J1 exceptional hardship waiver

[dsahay 0]

Hello Everyone, 

 

i applied for a J1 hardship waiver based on exceptional hardship to my US citizen child. The I612 and I613 has finally reached DoS after 6 months (please see it below). 

My questions are;

1) In my case will DoS ask for sponsor views? I see it is mostly done for people with fulbright scholarship. Can anyone please confirm? I am trying to judge how much time it will take. 

2) Does anyone know how long it will take from here on to get the waiver?

3) Can I stay past my grace period if I receive the waiver but without having a job?

4) If I plan on staying past my grace period and a new employer files for a H1b, can I change my status here in the USA or do I have to go out of the country and get the H1B visa stamped on my passport?

 

Thank you

 

 

Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Pending

Item	Action	Date
Form I-612	Received	January, 06 2020
Form I-613	Received	January, 06 2020
Fee	Received	June, 26 2019
Form DS-3035	Received	June, 26 2019
Form DS-2019	Received	June, 26 2019
Passport Data Page	Received	June, 26 2019
Form G-28	Received	June, 26 2019
Statement Of Reason	Received	June, 26 2019
Other	Received	June, 26 2019

 

[jan22 3,056]

I'm a little confused by your post.  Do you have any legal means for remaining in the US if the waiver is approved (e.g., US citizen or LPR spouse who can file for you, a US citizen parent who can file, employment with an H1b cap-exempt entity, etc).  If not, getting the waiver approved does not grant you a new authorized stay or status and, therefore, no benefit or means to remain in the US.  The waiver merely allows US officials to approve a new status, for which you already qualify, before the two- year home residency requirement is fulfilled.  Based on the limited information you provided, it would appear that you should plan to leave the US on or before the expiration of your grace period.  

[dsahay 0]

jan22. Thank you very much for clearing out. 

No I will not have any legal means. What I was getting at was, if during the grace period if an employer files for LCA H1B, and if it gets approved after the expiry of the grace period, Can i still stay in the US and change my status as the filing was done before my grace period ended? or no. I hope I am able to explain myself.

[jan22 3,056]

On 1/13/2020 at 3:31 PM, dsahay said:

jan22. Thank you very much for clearing out. 

No I will not have any legal means. What I was getting at was, if during the grace period if an employer files for LCA H1B, and if it gets approved after the expiry of the grace period, Can i still stay in the US and change my status as the filing was done before my grace period ended? or no. I hope I am able to explain myself.

No.  To change status, you have to be IN status.  Once your grace period expires, you will be "out of status" for qualifying to change your status.   Unlike immigrant visas, mere filing of an H1b petition does not grant an authorized stay in the US.  So, you need to leave at the end of your grace period or sooner.  If the waiver and H1b petition are ultimately approved, you can then apply for an H1b visa and return to the US.

[j1hardshipwaiting 3]

@dsahay did you hear anything about your waiver from DOS? For us, Fulbright/hardship case, DOS received I-613/I-612 from USCIS in April 2020 and we don't know how long it will take for them to make a recommendation.

Is the sponsor views definitely updated on the status? Because it looks like they haven't even asked for it yet (see our timeline below)

 

[J1hardship 0]

Hello Everyone, 

 

- I applied for a J1 hardship waiver based on exceptional hardship to my US citizen child on May 16th, 2019. 
-USCIS updated the case status tool as it has sent my application for Non-USCIS advisory opinion on April 16th, 2019.

-Since then no update on DOS website as my i612/613 has been received 

-my service requests has been answered by California Service center as they were waiting for the response from the DOS waiver review division.

- I contacted the congressman recently, answered as

 “ the transferring of I-612 waiver recommendation requests to the Department of State (DOS) J-1 Waiver Division has not yet been forwarded for review yet. Per the supervisor, the current work at home mandate and limited number of clerical staff at the CSC has caused a delay in the processing of I-612 waiver recommendation requests. “ recommended a follow-up with them in 45 days to check on the status of the case.

- my j1 status expiry on June 30,2020. After then no salary no healthcare coverage. Applied for a j1 extension to take the boards. But will be in a situation of extreme financial hardship. 
 

I feel so helpless and frustrated. Any suggestions? 

 

Thank you

 

[J1Hardship2020 1]

On 6/17/2020 at 9:52 AM, J1hardship said:

Hello Everyone, 

 

- I applied for a J1 hardship waiver based on exceptional hardship to my US citizen child on May 16th, 2019. 
-USCIS updated the case status tool as it has sent my application for Non-USCIS advisory opinion on April 16th, 2019.

-Since then no update on DOS website as my i612/613 has been received 

-my service requests has been answered by California Service center as they were waiting for the response from the DOS waiver review division.

- I contacted the congressman recently, answered as

 “ the transferring of I-612 waiver recommendation requests to the Department of State (DOS) J-1 Waiver Division has not yet been forwarded for review yet. Per the supervisor, the current work at home mandate and limited number of clerical staff at the CSC has caused a delay in the processing of I-612 waiver recommendation requests. “ recommended a follow-up with them in 45 days to check on the status of the case.

- my j1 status expiry on June 30,2020. After then no salary no healthcare coverage. Applied for a j1 extension to take the boards. But will be in a situation of extreme financial hardship. 
 

I feel so helpless and frustrated. Any suggestions? 

 

Thank you

 

I am in the same boat... The USCIS sent to DOS on May 26, 2020 and the email that I sent to 212ewaiver@gov responded today with it will take 4 weeks for the 612/613 to be uploaded onto the DOS system.

 

I too wrote to my senator but it might have been too premature seeing the DOS is taking so long to upload docs...

 

[J1Hardship2020 1]

On 6/16/2020 at 11:06 PM, j1hardshipwaiting said:

@dsahay did you hear anything about your waiver from DOS? For us, Fulbright/hardship case, DOS received I-613/I-612 from USCIS in April 2020 and we don't know how long it will take for them to make a recommendation.

Is the sponsor views definitely updated on the status? Because it looks like they haven't even asked for it yet (see our timeline below)

 

Have you heard anything back on a recommendation? 

[J1hardship 0]

7 hours ago, J1Hardship2020 said:

I am in the same boat... The USCIS sent to DOS on May 26, 2020 and the email that I sent to 212ewaiver@gov responded today with it will take 4 weeks for the 612/613 to be uploaded onto the DOS system.

 

I too wrote to my senator but it might have been too premature seeing the DOS is taking so long to upload docs...

 

Although case status check tool of USCIS showed that our cases were transferred to DOS on April 17th ( same replies from service centers to our service requests ) we came to know after contacting the congressman that i612/i613 were not sent to DOS till June 8th. Applications were just sitting between April 17th and June 8th. 
 

[j1hardshipwaiting 3]

19 hours ago, J1Hardship2020 said:

Have you heard anything back on a recommendation? 

No still waiting. Any updates for you?

 

Do you think it is worth sending additional evidence to DOS, since some new hardship evidence is now available that wasn't when I applied a year ago? Or it may not matter at this stage?

[J1Hardship2020 1]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:34 PM, J1Hardship2020 said:

Have you heard anything back on a recommendation? 

Any luck getting the recommendation?

 

Thanks,

 

 

[dsahay 0]

@J1Hardship2020 sorry for the late response.

Yes, I applied in June 2019. My I612 and I613 was sent from USCIS to DoS on December 10, 2019. DoS received it in January 6th 2020. DoS sent favorable recommendations on February 27th, 2020 and March 30th, 2020 I received the approval notice from USCIS. 

In the present scenario the cases are taking 18-20 months for approval, but as long as you have a strong case and you  ask a congressman to contact USCIS and DOS and put in a expedite request, you might get a faster approval. In my experience and from what I know from some of my colleagues, if the case is genuine and strong, expedite requests are accepted and USCIS and DoS does process the paper work faster.

All the best !

 

[J1Hardship2020 1]

21 minutes ago, dsahay said:

@J1Hardship2020 sorry for the late response.

Yes, I applied in June 2019. My I612 and I613 was sent from USCIS to DoS on December 10, 2019. DoS received it in January 6th 2020. DoS sent favorable recommendations on February 27th, 2020 and March 30th, 2020 I received the approval notice from USCIS. 

In the present scenario the cases are taking 18-20 months for approval, but as long as you have a strong case and you  ask a congressman to contact USCIS and DOS and put in a expedite request, you might get a faster approval. In my experience and from what I know from some of my colleagues, if the case is genuine and strong, expedite requests are accepted and USCIS and DoS does process the paper work faster.

All the best !

 

 

[J1Hardship2020 1]

8 minutes ago, J1Hardship2020 said:

 

 

Thanks for the response! We saw the DOS received our 612/613 on June 17th, 2020 so that is encouraging that your got your favorable recommendation in 2 months!!?

 

Are you now applying for the I-130, I-485, & I-765? If so how is that going?

 

Thanks!

[j1hardshipwaiting 3]

7 hours ago, dsahay said:

@J1Hardship2020 sorry for the late response.

Yes, I applied in June 2019. My I612 and I613 was sent from USCIS to DoS on December 10, 2019. DoS received it in January 6th 2020. DoS sent favorable recommendations on February 27th, 2020 and March 30th, 2020 I received the approval notice from USCIS. 

In the present scenario the cases are taking 18-20 months for approval, but as long as you have a strong case and you  ask a congressman to contact USCIS and DOS and put in a expedite request, you might get a faster approval. In my experience and from what I know from some of my colleagues, if the case is genuine and strong, expedite requests are accepted and USCIS and DoS does process the paper work faster.

All the best !

 

@dsahay Congrats on receiving a fav rec! 2 months may just be the record! Did you have US government funding? I had Fulbright Masters funding so am asking whether that would take more time? (even if expedited request has been asked through the Senator and with a very valid reason).