J1 visa waiver NOS 2021 Timeline

[Johnyyy 1]

On 7/21/2022 at 2:16 PM, noobjections said:

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share an update. 
 

I received favorable recommendation on June 29th.

My lawyer informed me that USCIS approved the waiver July 15th. 

 

Currently waiting for it in the mail! Good luck everyone, took about 8 months from start to finish for me. Now to file AOS! Wish me luck. 

Congratulations... how did you get your receipt number??... and how your lawyer know about the approval if lawyer doesn't have your receipt number??

[Danny2022 0]

On 7/21/2022 at 12:44 PM, CAF48 said:

HI everyone.

This is my first post here. Just wanted to share my case and timeline. 

I submitted all my documents Jan 2022. 

My DS2019 will expire Aug 15th. I guess I would still have a month of grace period to wait for the results but it looks like I am going to have to go back to my country and wait there? I have an Assistant Professor position lined up to start Aug 16th....

 

Any opinions?

Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Pending

Item	Action	Date
Sponsor Views (Received)	Received	July, 11 2022
Request for Sponsor Views	Sent	July, 07 2022
Fee	Received	April, 14 2022
Form DS-3035	Received	April, 14 2022
Form DS-2019	Received	April, 14 2022
No Objection Statement	Received	April, 14 2022
Passport Data Page	Received	April, 14 2022
Form G-28	Received	April, 14 2022
Statement Of Reason	Received	April, 14 2022
Other	Received	April, 14 2022

With a profile of an assistant professor, why don't you apply for an O-1? 

[noobjections 12]

37 minutes ago, Johnyyy said:

Congratulations... how did you get your receipt number??... and how your lawyer know about the approval if lawyer doesn't have your receipt number??

My lawyer received my receipt number after USCIS received the case. She was checking for me and finally told me that it was approved, so I didn’t get a chance to look at my USCIS case status before she did. 

[Johnyyy 1]

6 minutes ago, noobjections said:

My lawyer received my receipt number after USCIS received the case. She was checking for me and finally told me that it was approved, so I didn’t get a chance to look at my USCIS case status before she did. 

Okay thanks 

[CAF48 2]

20 hours ago, Danny2022 said:

With a profile of an assistant professor, why don't you apply for an O-1? 

Great question! I am not sure, to be honest. Both my lawyer and my employer told me to go for the H visa.  I would have to apply for the J waiver anyway (The O-1 just postpone the 2 year home requirement). Under the O visa my wife would not be able to work. My employer thought it would be better to go for the H visa, but under these circumstances the O-1 visa would at least let me stay in the country until the J waiver is (hopefully) issued. I will try to talk to them again! 
thank you!!! 

[Danny2022 0]

2 minutes ago, CAF48 said:

Great question! I am not sure, to be honest. Both my lawyer and my employer told me to go for the H visa.  I would have to apply for the J waiver anyway (The O-1 just postpone the 2 year home requirement). Under the O visa my wife would not be able to work. My employer thought it would be better to go for the H visa, but under these circumstances the O-1 visa would at least let me stay in the country until the J waiver is (hopefully) issued. I will try to talk to them again! 
thank you!!! 

Yes. I also meant to buy some time until the waiver is issued so you don't leave the country. If it is not issued, you cannot have h1b activated anyway. And if it is issue, with the initial o1 of 3 years, you can apply for a gc instead of going through h1b. Premium processing for o1 only takes 2 weeks to know the result. Preparation takes more time and you have to be in hurry for that. Hopefully your profile is very strong to minimize that time. Good luck. 

[Juano 0]

On 7/21/2022 at 6:44 PM, CAF48 said:

HI everyone.

This is my first post here. Just wanted to share my case and timeline. 

I submitted all my documents Jan 2022. 

My DS2019 will expire Aug 15th. I guess I would still have a month of grace period to wait for the results but it looks like I am going to have to go back to my country and wait there? I have an Assistant Professor position lined up to start Aug 16th....

 

Any opinions?

Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Pending

Item	Action	Date
Sponsor Views (Received)	Received	July, 11 2022
Request for Sponsor Views	Sent	July, 07 2022
Fee	Received	April, 14 2022
Form DS-3035	Received	April, 14 2022
Form DS-2019	Received	April, 14 2022
No Objection Statement	Received	April, 14 2022
Passport Data Page	Received	April, 14 2022
Form G-28	Received	April, 14 2022
Statement Of Reason	Received	April, 14 2022
Other	Received	April, 14 2022

HI There

May I ask who was your J1 sponsor?

Best,

J

[CAF48 2]

3 hours ago, Juano said:

HI There

May I ask who was your J1 sponsor?

Best,

J

Hi. I received a scholarship from my country to pursue the PhD here. LASPAU is the institution in the US that managed it so they are the official sponsor.
 

 

[JBRE22022 37]

@CAF48 good luck with your waiver! One observation, H1B visas also do not allow H4 derivatives (your wife) to work, unless you have an approved I140 (i.e. you're qualified for a green card) in which case she could have an H4EAD, which has been subject of several discussions over recent years.

Regarding your waiver case, mine was file the same day as yours (maybe they batch cases, perhaps by embassy).Case is still pending. Expected processing time is 12 to 16 weeks, so moving now towards the upper end of the range. I sent a message towards week 10 checking if anything else was needed and they replied promptly that i did not need to do anything. From the information I see here your case is a more complex one, so I hope your attorney is experienced in this type of cases. 

[CAF48 2]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:19 AM, noobjections said:

Just checked right now!!! Favorable recommendation 🙏 it was sent June 29th! 
 

What about you? 

Hi @noobjections, how long after DOS favorable recommendation did you get the approval from USCIS? Thanks! 

[CAF48 2]

On 7/27/2022 at 7:24 PM, JBRE22022 said:

@CAF48 good luck with your waiver! One observation, H1B visas also do not allow H4 derivatives (your wife) to work, unless you have an approved I140 (i.e. you're qualified for a green card) in which case she could have an H4EAD, which has been subject of several discussions over recent years.

Regarding your waiver case, mine was file the same day as yours (maybe they batch cases, perhaps by embassy).Case is still pending. Expected processing time is 12 to 16 weeks, so moving now towards the upper end of the range. I sent a message towards week 10 checking if anything else was needed and they replied promptly that i did not need to do anything. From the information I see here your case is a more complex one, so I hope your attorney is experienced in this type of cases. 

Hi @JBRE22022, I just saw you are from Brazil too. My sponsor in Brazil was CNPq. From what the lawyer told me my wife could work once I get the H-1B visa (she will just need an EAD card, she already has one but she will have to renew it once her status changes). 
Thanks! 

[CAF48 2]

9 minutes ago, CAF48 said:

Hi @noobjections, how long after DOS favorable recommendation did you get the approval from USCIS? Thanks! 

Sorry @noobjections. I just saw your post. I took around 2 weeks, right? Is there a way to check the USCIS status? Thank you! 

[qwopqwop 5]

I see new people who are waiting for DoS approval are joining here. Just a word of advice, the same emails are copy-pasted to everyone. I don't think the person replying to emails actually checks the case status in any way beyond looking at the tracker like we do. Fun fact - we received a response to the congressional inquiry literally the day before the approval went through, and we got the exact same copy pasted reply as usual. 

 

Some highlights you may have seen before:

 

"No additional action is needed by you at this time."

"The Waiver Review Division is working to process this case. Processing times for waiver recommendations by the Department of State, Waiver Review Division vary depending on the basis under which you request a waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement.  The processing time of twelve to sixteen weeks for No Objection cases is an estimated timeframe and sometimes can take longer.  The processing time for applications begins only when all required documents have been received. The requests are taken in order of receipt."

 

"We assure you that your request will be processed as soon as possible.  You may continue to monitor the status of your request by going to https://j1visawaiverrecommendation.state.gov/ and using your case number."  

 

"Our Waiver Review Division is making every effort to process cases as expeditiously as possible for our J-1 visa waiver applicants. However, there can be no guarantee that your waiver will be finished by a particular date."

 

My case took literally exactly 16 weeks from the date of "receipt". In the end, my embassy re-sent the NOS and the case got approved in 5 days.

[madovi 2]

3 minutes ago, qwopqwop said:

I see new people who are waiting for DoS approval are joining here. Just a word of advice, the same emails are copy-pasted to everyone. I don't think the person replying to emails actually checks the case status in any way beyond looking at the tracker like we do. Fun fact - we received a response to the congressional inquiry literally the day before the approval went through, and we got the exact same copy pasted reply as usual. 

 

Some highlights you may have seen before:

 

"No additional action is needed by you at this time."

"The Waiver Review Division is working to process this case. Processing times for waiver recommendations by the Department of State, Waiver Review Division vary depending on the basis under which you request a waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement.  The processing time of twelve to sixteen weeks for No Objection cases is an estimated timeframe and sometimes can take longer.  The processing time for applications begins only when all required documents have been received. The requests are taken in order of receipt."

 

"We assure you that your request will be processed as soon as possible.  You may continue to monitor the status of your request by going to https://j1visawaiverrecommendation.state.gov/ and using your case number."  

 

"Our Waiver Review Division is making every effort to process cases as expeditiously as possible for our J-1 visa waiver applicants. However, there can be no guarantee that your waiver will be finished by a particular date."

 

My case took literally exactly 16 weeks from the date of "receipt". In the end, my embassy re-sent the NOS and the case got approved in 5 days.

Thank you! I am still waiting for my FR… Did you ask your embassy to re-send the NOS because DOS didn’t upload it? I am on week 19 since they received all documents… I don’t know what to do 

[Johnyyy 1]

2 minutes ago, madovi said:

Thank you! I am still waiting for my FR… Did you ask your embassy to re-send the NOS because DOS didn’t upload it? I am on week 19 since they received all documents… I don’t know what to do 

Mine took 21 Weeks for FR from DOS... you are pretty close.