2019 J1 WAIVER TIMELINE - New Applicants

[Ola87 5]

12 minutes ago, Veronikac said:

What was the source of US government funding? 

Mandela Washington Fellowship program - is that what you are asking? 

[Veronikac 15]

4 minutes ago, Ola87 said:

Mandela Washington Fellowship program - is that what you are asking? 

At least it is not Fulbright program, which will be more difficult. Does this fellowship program have some internal rules regarding waivers? I was also funded by the US government (NIH) and they had specific rules regarding obtaining the favorable sponsor views. I think that it was a good decision to hire a lawyer, hopefully he/she will be able to help in case of some problems. I assume that you know what will be the steps of the process. DOS will request the sponsor views from your sponsor and then they will be waiting until they will receive favorable or unfavorable response. Follow the recommendations of your lawyer but it will not be maybe a bad idea to talk to your J1 sponsor and prepare them for getting the sponsor views request.

[Ola87 5]

6 minutes ago, Veronikac said:

At least it is not Fulbright program, which will be more difficult. Does this fellowship program have some internal rules regarding waivers? I was also funded by the US government (NIH) and they had specific rules regarding obtaining the favorable sponsor views. I think that it was a good decision to hire a lawyer, hopefully he/she will be able to help in case of some problems. I assume that you know what will be the steps of the process. DOS will request the sponsor views from your sponsor and then they will be waiting until they will receive favorable or unfavorable response. Follow the recommendations of your lawyer but it will not be maybe a bad idea to talk to your J1 sponsor and prepare them for getting the sponsor views request.

I honestly have no idea on how to contact them. 

Just now, Ola87 said:

I honestly have no idea on how to contact them. 

I have a friend that got Fulbright waived without sponsors view though - I think, it’s a case by case basis 

[Hardship waiver 20]

2 minutes ago, Ola87 said:

I honestly have no idea on how to contact them. 

I have a friend that got Fulbright waived without sponsors view though - I think, it’s a case by case basis 

Was his waiver based on hardship or No Objection? 

[Ola87 5]

Just now, Hardship waiver said:

Was his waiver based on hardship or No Objection? 

Yes , no objection 

[Veronikac 15]

6 minutes ago, Ola87 said:

I honestly have no idea on how to contact them. 

I have a friend that got Fulbright waived without sponsors view though - I think, it’s a case by case basis 

I see. Do you know somebody who got favorable sponsor views from that specific sponsor? 

From my personal experience and based on all the stories here, I think that majority of the people with government funding applying for no objection waiver went trough sponsor views request, not sure what was yours friend specific situation. 

I hope that you will be successful with your waiver!

[Ola87 5]

On 1/19/2021 at 10:09 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?

Thank you for sharing - please do you know if your sponsor was contacted for sponsors view ? 

 

how long was your training in the US ? 
 

how much was your funding ? 
 

 

thank you - this is so inspiring.
 

 

[Ola87 5]

4 minutes ago, Veronikac said:

I see. Do you know somebody who got favorable sponsor views from that specific sponsor? 

From my personal experience and based on all the stories here, I think that majority of the people with government funding applying for no objection waiver went trough sponsor views request, not sure what was yours friend specific situation. 

I hope that you will be successful with your waiver!

Yeah, thanks for the good wishes dear friend 

[melmasry 0]

I have Fulbright Funding but I don't know how to contact them to expedite the process it has been two month and still waiting for sponsor views to be received

 

[Mike Frinch 0]

Hi All,

 

Exactly 16 weeks after DoS received all the required documents, I received a FR. I sent an email to DoS (212ewaiver@state.gov) on week 14 and week 16 (the day before they sent the FR) reminding them that I was awaiting decision. The basis of my application is No Objection Statement. May I ask you what are the next steps? As far as I understood they are:

 

1) DoS will send a copy of the FR from DoS.

2) USCIS will send me an I-767C (notice of action) with a receipt number (I can then check the status at https://my.uscis.gov/).

3) USCIS will send me the final decision (I-767).

 

Do you know more or less what is the timeline for 1)-3)? My current J1 visa is set to expire soon and I am investigating options to speed up the USCIS process. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

Edited March 3, 2021 by Mike Frinch

[Oriol 4]

Hi, @Mike Frinch,

 

This exact topic is being discussed right now in the other forum "J1 waiver 2020 NOS update timeline" (https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/734107-j1-waiver-2020-nos-update-timeline/page/28/?tab=comments#comment-10404261). Just check the recent activity and you will see what has been said. Your timeline is basically right. One may be able to obtain the case number from USCIS before they send the notice of action by calling them and following some techniques to circumvent the automated reply system. Check there, though, for the details.

[Oriol 4]

PS: Timeline-wise, all bets are off. For the steps that you have described, though, I have typically seen between one and two months, but there are many people out of the US who have reported having never received the actual hard copies, or others that, while in the US, have reported receiving their FR and actual waiver not in their US address but, say, at their parents' home in remote places around the world with significant delay... In terms of "speeding up," the only thing I have heard works in many cases is petitioning the advocacy of a congressional representative, but I am not sure whether it applies both to the DoS part and the USCIS part or only the former.

[Mike Frinch 0]

47 minutes ago, Oriol said:

Hi, @Mike Frinch,

 

This exact topic is being discussed right now in the other forum "J1 waiver 2020 NOS update timeline" (https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/734107-j1-waiver-2020-nos-update-timeline/page/28/?tab=comments#comment-10404261). Just check the recent activity and you will see what has been said. Your timeline is basically right. One may be able to obtain the case number from USCIS before they send the notice of action by calling them and following some techniques to circumvent the automated reply system. Check there, though, for the details.

This is great! Thanks @Oriol! I will check there to see how to get the case number before the notice of action. 

[Mike Frinch 0]

47 minutes ago, Oriol said:

PS: Timeline-wise, all bets are off. For the steps that you have described, though, I have typically seen between one and two months, but there are many people out of the US who have reported having never received the actual hard copies, or others that, while in the US, have reported receiving their FR and actual waiver not in their US address but, say, at their parents' home in remote places around the world with significant delay... In terms of "speeding up," the only thing I have heard works in many cases is petitioning the advocacy of a congressional representative, but I am not sure whether it applies both to the DoS part and the USCIS part or only the former.

Between one and two months is still a reasonable timing based on my J1-visa (expiring mid August 2021). I just want to be sure I get the waiver ASAP (my University is waiting for it for renewing my contract). I will check the mail in these coming days and keep you all updated. I read some terrifying stories of wrong addresses and I actually double-checked the address I wrote on my application to the DoS (DS-3035) and it looks correct (NYC). Wish me luck! Thanks again.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Mike Frinch

[stuckeng 0]

Have a question for you guys:

With USCIS, application is submitted in May, 2020. That time, processing times was 12-16 months. Now, after 10 months, I saw that processing times reduced to 5 months which allowed me to inquire "outside of normal processing times".

 

However, I received a response of the status of my case, instead of the reason why the case is taking more than outside of normal processing times. The response is below. What do you think about the meaning of this?

 

On May XX, 2020, we received your Form XXX, Receipt Number XXXX, and sent you the receipt notice that describes how we will process your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you have any questions, contact the USCIS Contact Center at www.uscis.gov/contactcenter. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.