2019 J1 WAIVER TIMELINE - New Applicants

[Hammad107 0]

On 3/27/2019 at 1:02 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!

Who was your sponsoring agency in US? Was it also DOS? Waiver Division received the sponsor views fast in your case.
My 'Request for Sponsor Views' was sent on April 15th and it's still not received by Waiver Division (after more than two months). I have asked them to re-send the request in case first was misplaced.

Also, I had written a strong statement of reason. What other documents do you think I should send to further strengthen the case?

[Illy 0]

On 6/24/2019 at 4:01 PM, Kr1234 said:

Guys....

 Finally I got my waiver on 6/22/2019 and the notice date is 06/14/19. It took exactly 4 weeks for the USCIS to approve my case. For the people whose case is straightforward without govt. funding,  beyond 2 months timeline and not yet received the approval, try to call USCIS atleast once a week and ask for the recent update or try to reach for the next level officer. There is a chance, they approved your case and you didnt get the approval notice. USCIS did not update my case online too. 

 

Thank you everyone for your support.

 

All the best guys

Congrats!

Did you call them at all or just patiently waited?

Also, what does it mean to reach next level officers? Would you ask 'can I speak to a second level officer' to do so?

 

13 hours ago, Tissa said:

Does favorable reccomendation always means that you got a waiver? Or can the final decision still be different?

In theory USCIS has the final decision, so they could decide to not grant the waiver even with favorable DoS recommendation. As far as i understood though, they usually confirm the DoS recommendation, so unless the case is complicated there should be no problem...

[Tissa 15]

So I just wanted to share my timeline. We did a hardship waiver. Government funding was involved (Fulbrught) and we also had an RFE after 14 months of waiting...

[Kr1234 4]

@Illy I waited because some people got the approval notice in 7th week and I did not call them. But in older posts, I read people complaining when they call USCIS, they are just saying the non-updated online status and some people shared when they call for updates, the response depends on the person who picks up the call. So if its beyond 7 weeks, just call them once a week to get the updates. 

 

Read old posts, you will get an idea. 

[eliottreid 9]

Update: My embassy sent the NOS on the 17th, so it was just a week to update it :D

[Tanish 197]

@Kr1234

Can you provide me a little guidance on the steps to follow to file for J-1 waiver?

My sister-in-law has J-1 Visa and she married my Brother-in-law last month.

 

I don't have adequate knowledge on this process.

Do we obtain NORI first or file DS-3035 first?

 

I would appreciate if you can provide a little guidance on this.

[Kr1234 4]

4 hours ago, Tanish said:

@Kr1234

Can you provide me a little guidance on the steps to follow to file for J-1 waiver?

My sister-in-law has J-1 Visa and she married my Brother-in-law last month.

 

I don't have adequate knowledge on this process.

Do we obtain NORI first or file DS-3035 first?

 

I would appreciate if you can provide a little guidance on this.

First  you should get NORI, I pasted a few links which I followed and hope this helps. Read and follow the J1 waiver posts regularly for latest updates.Timeline now are entirely different. Start the process at the earliest. Good Luck

 

http://www.sciwri.club/archives/1188

https://sciash.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/j1-waiver-step-by-step-guide/

J1 Visa Waiver updated March 1 2009

[AB2019 1]

On 6/12/2019 at 5:33 AM, AB2019 said:

Update, Recommendation sent May 29, USCIS received June 4th, I797C NOA  date June 5th. Received in Mail June 10th. 

I just got an update, waiver approved. Got an email notification, my USCIS account status was update ,but the call centre and website case status was not updated,as yet. 

[Illy 0]

3 hours ago, AB2019 said:

I just got an update, waiver approved. Got an email notification, my USCIS account status was update ,but the call centre and website case status was not updated,as yet. 

Congratulations!! 

I checked my Uscis and case status website, but I still have 'case received'....

 

Did you get an e-mail notification because you signed up for it? Is this done through the my USCIS website?

 

Also,  just to check, on my.uscis I see: "we received your case, you do not need to do anything at this moment".

Is that what you were seeing up to yesterday? Or did you have something else, like accepted by lockbox or so..?

Edited June 27, 2019 by Illy

[AB2019 1]

22 minutes ago, Illy said:

Congratulations!! 

I checked my Uscis and case status website, but I still have 'case received'....

 

Did you get an e-mail notification because you signed up for it? Is this done through the my USCIS website?

 

Also,  just to check, on my.uscis I see: "we received your case, you do not need to do anything at this moment".

Is that what you were seeing up to yesterday? Or did you have something else, like accepted by lockbox or so..?

Yes I signed up and created an account. says it was approved on the 26th of June. 

[Illy 0]

4 minutes ago, AB2019 said:

Yes I signed up and created an account. says it was approved on the 26th of June. 

Thank you.

I meant to ask what you were seeing on my.uscis before the approval? 

[AB2019 1]

7 minutes ago, Illy said:

Thank you.

I meant to ask what you were seeing on my.uscis before the approval? 

1st .Case accepted by lockbox and then same date. case received by another USCIS office - for processing

Now. Case approved

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by AB2019

[Illy 0]

3 minutes ago, AB2019 said:

1st .Case accepted by lockbox

2nd. case received by another USCIS office - for processing

3rd. Case approved

 

Thank you AB2019. Now I know case received any another uscis office comes after accepted by lockbox!

Can you please update us when you receive the notice in the mail?

[Lucky_Clove 0]

Hey all! What is a reasonable timeline to get a favorable recommendation from DOS?

My case is supposed to be straight forward and no govt funding, etc, I only got the restrisction based on skills list. It's been already 5 weeks since they updated receiving all my documents, including NOS, and still no updates of favorable recommendation on the DOS website.

 

Is there any action that I could take proactively at this point or just keep waiting?

 

Also - I now have a wedding license to support my case. Is it still possible/makes sense to send documents to my case at this point?

[Illy 0]

Update! I actually received the waiver in the mail today! Although the online websites (both my.uscis and case status) are not updated..

The notice is dated June 25, so USCIS took 20 days from the receipt date June 5.