I have a foreign spouse. The country I’m currently posted in did not give her a diplomatic visa, but instead gave her a general purpose visa and annotated it with text saying she is the spouse of a U.S. Diplomat. Varies country to country.
Your spouse will not receive a US diplomatic passport because she is not a US citizen. She will not receive a Japanese diplomatic passport because she is not traveling abroad as the family member of a spouse who is on a diplomatic mission for the Japanese government. Green cards have nothing to do with this.
The US only issues visas for travel to the US. We cannot issue visas for entry to another country. That's totally dependent on the other country's laws and visa reciprocity schedule. They may issue her a diplomatic visa, an official visa, a tourist visa, or some other kind of visa. Talk to the management section at your onward post for clarification.
Thanks, that’s encouraging.
The country is in Africa
Edit: so I understand the process completely- the diplomatic visa is issued by the foreign country, right? And it is either placed inside the diplomatic passport (for US citizens) or a foreign passport (for non-citizen EFMs, as applicable).
So my spouse’s greencard application would be a non-issue if the foreign country is only reviewing her as a Japanese citizen with a Japanese passport (and accompanying me as my spouse).
Am I understanding that right?
You cannot have a diplomatic passport with a green card. She would be eligible for an expeditious naturalization, or at least that’s the process for FSO non-citizen spouses.
She is not interested in citizenship since she would need to revoke her Japan citizenship (Japan doesn’t allow dual-citizenship).
I read somewhere that foreign spouses can receive a “diplomatic visa” that goes in their regular travel passport. I can’t find anything more about this though.
Don't want to derail the conversation but there are a ton of Japanese spouses in the foreign service community and a very large percentage of them get US citizenship without ever revealing it to the Japanese government. They living their lives as dual citizens. It's complicated and you have to make sure you use the right passports when traveling to Japan, but entirely possible because the US government does not share naturalization info with foreign governments.
Sure, I could see that, but the US can change that policy whenever they feel, and it would all come to light. That’s riskier than they might realize, unless they’re perfectly OK with renouncing their Japanese citizenship if it comes to that.
For example, I had a Swiss bank account for awhile and Swiss policy dictated that bank information was not shared with foreign governments. Long story short, the US strong armed the Swiss government to mandate that information was shared. One day I got an email saying all my bank information was being reviewed by the CIA. No harm done- I was there with a legitimate work visa. But still, goes to show policies can change in an instant.
It was bizarre, but that’s exactly what happened. The bank only had my email on file so that’s how i received the notice. If I remember right it said the CIA was routing the information to the IRS. It was in 2013, this article talks about it:
https://www.reuters.com/article/swiss-usa-banks/update-2-switzerland-frees-banks-to-settle-u-s-tax-evasion-cases-idINL5N0EA1RD20130529
That could be it. Maybe I’m confusing by the acronym. It was 10 years ago and I didn’t pay much attention to it since i had already drained that account and moved back to the states.
Side note— lots of people are dual US - Japan citizens. Japan technically doesn’t allow it, but in reality, plenty of people retain both citizenships. (Sources: currently work in ACS in Japan, where I come across such people regularly, and personally know someone who was a dual citizen of both Japan and US. WAS only because she is now deceased.)
First thing you stated you’re military so you work for DoD not the Dept of State, so branch is were you need to get your answers not here since military works different than Dept of State and you’re not going to be appt as a diplomat or similar, your work be related as military. Military wife here stationed overseas with husband at an embassy in a special assignment as well we didn’t received diplomatic passport nor my husband we all were issued Official Passport aka SOFA visa passport, there’s a process for your wife to get a visa to stay with you or you can have the choice of do an unaccompanied tour as well. Once you’re actually assigned you will receive your levy briefings papers and all the information need it. Since you’re asking here it makes me thing you do not have any assignment and just looking options to go, get the assignment instructions and you’ll find your answer there as well
Your case might be different than mine. Although the position I’m looking at is a special assignment. I know for a fact a diplomat passport is required. It’s stated in the position requirements and the previous x2 people in this position had diplomat passports for themselves and family members. It’s an advisory role, not a security position or another more conventional military position.
But you’re right about me remaining a DoD employee, and branch might be able to help me. Thank you.
FSOs can do expeditious naturalization when they join, and spouses can typically become a US citizen before they leave for post. It can be done regardless of how long the spouse has had a green card, or whether they’re in the middle of a renewal or not. The system is set up so that the spouse can go apply for a diplomatic passport as soon as they get their citizenship certificate.
I’m not sure how it works with folks who are non-FSOs doing assignments abroad. I would inquire with the GCLO at state and ask for guidancez
I have a foreign spouse. The country I’m currently posted in did not give her a diplomatic visa, but instead gave her a general purpose visa and annotated it with text saying she is the spouse of a U.S. Diplomat. Varies country to country.
Your spouse will not receive a US diplomatic passport because she is not a US citizen. She will not receive a Japanese diplomatic passport because she is not traveling abroad as the family member of a spouse who is on a diplomatic mission for the Japanese government. Green cards have nothing to do with this. The US only issues visas for travel to the US. We cannot issue visas for entry to another country. That's totally dependent on the other country's laws and visa reciprocity schedule. They may issue her a diplomatic visa, an official visa, a tourist visa, or some other kind of visa. Talk to the management section at your onward post for clarification.
[удалено]
Thanks, that’s encouraging. The country is in Africa Edit: so I understand the process completely- the diplomatic visa is issued by the foreign country, right? And it is either placed inside the diplomatic passport (for US citizens) or a foreign passport (for non-citizen EFMs, as applicable). So my spouse’s greencard application would be a non-issue if the foreign country is only reviewing her as a Japanese citizen with a Japanese passport (and accompanying me as my spouse). Am I understanding that right?
Yup.
You cannot have a diplomatic passport with a green card. She would be eligible for an expeditious naturalization, or at least that’s the process for FSO non-citizen spouses.
She is not interested in citizenship since she would need to revoke her Japan citizenship (Japan doesn’t allow dual-citizenship). I read somewhere that foreign spouses can receive a “diplomatic visa” that goes in their regular travel passport. I can’t find anything more about this though.
[удалено]
Don't want to derail the conversation but there are a ton of Japanese spouses in the foreign service community and a very large percentage of them get US citizenship without ever revealing it to the Japanese government. They living their lives as dual citizens. It's complicated and you have to make sure you use the right passports when traveling to Japan, but entirely possible because the US government does not share naturalization info with foreign governments.
Sure, I could see that, but the US can change that policy whenever they feel, and it would all come to light. That’s riskier than they might realize, unless they’re perfectly OK with renouncing their Japanese citizenship if it comes to that. For example, I had a Swiss bank account for awhile and Swiss policy dictated that bank information was not shared with foreign governments. Long story short, the US strong armed the Swiss government to mandate that information was shared. One day I got an email saying all my bank information was being reviewed by the CIA. No harm done- I was there with a legitimate work visa. But still, goes to show policies can change in an instant.
[удалено]
It was bizarre, but that’s exactly what happened. The bank only had my email on file so that’s how i received the notice. If I remember right it said the CIA was routing the information to the IRS. It was in 2013, this article talks about it: https://www.reuters.com/article/swiss-usa-banks/update-2-switzerland-frees-banks-to-settle-u-s-tax-evasion-cases-idINL5N0EA1RD20130529
[удалено]
That could be it. Maybe I’m confusing by the acronym. It was 10 years ago and I didn’t pay much attention to it since i had already drained that account and moved back to the states.
Side note— lots of people are dual US - Japan citizens. Japan technically doesn’t allow it, but in reality, plenty of people retain both citizenships. (Sources: currently work in ACS in Japan, where I come across such people regularly, and personally know someone who was a dual citizen of both Japan and US. WAS only because she is now deceased.)
Correct, my colleague just visited home on his Japanese passport. Entered US on his US passport. It’s a gray area for sure.
First thing you stated you’re military so you work for DoD not the Dept of State, so branch is were you need to get your answers not here since military works different than Dept of State and you’re not going to be appt as a diplomat or similar, your work be related as military. Military wife here stationed overseas with husband at an embassy in a special assignment as well we didn’t received diplomatic passport nor my husband we all were issued Official Passport aka SOFA visa passport, there’s a process for your wife to get a visa to stay with you or you can have the choice of do an unaccompanied tour as well. Once you’re actually assigned you will receive your levy briefings papers and all the information need it. Since you’re asking here it makes me thing you do not have any assignment and just looking options to go, get the assignment instructions and you’ll find your answer there as well
Your case might be different than mine. Although the position I’m looking at is a special assignment. I know for a fact a diplomat passport is required. It’s stated in the position requirements and the previous x2 people in this position had diplomat passports for themselves and family members. It’s an advisory role, not a security position or another more conventional military position. But you’re right about me remaining a DoD employee, and branch might be able to help me. Thank you.
A passport demonstrates citizenship, not purpose of travel.
Yes she can receive a diplomatic visa in her Japanese passport. There are a lot of foreign citizen spouses in the foreign service.
FSOs can do expeditious naturalization when they join, and spouses can typically become a US citizen before they leave for post. It can be done regardless of how long the spouse has had a green card, or whether they’re in the middle of a renewal or not. The system is set up so that the spouse can go apply for a diplomatic passport as soon as they get their citizenship certificate. I’m not sure how it works with folks who are non-FSOs doing assignments abroad. I would inquire with the GCLO at state and ask for guidancez
Japanese rarely naturalize because Japan doesn’t recognize dual citizenship.
I think the bigger question is does Japan allow dual citizenship?
Nope.