RFE for J1 Visa Foreign Residence Requirement HELP!

[Pacmtrx7 2]

We received an RFE for not satisfying the J1 Foreign Residence Requirement. The problem is that my wife did satisfy that requirement. She was sponsored by a company in Las Vegas, where she lived and worked from 10/2004 - 08/2005. She then returned home to Japan and has been there since except 2 visits to the USA on the visa waiver to see me. I don't understand why she received an RFE for this. The operator said she needs all sorts of info from the company that sponsored her and the dates she worked there among other things. He was reading off so many things that my head was spinning. Anyway, he also said if she has a form called the IAP-66, that would be fine to submit as well, other wise would we would need to send a letter explaining why this should not be an issue.

Anyone heard of this form IAP-66 and if the residency requirement has clearly been satisfied, why would an RFE be generated?

[sachinky 465]

This has been a very common RFE for the last couple of months.

Info regarding this is posted on the April/March 2010 NVC threads.

And the pinned Stupid RFEs thread.

Check those out.

[kelton94 0]

Hello,

We received the same RFE but I'm having trouble finding more info online. What exactly have people sent to meet the requirements of this RFE?

I called NH and the guy said to 'send us basically what you send the CIS". We do not have a IAP-66.

This RFE is silly, we already went through the waiver process, otherwise we would not be at this stage.

[Pacmtrx7 2]

Hello,

We received the same RFE but I'm having trouble finding more info online. What exactly have people sent to meet the requirements of this RFE?

I called NH and the guy said to 'send us basically what you send the CIS". We do not have a IAP-66.

This RFE is silly, we already went through the waiver process, otherwise we would not be at this stage.

I couldn't find much info on this subject either in here. I have no idea why my wife received an RFE for this. It turns out luckily she still had her DS-2019 (formally IAP-66 before 2002) and we sent a copy of that to NVC. (just 2 days ago, so not sure of the outcome yet) It even said on there she was EXEMPT from the 2 year foreign residency requirement! She used the J1 visa back in 2004-2005 and obviously that was more then 2 years ago! The DS-2019 is issued by the Dept of State to begin with, you would think they would have some kind of record of it.

On a side note, we received our first RFE for something else that we shouldn't have. I guess we are one of the lucky ones that has to deal with the stupid mistakes made by the NVC. Apparently this silliness is contagious!

If you no longer have your IAP-66 or DS-2019, the operator read me a long laundry list of information they would need from that IAP-66 form. Name of company that sponsored, dates worked there, etc...

If you don't recall this info, I would suggest you call the NVC again and talk with a supervisor about it and ask why they need that and that you no longer possess it or remember the details of it.

If I can be of any more help, please let me know. Good luck!

[kelton94 0]

Cheers, I'm going to send a copy of the Visa and the list of stuff and hope for the best. Thanks!

[sachinky 465]

VJ members Estrellademiel and MrsWife! should be able to help you out. They had the same RFEs a month or so ago.

[kayo_michael 0]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but we just got RFE'ed for the same thing. Beneficiary was here on 2 visas prior, both time J-1's I believe.

We have yet to receive the letter for detailed info, but I am proactively trying to gather info so we aren't as delayed in the end. I don't think we will be able to find the original IAP-66 or VISA forms.

What did you guys do to get through this RFE?