2019 J1 WAIVER TIMELINE - New Applicants

[rachelrae 1]

On 5/18/2019 at 4:00 PM, JWaiver_2019 said:

Hi Guys,

 

Today, I got final waiver in mail but online website is not updated with the status.  

My J1 waiver journey is concluded positively with final waiver!! Journey started on December 26, 2018 and concluded today on May 18, 2019. Almost 6 month to pass all steps.

 

I had to involve congressmen and provide documentation to prove that there is USCIS error in updating my case in time and delay is beyond normal processing time plus I may need to leave if waiver doesn't come in time (my visa expiry is really near now).

So congressmen office contacted me after a week to sign a document for them to contact USCIS on my behalf and then after one week I got informed that USCIS is investigating congressmen request.
So, congressmen involvement really worked for me otherwise there could be further delay since USCIS lost my case and then found and updated acceptance date with one month gap of receiving date for processing etc. It took only few day for USCIS to investigate and conclude after congressmen involvement.

 

Use congressmen option carefully and when things are very tight and not going well in your favor! This will really work with wise decision and homework (evidences)!

I hope this information will be helpful for those still waiting or facing some issues. I will be happy to help you guys with specific questions, if you have.

 

Wish you all the best for your J1 waiver journeys for positive outcomes too!

 

Thanks everyone and specially those who responded to my questions offering help!

Congratulation JWaiver_2019, I got my approval notice today in the mail as well. Thank you for sharing information with us in those days. 

[Sunshine33 8]

2 hours ago, rachelrae said:

Congratulation JWaiver_2019, I got my approval notice today in the mail as well. Thank you for sharing information with us in those days. 

Congrats to you, how long did your journey last.

[rachelrae 1]

27 minutes ago, Sunshine33 said:

Congrats to you, how long did your journey last.

Thanks. The whole J1 waiver journey takes 6 months.

[Sunshine33 8]

2 hours ago, rachelrae said:

Thanks. The whole J1 waiver journey takes 6 months.

Thank you

[the_peruvian 1]

Hi guys, do you know if there is a form we can submit to DOS if we change our address?

[bayfinest 27]

On 3/27/2019 at 12:02 PM, JWaiver_2019 said:

I have got recommendations from DOS finally! Yay!!! 

I am a research scholar and my case is US Govt funding based, applied for No Objection category, for this forum's record.

 

My timeline:

Application packet was sent to DOS by USPS Priority Mail:                            December 26^th 2018

Packet received (USPS confirmed by email due to issues with tracking):    December 28^th 2018

Embassy sent NOS by mail to DOS:                                                                     January 21^st 2019

DOS received No Objection Statement on:                                                         February 20th 2019

DOS updated status – Documents received:                                                     February 11^th 2019

Sponsor Views Requested by DOS:                                                                     March 19th 2019

Sponsor views Received by DOS:                                                                         March 24th 2019

Favorable Recommendations:                                                                              March 26th 2019

 

I wish positive outcome for the rest of the applicants!

Congratulations! Im still waiting for my status at DOS it was filed by my attorney through Exceptional hardship. I am not government funded but included my skills list in my home country. My NOS was denied because I no longer have the original copy of my previous job in my country so its taking me the longer route. I just hope everything will turn out good and faster. 

[JWaiver_2019 21]

11 hours ago, the_peruvian said:

Hi guys, do you know if there is a form we can submit to DOS if we change our address?

This can be done online only, available @ https://j1visawaiverrecommendation.state.gov/

Select following from the list and update online:

• Inform the Department of State of a change to personal data (such as mailing address, email, phone, etc.

[trleaper 0]

Hi all,

 

Here's my timeline so far for a No Objection Statement based waiver.

 

I did have a question - if I haven't heard back from the USCIS about my case being accepted, so haven't received a NOA or any notice whatsoever from them since April 11th now, should I be worried? I tried calling the USCIS multiple times last week to talk to multiple level 1 and level 2 officers, but all of them said they weren't able to find anything related to an I-612 belonging to me in their system. I'm a bit worried now thinking that the FR might not have gotten there at all, as unlikely as that might be. Or that it might have gotten stuck somewhere even if it did get there. Is there a way to get the USCIS officers to check directly with the Waiver Review Division in USCIS directly, or any way to contact them? Or for people who have talked to USCIS officers to be told the same thing, did you have to say anything specific to get them to help you further? They didn't really seem to understand what I was talking about that well when I explained the waiver to them - I've pointed them to the I-612 instructions saying I don't have to file the I-612 application myself since this is a No Objection based waiver, and that seemed to help them understand a bit. But at the end they always said that no info about the waiver comes up in their system, and that I should wait longer before checking with them again or check with the DOS. I also emailed the DOS waiver email to see if they could be of any help, but that doesn't seem very likely either. Any advice/help would be appreciated, thank you!

 

 

 

 

[LuizaT 0]

54 minutes ago, trleaper said:

Hi all,

 

Here's my timeline so far for a No Objection Statement based waiver.

 

I did have a question - if I haven't heard back from the USCIS about my case being accepted, so haven't received a NOA or any notice whatsoever from them since April 11th now, should I be worried? I tried calling the USCIS multiple times last week to talk to multiple level 1 and level 2 officers, but all of them said they weren't able to find anything related to an I-612 belonging to me in their system. I'm a bit worried now thinking that the FR might not have gotten there at all, as unlikely as that might be. Or that it might have gotten stuck somewhere even if it did get there. Is there a way to get the USCIS officers to check directly with the Waiver Review Division in USCIS directly, or any way to contact them? Or for people who have talked to USCIS officers to be told the same thing, did you have to say anything specific to get them to help you further? They didn't really seem to understand what I was talking about that well when I explained the waiver to them - I've pointed them to the I-612 instructions saying I don't have to file the I-612 application myself since this is a No Objection based waiver, and that seemed to help them understand a bit. But at the end they always said that no info about the waiver comes up in their system, and that I should wait longer before checking with them again or check with the DOS. I also emailed the DOS waiver email to see if they could be of any help, but that doesn't seem very likely either. Any advice/help would be appreciated, thank you!

 

 

 

 

Same thing happened to me. They only "found"my case after I asked a Senator to contact them. I asked help from the senator of the state I am going after I get the visa (they usually have a specific part on their websites to help with govt offices) and he responded quickly. A few days after, USCIS found and approved my case. I saw that other people who got favorable recommendation at the same time as me also got approval from USCIS, so I don't know if the Senator actually helped or if they just process cases bunch by bunch and it was a coincidence... But if I were you I would try! Also I only got my case number from the Senator. USCIS only sent me the approval notice so it was good to have my case number to follow...

[MyRedNas 0]

1 hour ago, trleaper said:

Hi all,

 

Here's my timeline so far for a No Objection Statement based waiver.

 

I did have a question - if I haven't heard back from the USCIS about my case being accepted, so haven't received a NOA or any notice whatsoever from them since April 11th now, should I be worried? I tried calling the USCIS multiple times last week to talk to multiple level 1 and level 2 officers, but all of them said they weren't able to find anything related to an I-612 belonging to me in their system. I'm a bit worried now thinking that the FR might not have gotten there at all, as unlikely as that might be. Or that it might have gotten stuck somewhere even if it did get there. Is there a way to get the USCIS officers to check directly with the Waiver Review Division in USCIS directly, or any way to contact them? Or for people who have talked to USCIS officers to be told the same thing, did you have to say anything specific to get them to help you further? They didn't really seem to understand what I was talking about that well when I explained the waiver to them - I've pointed them to the I-612 instructions saying I don't have to file the I-612 application myself since this is a No Objection based waiver, and that seemed to help them understand a bit. But at the end they always said that no info about the waiver comes up in their system, and that I should wait longer before checking with them again or check with the DOS. I also emailed the DOS waiver email to see if they could be of any help, but that doesn't seem very likely either. Any advice/help would be appreciated, thank you!

 

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I had a similar situation. Senator's office might help. Some offices act fast, some are slow. Mine was slow unfortunately. I managed to move ahead without their help. I asked the costumer service representative to start an inquiry, ten days later I received an email asking for my DOS case number and/or favorable recommendation letter itself. I sent them the letter, the next day I was in their system. I strongly suggest that you ask the customer representative to add your DOS case number in the inquiry. Then maybe they don't need to send you an email to ask for it. 

[JWaiver_2019 21]

7 hours ago, trleaper said:

Hi all,

 

Here's my timeline so far for a No Objection Statement based waiver.

 

I did have a question - if I haven't heard back from the USCIS about my case being accepted, so haven't received a NOA or any notice whatsoever from them since April 11th now, should I be worried? I tried calling the USCIS multiple times last week to talk to multiple level 1 and level 2 officers, but all of them said they weren't able to find anything related to an I-612 belonging to me in their system. I'm a bit worried now thinking that the FR might not have gotten there at all, as unlikely as that might be. Or that it might have gotten stuck somewhere even if it did get there. Is there a way to get the USCIS officers to check directly with the Waiver Review Division in USCIS directly, or any way to contact them? Or for people who have talked to USCIS officers to be told the same thing, did you have to say anything specific to get them to help you further? They didn't really seem to understand what I was talking about that well when I explained the waiver to them - I've pointed them to the I-612 instructions saying I don't have to file the I-612 application myself since this is a No Objection based waiver, and that seemed to help them understand a bit. But at the end they always said that no info about the waiver comes up in their system, and that I should wait longer before checking with them again or check with the DOS. I also emailed the DOS waiver email to see if they could be of any help, but that doesn't seem very likely either. Any advice/help would be appreciated, thank you!

 

 

 

 

Please go to my profile and read my posts. You will get better idea how things worked for me with lot of issues.

First thing, call USCIS customer service and request to open inquiry and you must receive email response in a week for some additional information like resend DOS FR. And you should receive NOA soon.

Check for receiving date mentioned on the letter and should expect USCIS decision before 6-8 weeks before you started getting worried for No Objection case (Hardship and other situations take more time).

I got congressman office involved and they provide me exact information that I tallied with other events and found exactly same. So in my case, yes, it works. But again, make a case strong enough with good justification, why you need their involvement so they will definitely work with you seriously. Based on my experience so take decision with your own wisdom and based on your situation. Try to read all previous posts in both 2019 and 2018 timeline, you will get very good information.

[Illy 0]

Hi everybody, I am new to the forum and I first want to express my gratitude as this is really helpful!

 

I submitted my documentation on March 18, 2019 but I still have no updates (more than 2 months have passed and the table is literally still empty)... I know my package was delivered and the fee was collected shortly after.

 

At first I thought maybe they would only update the status after receiving the NOS, but looking at some of your posts it seems some of you got updates on fee, passport page etc showing a status of 'received' before having the NOS, so I do not know what to think anymore....  Did anyone experience something like this? Do you think it's normal, or have any suggestions?

I wrote them a couple of e-mails (to 212waiver) but got no reply...

 

Thank you 

[Kr1234 4]

On 5/18/2019 at 3:00 PM, JWaiver_2019 said:

Hi Guys,

 

Today, I got final waiver in mail but online website is not updated with the status.  

My J1 waiver journey is concluded positively with final waiver!! Journey started on December 26, 2018 and concluded today on May 18, 2019. Almost 6 month to pass all steps.

 

I had to involve congressmen and provide documentation to prove that there is USCIS error in updating my case in time and delay is beyond normal processing time plus I may need to leave if waiver doesn't come in time (my visa expiry is really near now).

So congressmen office contacted me after a week to sign a document for them to contact USCIS on my behalf and then after one week I got informed that USCIS is investigating congressmen request.
So, congressmen involvement really worked for me otherwise there could be further delay since USCIS lost my case and then found and updated acceptance date with one month gap of receiving date for processing etc. It took only few day for USCIS to investigate and conclude after congressmen involvement.

 

Use congressmen option carefully and when things are very tight and not going well in your favor! This will really work with wise decision and homework (evidences)!

I hope this information will be helpful for those still waiting or facing some issues. I will be happy to help you guys with specific questions, if you have.

 

Wish you all the best for your J1 waiver journeys for positive outcomes too!

 

Thanks everyone and specially those who responded to my questions offering help!

Very happy for You. Congrats and all the best for your future endeavours. Thank you for always answering my questions 

[Kr1234 4]

Guys I too received 797C notice and my case has been accepted 

[Kr1234 4]

26 minutes ago, Illy said:

Hi everybody, I am new to the forum and I first want to express my gratitude as this is really helpful!

 

I submitted my documentation on March 18, 2019 but I still have no updates (more than 2 months have passed and the table is literally still empty)... I know my package was delivered and the fee was collected shortly after.

 

At first I thought maybe they would only update the status after receiving the NOS, but looking at some of your posts it seems some of you got updates on fee, passport page etc showing a status of 'received' before having the NOS, so I do not know what to think anymore....  Did anyone experience something like this? Do you think it's normal, or have any suggestions?

I wrote them a couple of e-mails (to 212waiver) but got no reply...

 

Thank you 

Hi Illy, usually it should be updated by 30-45 days. I dont know what takes so long. What i experienced is, usually they will respond to our email by 20 days or so. So hopefully you will get a reply or update soon. Also im assuming u sent your package to correct address as mentioned in DS3035.