J1 waiver 2020 NOS update timeline

[Veronikac 15]

On 4/30/2021 at 6:13 PM, JMCPMT said:

 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

 

 

 

 

Hi, 

I just wanted to ask you one question. I was in very similar situation - worked first in NIH under J1 visa and then transferred my J1 sponsor under public research hospital. I was just curies if you also did NIH to JHU J1 sponsor transfer and if so weather your updated DS2019, received after your sponsor transfer, had the two years market there as government funding?

[JMCPMT 1]

10 hours ago, Veronikac said:

Hi, 

I just wanted to ask you one question. I was in very similar situation - worked first in NIH under J1 visa and then transferred my J1 sponsor under public research hospital. I was just curies if you also did NIH to JHU J1 sponsor transfer and if so weather your updated DS2019, received after your sponsor transfer, had the two years market there as government funding?

I did transfer my j1 sponsor, and the two year was marked as government funding

[Nancy29 0]

I have a J1 Visa that is about to expire. I applied for the waiver back in February. The DoS received most of my documentation in April, including the no objection letter. However, they did not received the form Ds-3035 until May 14th. I still don't understand how this happened when I submitted the form online and the paper version was included in the same envelope with the rest of the paperwork. With the timelines they have, I might be getting my no-objection waiver until September or so. My sponsor for the H1B visa is not willing to wait for me that long, also, by then, I will be out of status

 

I have a specific situation that I think will allow me to request the expedited processing due to humanitarian reasons. I sent a letter and evidence of my case visa E-mail, but I know that can take weeks. I also contacted my congressman but they haven't replied yet. Has someone gone through that expedited process? Did you send a paper packet? where could I send this packet? directly to the waiver division. I actually live in DC, I wonder if could ask for an appointment or be able to drop it off. I literally have two weeks right now. 
 

[kedi 1]

I have a unique scenario. I sent DOS a change of address (physical and mailing) mail about 3 weeks ago when I moved. This is yet to show up on the website. I received a Favorable Recommendation earlier this week. The return envelopes I had attached were also for the old address. I believe USPS does not forward mails from DOS/USPS. What can I do in this scenario? How will I receive a copy of the FR/ USCIS receipt number etc? Is there anybody I can contact? Thank you. 

 

 

[TIMP90 0]

Just now, kedi said:

I have a unique scenario. I sent DOS a change of address (physical and mailing) mail about 3 weeks ago when I moved. This is yet to show up on the website. I received a Favorable Recommendation earlier this week. The return envelopes I had attached were also for the old address. I believe USPS does not forward mails from DOS/USPS. What can I do in this scenario? How will I receive a copy of the FR/ USCIS receipt number etc? Is there anybody I can contact? Thank you. 

 

 

The exact same thing happened to me, the change of address form had not shown on the tracker however, the USCIS did send the approval notice to to my new address. I had the same anxieties as you, I chose to turn-off mail forwarding and asked the new occupant to call me if they received the notice from USCIS. I have no idea why they ask us to include 2 return envelopes - they never sent anything to me in them! 

[kedi 1]

3 minutes ago, TIMP90 said:

The exact same thing happened to me, the change of address form had not shown on the tracker however, the USCIS did send the approval notice to to my new address. I had the same anxieties as you, I chose to turn-off mail forwarding and asked the new occupant to call me if they received the notice from USCIS. I have no idea why they ask us to include 2 return envelopes - they never sent anything to me in them! 

Thanks for the response TIMP90, really appreciate it. That is a relief! Did you receive a copy of the favorable recommendation and the USCIS receipt number in the new address as well? How did you track the status in USCIS? 

[TIMP90 0]

1 minute ago, kedi said:

Thanks for the response TIMP90, really appreciate it. That is a relief! Did you receive a copy of the favorable recommendation and the USCIS receipt number in the new address as well? How did you track the status in USCIS? 

I didn't receive anything from the DOS (like a copy of the favorable recommendation). It didn't get sent to my old apartment either (I turned-off the mail forwarding and checked with the guy who moved in after I did. 

I did get both the receipt and approval notice from USCIS at my new address. 

[kedi 1]

1 minute ago, TIMP90 said:

I didn't receive anything from the DOS (like a copy of the favorable recommendation). It didn't get sent to my old apartment either (I turned-off the mail forwarding and checked with the guy who moved in after I did. 

I did get both the receipt and approval notice from USCIS at my new address. 

Thank you so much for the clarification, that is a relief! Hopefully the same happens to me as well. How long was your duration between sending the change of address to DOS and getting the favorable recommendation? Was it around 3-4 weeks as well? Thanks again!   

[HKAD 5]

Hi Kedi, May be this is useful information for you. For the NOS cases, the DOS sends the favorable recommendation to the USCIS electronically. DOS does not send hardcopy of the FR to the applicant's address. However, you can request them to send you a soft copy via email. Below is an email from DOS which clarifies that they transfer the electronically the FR to USCIS.

 

"Once a recommendation has been made, your case will be electronically forwarded to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) Vermont Service Center (VSC) where your J-1 waiver eligibility will be determined."

 

By the way, thanks for posting your timeline, my NOS was received on the 8th of March (a week after yours). Really hope that I will get the FR next week, fingers crossed. 

[kedi 1]

 

37 minutes ago, HKAD said:

Hi Kedi, May be this is useful information for you. For the NOS cases, the DOS sends the favorable recommendation to the USCIS electronically. DOS does not send hardcopy of the FR to the applicant's address. However, you can request them to send you a soft copy via email. Below is an email from DOS which clarifies that they transfer the electronically the FR to USCIS.

 

"Once a recommendation has been made, your case will be electronically forwarded to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) Vermont Service Center (VSC) where your J-1 waiver eligibility will be determined."

 

By the way, thanks for posting your timeline, my NOS was received on the 8th of March (a week after yours). Really hope that I will get the FR next week, fingers crossed. 

 

Oh, I see. Thanks a lot for the clarification, really appreciate it! Hope you receive the FR soon as well, fingers crossed  

[JaneNC 1]

Statement of Reason Question: When my daughter in law submitted all her documents for the J1 Waiver, she was about to get married and stated this in the Statement of Reason. She is now married to a US Citizen. Does she need to update the Statement of Reason with her marital status? Can she update this online?

 

Thanks!

[Pizookie 52]

20 hours ago, kedi said:

I have a unique scenario. I sent DOS a change of address (physical and mailing) mail about 3 weeks ago when I moved. This is yet to show up on the website. I received a Favorable Recommendation earlier this week. The return envelopes I had attached were also for the old address. I believe USPS does not forward mails from DOS/USPS. What can I do in this scenario? How will I receive a copy of the FR/ USCIS receipt number etc? Is there anybody I can contact? Thank you. 

 

 

Interesting! I sent them a change of address form about 3 weeks ago, too! But no update after it was delivered. I finally ended up emailing them the copy of the two change of current/mailing address forms and they updated it online 2 days later without an email response. I also nudged them to process my waiver faster in the email But let's see if that was effective.

My Case:

Case mailed: 3/12/21
Case delivered: 3/17/21
Check cashed: 3/18/21
NOS sent by Embassy: 3/27/21
NOS sent again by Embassy: 3/30/21
Contacted Senator's office to enquire about my case: 4/26/21
Response from Senators' office saying DOS doesn't have my case yet and it can take 4+ weeks for them to get the case from St. Louis: 4/30/21
Emailed DOS with scanned copy of case file saying it's been 9+ weeks since I mailed it (without DOS asking for it): 5/10/21
Files except NOS marked as received: 5/18/21
NOS marked as received: 5/23/21
DOS said NOS was received in response to my 5/10 email: 5/24/21
Contacted Senator's office: 5/24/21
Change of address sent: 5/28/21
Chase of address delivered: 6/2/21
Followed up with Senator's office to enquire about my case: 6/8/21; 6/15/21
Emailed DOS my change of address scanned form: 6/15/21
Response from Senator's office saying they followed up with DOS: 6/16/21
Change of address updated: 6/17/21
STILL PENDING:
Favorable Recommendation:

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Pizookie

[Pizookie 52]

3 hours ago, JaneNC said:

 

Statement of Reason Question: When my daughter in law submitted all her documents for the J1 Waiver, she was about to get married and stated this in the Statement of Reason. She is now married to a US Citizen. Does she need to update the Statement of Reason with her marital status? Can she update this online?

 

Thanks!

I don't think this is necessary if applying under NOS category.

[JaneNC 1]

@Pizookie Thank you!

 

Just to be clear, the NOS J1 waiver approval hinges on the recipient's home country submitting a No Objection Statement? Pretty straight forward if the recipient did not receive funding from their country or the US? 

[Pizookie 52]

9 hours ago, JaneNC said:

@Pizookie Thank you!

 

Just to be clear, the NOS J1 waiver approval hinges on the recipient's home country submitting a No Objection Statement? Pretty straight forward if the recipient did not receive funding from their country or the US? 

Yes that's correct! As long as it is only a NOS case it should be clearcut. Hopefully you've mentioned that specifically in your statement of reason, because I've seen one case where they accidentally mixed up hardship with NOS. The person was applying under NOS but mentioned their US spouse.