2019 J1 WAIVER TIMELINE - New Applicants

[YOUNGLUNYA 0]

On 1/19/2021 at 11:09 AM, FBA said:

I have a US funding and I applied under NOC category and after a long wait I got my approval on Jan 15. Can any one told me how much time now USCIS will take to sent the final approval?

Thanks for giving us hope. I have the same case too and  it has been almost 5 months since I submitted my stuff. ... May be mine would get updated around April or May.... finger crossed!!!

Edited February 3, 2021 by YOUNGLUNYA

[SandraBostonian 0]

Hello, guys, my husband is from Romania, and we are trying to remove "two years rule". Romania is in the "skill list". 

I saw online that some applicants got the answer in 1 month, some in 6 month. I hope it wont take that long.

 

He got 2 J1 visas, one after another, and got "two years rule applies" twice. Not sure why, and how, but it is what it is.

He did not get any funding from the state.

How long it takes to get the answer from state.gov? Does it really take 12 weeks or more?

 

[Oriol 4]

Hello @SandraBostonian, welcome. There is a lot of debate. My own estimate on the basis of recent posted timelines is that the lapse between DoS receiving the No objection Statement (the time that it takes them to update it on the system is apparently variable) and a favorable recommendation to USCIS is right now at a minimum of 4 months: I haven't seen anything shorter than that. There are horror stories (1 or 2 years), but I think those are outliers. A constant of this forum is trying to discern the patterns that speed up processing times, but outcomes seem largely unpredictable. A widespread speculation is that hard deadlines (e.g. expiring DS-2019s, job offers, etc.) are taken into account. I hope it helps! Please keep in touch and update us: all info is welcome.

[YOUNGLUNYA 0]

Does the DOS send rejection notice if they deny your case? How do you know you have been denied? 

[Oriol 4]

Hello @YOUNGLUNYA. I would like someone else to confirm this, but I think the DOS waiver status page (https://j1visawaiverstatus.state.gov/) would report as status "Denied."

[mae3006@rit.edu 0]

I wanted to share some progress regarding my case, i am fulbright applied for j1 visa waiver of two years residency. At the current moment my application is complete and the DOS sent a request for sponsor views. It has been 6 weeks since the request was sent and application is pending. What should i do to expedite the process. I have sent email to 212xxxx 

but they replied by your case is pending until they receive the reply from sponsor. 
 

Can anyone share some insight regarding this situation. 
 

 

[Veronikac 15]

4 minutes ago, mae3006@rit.edu said:

I wanted to share some progress regarding my case, i am fulbright applied for j1 visa waiver of two years residency. At the current moment my application is complete and the DOS sent a request for sponsor views. It has been 6 weeks since the request was sent and application is pending. What should i do to expedite the process. I have sent email to 212xxxx 

but they replied by your case is pending until they receive the reply from sponsor. 
 

Can anyone share some insight regarding this situation. 
 

 

I do not think that DOS will help you at this stage. They are waiting for the sponsor views and there is nothing what they can do. I would try to contact the sponsor directly (if you know the contact information) and ask them if there is something what you can provide to them in order to obtain the favorable sponsor views. I was not funded by Fulbright but by the US government and I actively communicated with the sponsor organization regarding my sponsor views during the waiver process.  

[mae3006@rit.edu 0]

1 minute ago, Veronikac said:

I do not think that DOS will help you at this stage. They are waiting for the sponsor views and there is nothing what they can do. I would try to contact the sponsor directly (if you know the contact information) and ask them if there is something what you can provide to them in order to obtain the favorable sponsor views. I was not funded by Fulbright but by the US government and I actively communicated with the sponsor organization regarding my sponsor views during the waiver process.  

What was your funding organization and how did u manage to contact them. 
 

 

[Veronikac 15]

Just now, mae3006@rit.edu said:

What was your funding organization and how did u manage to contact them. 
 

 

I was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). My situation was much easier than yours because the NIH has very good and clear waiver policy. After the NIH received the request for sponsor views from DOS they contacted me by email and requested from me certain documents which were needed in order to issue me the favorable sponsors views. However, this is specific policy for the NIH and is probably very different from the Fulbright waiver policy. I know from reading this forum, that it is very complicated to obtain the favorable sponsor views from the Fulbright committee or the waiver in general with this type of funding. If I will be in your situation, I will try to contact the sponsor if you can find the contact or try to figure out to whom was the request for sponsor views specifically sent that you can communicate with them further. But I do not have a personal experience with Fulbright. 

 

[fetom 7]

56 minutes ago, YOUNGLUNYA said:

Does the DOS send rejection notice if they deny your case? How do you know you have been denied? 

If they deny your case, your status will change to “Not Favorable”. They also will send you a letter explaining why they denied it. 

[Oriol 4]

Dear all,

 

I checked my status tonight and... I have received the DoS favorable recommendation, barely a month after my NoS was updated as "received"! Just for the record, I have been checking my status on a daily basis and only today did I see the finding as "Favorable Recommendation," even though it says that the recommendation was sent on the 17th, three days ago.

 

 

Again, if I was to analyze what possible factors made my application to move so fast, all I can say is that my case was very much as vanilla-straightforward as it gets and that I did specify in my application the July start date for the job I have been offered and accepted, which is a tenure-track faculty position at a UC-system campus.

 

Although the path ahead is still not without its uncertainties–Biden does not seem poised to remove the March moratorium on H1Bs, but neither inclined to prolong it–I am, as you can imagine, hugely relieved.

 

I finish with a note of encouragement and best wished for everyone in this process. I have greatly benefited from the information posted here and will keep posting.

[Ola87 5]

On 1/4/2021 at 10:12 AM, SG_J1 said:

@YOUNGLUNYA As far as I know Fulbright is very problematic and the risk of rejection of your Waiver application is very high. Did you get help from a lawyer? It might be good to have a Plan B in case of rejection.

Thanks 

[Ola87 5]

Hi all, 

 

I got a 6 weeks US Government funding exchange program in 2019, after which I returned to my country immediately after the program without extending my stay. After 5 months in Nigeria, I got a scholarship for my PhD in the United States and I’m currently on F1 visa. A year into my PhD program , I got married to a USC medical doctor. 
 

We’re currently applying for a no objection waiver through a lawyer. 
 

I am wondering if anyone is in my shoes - my F1 visa is still valid till November 2021 while my I20 is still valid till 2024. 
 

do you think this would be approved. 
 

the process started in February 1st 2021 but no update yet. 

[Veronikac 15]

5 minutes ago, Ola87 said:

Hi all, 

 

I got a 6 weeks US Government funding exchange program in 2019, after which I returned to my country immediately after the program without extending my stay. After 5 months in Nigeria, I got a scholarship for my PhD in the United States and I’m currently on F1 visa. A year into my PhD program , I got married to a USC medical doctor. 
 

We’re currently applying for a no objection waiver through a lawyer. 
 

I am wondering if anyone is in my shoes - my F1 visa is still valid till November 2021 while my I20 is still valid till 2024. 
 

do you think this would be approved. 
 

the process started in February 1st 2021 but no update yet. 

What was the source of US government funding? 

[Hardship waiver 20]

On 1/4/2021 at 12:38 AM, YOUNGLUNYA said:

I think that could be the reason why your case went so fast and got approved. I personally had funding from Fulbright but I am hoping that the statement of reason will outweigh the  Gvt funds. Congratulations. 

Hi! What is your waive for? Hardship or No Objection?