J1 waiver 2020 NOS update timeline

[Vaish_M 0]

On 3/5/2020 at 11:07 AM, hharry16 said:

Hi Everyone, 

 

I have applied for J1-waiver in first week of January,2020. Documents were received by DoS on January 9, 2020 and my case status was updated on January 22, 2020. 

It's been almost 6 weeks but there is no update about NOS. I confirmed with my consulate (India) and they forwarded the recommendation on January 9, 2020 and I have also received a copy. 

My J1 will be expiring on May 31, 2020 and I am getting worried. Any ideas how to confirm about whether DoS has received the NOS or not?

 

Thank you 

 

Hi hharry16, I'm currently on J1 visa which is expiring soon and I plan to apply for a waiver under NORI category and I want like to know the process and timeline (India) including stage I . It would be really helpful if you could let me know the details, thanks in advance. 

[Pizookie 52]

On 4/26/2021 at 12:08 PM, Pizookie said:

I think they should. I tried googling and did find 1-2 instances where it worked. In fact, I have now asked my Senator to inquire on my behalf, but I haven't heard back from them yet. 
It has been 6 weeks since my application was received by DOS and no update on the website. I figured a Congressional inquiry would help speed things up.

Yes you need to update your address. I think DOS will provide the address on file to USCIS to generate your I-612.

Does your application show on the website? What is the current status?

So this is what a Congressional Inquiry turned up. Looks like the Waiver Review Division in DC isn't the only bottleneck. The lockbox in St. Louis also delays it by a lot. It's been 45 days and still no update on the J1 status website. Email copied verbatim, typos and all.

 

Following you will find the response from the U.S. Department of State/Waiver Review Division (WRD) to my inquiry on your behalf. I appreciate the opportunity to look into this matter for you.

WRD states: "Thank you for contacting the 212e Waiver Inquires. We have checked our files, and there is no record of having received Mr. Pizookie’s application.  

If he submitted the package along with the fee to the U.S. Bank in St. Louis, MO, the package will be forwarded to the Waiver Review Division in Washington, DC where it will be entered into the Waiver Review System.  At that time, he will be able to view the status of hise case.  The constituent should allow approximately one month or longer due to COVID-19 from the time all documents were submitted before checking his status online." 

 

 

 

[JMCPMT 1]

 Although I'm still waiting for the hard copy of the waiver, I received the notice of approval from USCIS today. My timeline:

 

June 20th: Started case

End of September: Requested NOS

Early November: NOS sent

November 22: NOS received by DOS

Contacted DOS multiple times (through lawyer and senator), DOS continually said case was complete and pending adjudication (this was wrong, as the sponsor views hadn't been set, but at the time I thought they were saying the truth)

February 7th: J1 visa expired

March 7th: Grace period ended, but since my employed filed for the H1B before, I could stay legally (but not work)

late March: lawyer was suspicious, so we checked with my original sponsor (NIH) and they said they had never been contacted.

March 17th: Senator wrote to DOS to have them request the sponsor views

March 18th: DOS sent the request

March 23rd: NIH was very fast and sent the sponsor views

March 28th: DOS received the sponsor views

April 6th: DOS status shows FR

Received letter of receipt from USCIS

April 27th: Case status shows approval

April 30th: Received letter of approval from USCIS

TBD: Hard copy of approval

 

French citizen, worked for government (NIH), then JHU, and then UAB offered to sponsor for H1B.

 

Tried to be meticulous in all the details, hope it helps

 

 

 

 

[Mlle_Wanderlust 3]

It’s all a waiting game 

my DS2019 will expire on 31st October  2021

I sent out my package on 24th November 2020 and it was delivered on 28th

the documents showed up on 12th January 2021 (6 weeks) and the NOS on 9th February (4 weeks after the other documents)

Received FR on 1st April (6 weeks after NOS)

received USCIS approval on 19th April (NoA on 7th)

hard copy received on 27th April 

[Sara77 0]

On 4/26/2021 at 12:23 PM, Sara77 said:

Hi all,

 

I applied for J1 waiver on October 27th 2020. Indian consulate and Embassy was so quick and they sent my NOS to DOS on November 5th. But in between, DOS decided to change my case number (I dont know why). My embassy, neither me was aware of that and embassy sent NOS with my old case number. DOS did not intimate us and until December 2020 I was waiting for the waiver checking the status. Only in mid December 2020 I noticed I couldn't see my status with my old case number. So I wrote DOS. I did not get any reply. By January 11th they emailed me saying that they did not receive NOS. i immediately contacted my embassy and they said they sent on November 5th and sent me a soft copy of the same. I emailed DOS again and they said they cannot accept this case number and they need the same document with new case number. I agin requested my embassy to provide the same document with new case number. They were so kind and sent me on the same day. Finally my status showed NOS received on January 13th 2021. Since then I am waiting for my waiver and still no news. I have been emailing once in two weeks and their standard reply is "A check of our Waiver Review System indicates that your case file appears to be complete and ready to process.  Provided we have received all the required documentation, we assure you that your request will be processed as soon as possible". Has anyone of you come across such issue? Any suggestions to expedite the process would be great. Based on my submission date it is 25 weeks now. But based on the date NOS received by DOS (January 13 2021), its 15 weeks now. Has anyone ever called and spoke with waiver review division? I am already in J1 grace period. I badly need the certificate sooner. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

Update:

 

After reading this blog on April 26 2021, I came to know that I can contact my local congressman for help. Hence I contacted him on the same day. I got reply email on the same day that they will look into this issue. On April 30th 2021, I got an email from my congressman's office asking me for some supporting documents. I sent them and later at night I saw the status changed to favorable recommendation. I am glad it worked out. Currently waiting for USCIS approval. Any clue how long it may take for USCIS approval? Can I check USCIS approval status in DoS website itself? Thank you all for your suggestions. 

[Ola87 5]

This is super amazing. congratulations 

[Sara77 0]

13 minutes ago, Ola87 said:

This is super amazing. congratulations 

Thank you

[Ola87 5]

This is super amazing. congratulations 

 

Do you mind sharing your first email to your congressman. I think I will like to do the same. 

[Hardship waiver 20]

55 minutes ago, Sara77 said:

Update:

 

After reading this blog on April 26 2021, I came to know that I can contact my local congressman for help. Hence I contacted him on the same day. I got reply email on the same day that they will look into this issue. On April 30th 2021, I got an email from my congressman's office asking me for some supporting documents. I sent them and later at night I saw the status changed to favorable recommendation. I am glad it worked out. Currently waiting for USCIS approval. Any clue how long it may take for USCIS approval? Can I check USCIS approval status in DoS website itself? Thank you all for your suggestions. 

Wonderful! Did DoS go over the processing time for your case? 

[Sara77 0]

2 hours ago, Ola87 said:

This is super amazing. congratulations 

 

Do you mind sharing your first email to your congressman. I think I will like to do the same. 

Hi it was not a regular email I sent him. When I visited his page, it said email me. I clicked that and it took me to a subject column, where I typed in pretty much what I typed in this blog and asked if he could help me in this issue by contacting and requesting to expedite the process on my behalf.

 

So, I am sorry I don't have a mail copy to send you as it was on his direct page. 

[Sara77 0]

1 hour ago, Hardship waiver said:

Wonderful! Did DoS go over the processing time for your case? 

No I still had 1 week left for 16 weeks. 

[Peruano23 5]

On 4/20/2021 at 4:34 PM, Peru95 said:

Hi friends from all over the world!

 

I am a Peruvian trainee in Washington State. I recently got married to my boyfriend of 6 years (US citizen), and since we want to live in the US for the moment, I have to ride the J-1 Waiver rollercoaster. The basis I applied under is No Objection. I don't have any grants or scholarships from any government or institution (pretty "straightforward" case).

 

I visited this forum a few times along the process, and as many of you have concluded, the wait times are just unpredictable. My files were received in their lockbox on Dec. 28th 2020, my check was cashed a couple days after, but it took 8 weeks for a "received" notification to show on my account. After that, it took another 8 weeks for them to give me a favorable recommendation.

 

I saw some of you suggested not emailing them too much, but I'm not a very patient individual, and my current J-1 visa expires at the beginning of June. I cordially emailed them twice: the first time to check on the lack of "received" notifications, and the second time to tell them I was worried that their deliberation was taking too long, that my visa was expiring soon, and that I need to apply for my green card before my visa expires.

 

Both times they gave me generic responses like "sorry, but it takes 12-16 weeks to get you an answer". HOWEVER, I think that by emailing them, they may check on the status of your files. I say this because coincidentally, on both occasions, around a week after they would reply, I would see an update on my account!! Now I will have to wait for USCIS final response.

 

Anyways, I hope sharing my timeline and my experience helps a bit. We are all very mentally strong for going through this.

 

Much love,

 

- G

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, I am from Peru as well and I will start the J1 waiver application process soon. I wanted to ask you about getting the No objection statement from the Peruvian consulate. Can I send you a private message or an email?

 

Thanks,

Martin

[MKH 3]

Thank you for the Admins and the contributors of this forum. It was a great help  for me to guide myself through this process. Finally, after four months, I got a 'favorable recommendation'. Here is my time line,

 

-I sent the package on Dec 31 2020, the check was cashed about one week after.

-My embassy sent the NOS on Feb 23 and delivered on 24th.

In both of above situations I had to  email and asked for the updates as my case was not appearing on line. In each occasion, after one week of the automatic reply  a visa specialist replied and told me to email the whole package, and in the case of NOS to ask the embassy to email it(they gave specific emails).

 

[Pizookie 52]

2 hours ago, MKH said:

Thank you for the Admins and the contributors of this forum. It was a great help  for me to guide myself through this process. Finally, after four months, I got a 'favorable recommendation'. Here is my time line,

 

-I sent the package on Dec 31 2020, the check was cashed about one week after.

-My embassy sent the NOS on Feb 23 and delivered on 24th.

In both of above situations I had to  email and asked for the updates as my case was not appearing on line. In each occasion, after one week of the automatic reply  a visa specialist replied and told me to email the whole package, and in the case of NOS to ask the embassy to email it(they gave specific emails).

 

That's great news! Congrats
How long did you wait before emailing DOS to ask for updates? It's been 7 weeks since I mailed my DS-3035 but still nothing is shown online.

[Aramcod 0]

On 3/26/2021 at 11:20 AM, KYZ said:

I-613 is the form they use to issue the approval or denial for the I-612... Standard thing that goes with I-612. 

And yes, thanks, I do need that luck. Ironically, I am approaching two years processing to waive the two years return requirement lol 

 

"My lawyer applied for i-485 in October 2019": do you mean October 2020? 

Any updates about your case?