J1 with 2-year req. seeking AOS

[Jessicaaa 5]

Hello, a few quick details;

- I am a brazilian postdoc in the US on a J1 visa subject to two-year requirement;
- plan to pursue a marriage-based AOS, pending J1 waiver approval via NOS;
- wish to avoid leaving the US and maintain employment once my J1 expires in Sept 2020. 

 

A little more about my case; 

I am a Brazilian woman in the US on a J-1 visa (Research Scholar category), for which I have gotten five extenstions, that I have used to finish my PHD at Johns Hopkins Univeristy (JHU). I'm currently employed by JHU and the final J-1 extension expires on September 13, 2020 (amended as a posdoc). During my studies here I unexpectedly met an American citizen and after dating for the last three years we hope to marry approximately 100 days after my last US entry, Jan 16, 2020. With this in mind, I am now pursuing release from my two-year home residency requirement such that we may start a life together. Now, the difficulty is that we wish to pursue AOS, from J-1 to GC and thus I am pursuing a NOS for the J-1 waiver. I've read that I must first aquire a "No ojection letter" (NOL) from my funding agency in Brazil (CAPES) which I will immediately relay to the Brazilian Embassy as required for the J1-waiver. I hope to have a NOL from CAPES to send by April, but this uncertain because I have seen wildly different timelines from others doing the same through CAPES. From my understanding, the Brazilian Embassy will then send a NOS to the US DOS to satisfy the J-1 waiver. Timeline estimates to get a DOS recommendation on the J-1 waiver are approximately 2-4 months. During this time I will also expect to have strong job offers from academic insititutions (NIH, Duke, etc.), meaning that I could also reasonable expect to obtain an H1B visa if a marriage-based AOS is not advisable given my current situation. The ultimate goal is to not leave the US and minimize any lapses in employment. Given I am trying to get several bureaucratic goals accomplished in such a short amount of time, this leaves a few questions.

 

1) Should/Can we file J-1 waiver (based on NOS) and AOS concurrently?  What (if any) are the concerns with this? If not, at what point can we submit form I-485 once the J-1 waiver process has begun?

 

2) Once the J-1 Visa waiver has been started. What is the fastest mode to residency comparing the H1B and marriage green card? 

 

3) Should we mention marriage or intent to marry on the J1 waiver application? 

 

4) Can you please offer an opinion on the best course of action for us and correct any misconceptions we may have.

 

I am aware of how complicated these processes can be and expect that professional counsel may be appropriate, so any advice to that end would also be helpful.

 

Thank you so much for any guidance.

 

[Nat&Amy 623]

Have you heard of other CAPES cases in which the requirement of 2 year residency was waived, by any chance? 

 

I used to work with the government and at the time CAPES and CNPq offered absolutely no support to anyone not willing to return to Brazil, since they used Brazilian funds to complete their studies and were therefore expected to return the investment when they come back to their home country.

 

It is surprising that they have started issuing NOLs but from your post I assume they have for many others... In which case, merely wait for the waiver and file for AoS. No reason to wait for the 100 days, you seem to be following the 90 day rule which is a silly myth that refuses to die. Your EAD might take anywhere from 3 to 7 months so if you're shooting for September, you need to file ASAP.

[Boiler 45,525]

Looking at your timeline it would seem a H1b is needed so you can carry on working, otherwise the crucial issue is the Waiver you need to find out if it is possible, not all are.

[Jessicaaa 5]

56 minutes ago, Nat&Amy said:

Have you heard of other CAPES cases in which the requirement of 2 year residency was waived, by any chance? 

Firstly, thank you so much for your reply.  Yes, I have seen many reports of waivers being granted by USCIS as long as the NOS was acquired.  There is a lot of info exchanged in this facebook group.

 

1 hour ago, Nat&Amy said:

I used to work with the government and at the time CAPES and CNPq offered absolutely no support to anyone not willing to return to Brazil, since they used Brazilian funds to complete their studies and were therefore expected to return the investment when they come back to their home country.

 

It is surprising that they have started issuing NOLs but from your post I assume they have for many others...

The goal is to pledge to repay the entire scholarship, approx $30K USD, in exchange for a NOL and subsequent release from the 2-year requirement.  This approach is loosely documented in the above facebook group and on these forums.  I have also directly spoken to others who have done this successfully.  The biggest concern is that there is no pattern to determine negotiation timelines with CAPES.  I am currently working with a technician in the Divisão de Acompanhamento de Egressos (DAE) to this end as I have completed my PhD.  Frustratingly, my technician is asking what I feel are unimportant questions given that my ultimate goal is to immediately begin repayment of the scholarship.  So I am wasting time I don't really have in pointless email exchange, unsure that I am even talking with the correct department and that these conversations will even lead to repayment negotiations.

 

1 hour ago, Nat&Amy said:

In which case, merely wait for the waiver and file for AoS.

Navigating negotiations with CAPES are the biggest unknowns here.  Some report that once repayment has begun, the NOL was received within a month while other reports claim that a NOL was received after three months of repayment.  Then once I forward the NOL, also known as CNO, to the BE in DC, the process follows a reliable: 10 days for BE to send a NOS to the DOS, two months for DOS to issue a favorable recommendation to USCIS, and then 2-3 months to receive a NOA from USCIS.

 

Other unknowns are if we can start submitting other forms (I-130, I-485 and I-765) to start the AOS process while we are waiting for the NOL and completion of the J1 waiver.  It is extremely important to know if we can overlap these processing times (J1 waiver and AOS). To anyone who reads, any information on this would be extremely helpful.

 

1 hour ago, Nat&Amy said:

No reason to wait for the 100 days, you seem to be following the 90 day rule which is a silly myth that refuses to die.

I have not read anything to the contrary.  Do you have any more information?

 

1 hour ago, Nat&Amy said:

Your EAD might take anywhere from 3 to 7 months so if you're shooting for September, you need to file ASAP.

Agreed

 

 

Glossary

NOL - no objection letter

CNO - carta de não objection

NOS - no objection statement

NOA - notice of approval

DOS - US Department of State

BE - Brazilian Embassy 

DC - District of Columbia 

 

[cosmonauts 125]

I believe I mentioned intent to marry since I wasn't married at the time I asked for the waiver.

19 hours ago, Jessicaaa said:

3) Should we mention marriage or intent to marry on the J1 waiver application? 

 

I don't have experience with the particulars of your case but you can send AOS as long as you have the favorable recommendation from DOS. You can find that information on the I-485 instructions, page 3.  Otherwise, you will be considered inadmissible.

 

19 hours ago, Jessicaaa said:

1) Should/Can we file J-1 waiver (based on NOS) and AOS concurrently?  What (if any) are the concerns with this? If not, at what point can we submit form I-485 once the J-1 waiver process has begun