Step 2: The Immigrant Song

The next step for the permanent residency application is the examination of the beneficiary’s status. Along with various documents, the applicant will need to submit the health examination record and a police record.

Health examination record can be obtained at designated clinics, located in Tokyo, Kobe, and Okinawa. The procedure includes blood test, x-ray test, and the reviewing of vaccination records, and took about 50 minutes all together.

Police record, on the other hand, appears to be far more serious than the medical check-up. Also known as the criminal record, the document, which can be obtained at the police headquarters of your local prefecture, will be handed over to the applicant sealed. Although I am sure that I have no such record, what if my childhood pranks, such as climbing the stationed train, or trying to smuggle back VHS porn for my buddies when I was 16, were considered radical…

I was all concerned, but the whole procedure took about 5 minutes, which basically was to hand in the application form and have them take fingerprint scans.

After all documents are ready, the final interview session at the embassy can be booked.

Step 1: Born in the U.S.A.

Green Card; issued by a friend 12 years ago

When applying for a permanent residency status through your American family, there are roughly 3 steps.

The first is to check the eligibility of the petitioner, to see if he/she is qualified to financially sponsor the applicant. Along with various application forms, 1040 copies and balance records were also submitted. A small interview also took place, as mentioned in the previous log, but it was nothing like what we were expecting; simple and non-threatening. After the interview, we were told that the processing would take about 3 weeks.

17 days after our first visit to the Embassy, we received a white letter-sized envelope. There were 2 pages of documents; one congratulating us that Sahe is responsible enough and therefore eligible as a petitioner. The other is the instruction for the next step. Now it is my turn to gather necessary documents, including police records, and prepare for the interview.

Samurai Hotdog

If I were to open a stand in a food court…

Tachi sword would be my kitchen knife

Ikura and Shirako directly from port

Paint with soy-sauce, your sepia still-life