. So I stared looking around for work in Japan and in November 2002 I found a job in Japan. The job was only for a one year contract, which we both thought was a good amount of time to go for. So we put all of our belongings in storage at my grandmother's house and moved to Japan in late November 2002.
I had some serious family problems back home while I was gone, which I will not go into in great detail as it would take a really long time, but basically my dad got sent to jail (embezlement), my parents divorced and my Mom was left with tens of thousands of marital debt and had to go on welfare even though she was working to try and support my three younger siblings. My family is not and never was rich, so I was started to send money to my Mom every month beginning in May of 2003. My mom came to really rely on the money I was sending her. As my one year contract was getting close to finishing, my wife and I were thinking about what to do. We both wanted to go back to the US and started to look for jobs back home. We really needed jobs before we moved back, because if we went back without jobs, my family could not physically support us while we looked for jobs in the US because of lack of money. Basically, I couldn't leech off my mom as she was barely getting by herself. So we both applied for jobs in Japan and America, thinking that if we have to stay one more year, it's ok.
I ended up getting a very good job offer in Japan that was better than my last one. So we were left with a choice: take the job and work for another year in Japan, or go back to the US, jobless without any home to go to (my mom lives in a two bedroom apartment with my three younger siblings) and with no way to help my mom out. We thought the choice was obvious, so we decided that I would take the job and we would stay for another year. So we did, and shortly after I got my job my wife also got a good job and we are able to really help my family out back home.
Our second year in Japan is winding down, and we are making preperations to move back to the US this December. I was talking with a foreign friend here in Japan and he started to give me advice about getting a Green Card for my wife. I told him it was no problem, since my wife already has one. Then he told me about the one year rule (gone longer than a year and you basically lose your GC) and I freaked out. At the time I left, I was unaware of the re-entry permit or anything. I always thought that once you got the Greecn Card, it was yours and you didn't have to worry about visas. I do not remember reading anywhere on all the forms I filled out about this, nor did anyone that I talked to at the former INS tell me anything about this. How was I supossed to know about this? Does the INS just assume that we magically know all of the obscure immigration rules? I am really annoyed that my wife has possiblely lost her GC for something that neither of us even knew about and were never told about by anyone at the INS.
After searching the internet, I've found that my only real option seems to be an SB-1 visa. So, my question is, would my wife's reasons for staying overseas longer than one year (basically what I said above - accompyning me and the very serious financial problems back home for her husband's family thus requiring fulltime employment, which her husband had in Japan but not in the US) be valid for the INS? Or would it have no chance? We originally only intended to come here for one year. I only originally got a one year job contract. We still have bank accounts, credit cards, driving licenses and stuff back home. All of our stuff is still in my grandma's basement, waiting for us to come back! On the SB-1 application form, an example of an acceptable reason for staying overseas longer is listed as "accomponying a US citizen spouse". This is what my wife did, as I was the one who got the job and she came with me. When I took the job which extended our time here, that was also her coming along with me. So do you think I have a chance of getting it approved, or no? Does anybody with any experience with an SB-1 visa have any advice for me? What kind of prove should I show with the application?
My other question is, if the SB-1 is rejected, what should we do? Since the GC would be lost, is it better to go return it at a US consulate here in Japan, she goes to the US on a tourist visa and then doing the green card process all over again? Or is there another way? We are leaving on December 18th, and I just found all this out today. I am very worried that my wife won't be able to come back with me to the US, and I don't know what I should do! Is it even worth it to file the SB-1? I need some help and advice! This whole thing came as a big shock and both my wife and I are really worried. If anybody can give us some advice, I'd be really gratefull.
Sorry this got so long, and thanks for your time.
I have a question regarding the SB-1 Visa (Returning Resident Visa) and I was hoping that someone here has either gotten this visa or has some experience with it and can help me out. Ok, here goes.
I am a US citizen and my wife is a Japanese citizen. We have been married for over five years and got married in the United States. At that time, she was on a student visa. She finished college and then we applied for a Green Card. The process went really quickly and without any problems, and within 4 months she got her Green Card.
After she got her Green Card we both lived in the US for one year. I was working full time as a computer programmer and she was doing part time jobs while looking for full time employemnt. In October of 2002, I got laid off (along with most of my department) and was out of a job. I continued to look around for a job for about a month when we both thought that maybe this was a good time for me to experience Japan. So I stared looking around for work in Japan and in November 2002 I found a job in Japan. The job was only for a one year contract, which we both thought was a good amount of time to go for. So we put all of our belongings in storage at my grandmother's house and moved to Japan in late November 2002.
I had some serious family problems back home while I was gone, which I will not go into in great detail as it would take a really long time, but basically my dad got sent to jail (embezlement), my parents divorced and my Mom was left with tens of thousands of marital debt and had to go on welfare even though she was working to try and support my three younger siblings. My family is not and never was rich, so I was started to send money to my Mom every month beginning in May of 2003. My mom came to really rely on the money I was sending her. As my one year contract was getting close to finishing, my wife and I were thinking about what to do. We both wanted to go back to the US and started to look for jobs back home. We really needed jobs before we moved back, because if we went back without jobs, my family could not physically support us while we looked for jobs in the US because of lack of money. Basically, I couldn't leech off my mom as she was barely getting by herself. So we both applied for jobs in Japan and America, thinking that if we have to stay one more year, it's ok.
I ended up getting a very good job offer in Japan that was better than my last one. So we were left with a choice: take the job and work for another year in Japan, or go back to the US, jobless without any home to go to (my mom lives in a two bedroom apartment with my three younger siblings) and with no way to help my mom out. We thought the choice was obvious, so we decided that I would take the job and we would stay for another year. So we did, and shortly after I got my job my wife also got a good job and we are able to really help my family out back home.
Our second year in Japan is winding down, and we are making preperations to move back to the US this December. I was talking with a foreign friend here in Japan and he started to give me advice about getting a Green Card for my wife. I told him it was no problem, since my wife already has one. Then he told me about the one year rule (gone longer than a year and you basically lose your GC) and I freaked out. At the time I left, I was unaware of the re-entry permit or anything. I always thought that once you got the Greecn Card, it was yours and you didn't have to worry about visas. I do not remember reading anywhere on all the forms I filled out about this, nor did anyone that I talked to at the former INS tell me anything about this. How was I supossed to know about this? Does the INS just assume that we magically know all of the obscure immigration rules? I am really annoyed that my wife has possiblely lost her GC for something that neither of us even knew about and were never told about by anyone at the INS.
After searching the internet, I've found that my only real option seems to be an SB-1 visa. So, my question is, would my wife's reasons for staying overseas longer than one year (basically what I said above - accompyning me and the very serious financial problems back home for her husband's family thus requiring fulltime employment, which her husband had in Japan but not in the US) be valid for the INS? Or would it have no chance? We originally only intended to come here for one year. I only originally got a one year job contract. We still have bank accounts, credit cards, driving licenses and stuff back home. All of our stuff is still in my grandma's basement, waiting for us to come back! On the SB-1 application form, an example of an acceptable reason for staying overseas longer is listed as "accomponying a US citizen spouse". This is what my wife did, as I was the one who got the job and she came with me. When I took the job which extended our time here, that was also her coming along with me. So do you think I have a chance of getting it approved, or no? Does anybody with any experience with an SB-1 visa have any advice for me? What kind of prove should I show with the application?
My other question is, if the SB-1 is rejected, what should we do? Since the GC would be lost, is it better to go return it at a US consulate here in Japan, she goes to the US on a tourist visa and then doing the green card process all over again? Or is there another way? We are leaving on December 18th, and I just found all this out today. I am very worried that my wife won't be able to come back with me to the US, and I don't know what I should do! Is it even worth it to file the SB-1? I need some help and advice! This whole thing came as a big shock and both my wife and I are really worried. If anybody can give us some advice, I'd be really gratefull.
Sorry this got so long, and thanks for your time.