J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[Robble42 6]

36 minutes ago, DrIdaddoq said:

Try to find a temporary 1 year position to extend your stay on J-1 or get an O-1 if you’re eligible (you’ll have to leave and come back). Otherwise, ask your lawyer. Don’t overstay if you can. It will be detrimental in the future when you apply for a green card. 
My lawyer told me they got an approved case today from January 2021. They’re very backlogged and it seems like the wait time is closer to 18-20 months rather than 11-13. 

Dang...that's a long time. 

[Wyboxcx 48]

Well, we submitted an expedite request today for good reasons (humanitarian) and USCIS denied it within 30 minutes!!!! I think they have software designed to deny such requests immediately, without even allowing us to submit supporting evidence for the expedite request. So now we are stuck at USCIS. 

[Hardship LM 1]

Any news from those waiting at DOS since 2022?  I had to go back to my country and I wanted to request another J1 visa for a fellowship but was told by 2 lawyers that it would trigger another waiver in the future.  

[PeterW 17]

58 minutes ago, Hardship LM said:

Any news from those waiting at DOS since 2022?  I had to go back to my country and I wanted to request another J1 visa for a fellowship but was told by 2 lawyers that it would trigger another waiver in the future.  

Since you are in your home country now, who not consider Canada?

[Chancy 6,239]

7 hours ago, Robble42 said:

My husband's J1 expired over a year ago but he's allowed to overstay his visa because we're applying for a hardship waiver in good faith and he's married to a US citizen.

 

Could you please link the official source for this?  I'm not able to find any USCIS or DOS documentation that says filing a hardship waiver grants authorized stay in the US.  By itself, marriage to a US citizen definitely does not allow a non-citizen to overstay their visa.  If your husband's J1 status has expired, then he is out of status and staying unlawfully, unless he is able to file I-485 asap.  Until then, he should keep a low profile as one unlucky encounter with law enforcement can put him at risk of being deported.

 

[DrIdaddoq 22]

5 hours ago, PeterW said:

Thank you for your suggestion! I am pursuing an O1. But it is under RFE. Hopefully it will be approved at the end. Otherwise, it will be super difficult for our family.

I’m not sure what your background is but if you’re an international medical graduate then you can always just find a job in an underserved area (Appalachian or Delta) and work there. Otherwise, you can either try a J-1 extension somehow, or persecution route if it applies (takes less time). 
good luck with the O-1! What was the RFE about? 

[Pillowchis 6]

14 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Could you please link the official source for this?  I'm not able to find any USCIS or DOS documentation that says filing a hardship waiver grants authorized stay in the US.  By itself, marriage to a US citizen definitely does not allow a non-citizen to overstay their visa.  If your husband's J1 status has expired, then he is out of status and staying unlawfully, unless he is able to file I-485 asap.  Until then, he should keep a low profile as one unlucky encounter with law enforcement can put him at risk of being deported.

 

You are right there is no documentation that a J1 holder can overstay while waiting for the waiver approval

[Robble42 6]

1 hour ago, Chancy said:

 

Could you please link the official source for this?  I'm not able to find any USCIS or DOS documentation that says filing a hardship waiver grants authorized stay in the US.  By itself, marriage to a US citizen definitely does not allow a non-citizen to overstay their visa.  If your husband's J1 status has expired, then he is out of status and staying unlawfully, unless he is able to file I-485 asap.  Until then, he should keep a low profile as one unlucky encounter with law enforcement can put him at risk of being deported.

 

You're right--it doesn't allow overstay, per se, but it will be forgiven once we do the AOS. (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-b-chapter-8). And the main reason he is out of status in the first place is because it's taking so gosh-darn-long at the DOS. We filed for the hardship waiver at the beginning of his fellowship (3 years ago). No one was expecting it to take quite so long, and the processing times were much shorter when we started. Yes, the marriage itself won't protect him from deportation if anything untoward happened. We're certainly keeping a low profile and we have an immigration lawyer.

 

We did have a stressful encounter with a highway patrol officer (in a blatant profiling case), but that guy was such a meathead, he was only interested in whether we had drugs and stuff. 

[PeterW 17]

1 hour ago, DrIdaddoq said:

I’m not sure what your background is but if you’re an international medical graduate then you can always just find a job in an underserved area (Appalachian or Delta) and work there. Otherwise, you can either try a J-1 extension somehow, or persecution route if it applies (takes less time). 
good luck with the O-1! What was the RFE about? 

I am an international medical graduate, but I haven't taken the USMLE exam. I am a researcher currently. Does only the physician has the route through working in the underserved area? My J1 has been maximized to be 5 years, and it will expire next month. The RFE is about the officer challenged my publications are not first author. In fact I have 3 first or co-first author papers listed in the notable projects and I have approved EB1.

[DrIdaddoq 22]

3 hours ago, PeterW said:

I am an international medical graduate, but I haven't taken the USMLE exam. I am a researcher currently. Does only the physician has the route through working in the underserved area? My J1 has been maximized to be 5 years, and it will expire next month. The RFE is about the officer challenged my publications are not first author. In fact I have 3 first or co-first author papers listed in the notable projects and I have approved EB1.

I believe yes, you should have taken your USMLEs and able to get a medical license as the underserved route is sponsored by the health department of the state.

 

the only other path I see for you would be an army recruitment of some sort and staying on the reserve for 10 years or active duty for 3 or so. Not sure if they take researchers but if they do you’ll be forgiven off the 2-year rule and you can apply for naturalization in a year (bypassing green card). 
 

And wow, I didn’t realize they can be that scrutinizing. I’m applying for an O-1 soon through an academic center but their lawyers seem confident. Let’s see, or hope the waiver comes prior to even needing that. 
good luck to us. 

[PeterW 17]

5 hours ago, DrIdaddoq said:

I believe yes, you should have taken your USMLEs and able to get a medical license as the underserved route is sponsored by the health department of the state.

 

the only other path I see for you would be an army recruitment of some sort and staying on the reserve for 10 years or active duty for 3 or so. Not sure if they take researchers but if they do you’ll be forgiven off the 2-year rule and you can apply for naturalization in a year (bypassing green card). 
 

And wow, I didn’t realize they can be that scrutinizing. I’m applying for an O-1 soon through an academic center but their lawyers seem confident. Let’s see, or hope the waiver comes prior to even needing that. 
good luck to us. 

Hopefully you have good luck. Generally you don't request PP in VSC or your USCIS center is CSC, it will be much easier for O1. If you have waiver before the due date of J, it will be perfect.

[DrIdaddoq 22]

49 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Hopefully you have good luck. Generally you don't request PP in VSC or your USCIS center is CSC, it will be much easier for O1. If you have waiver before the due date of J, it will be perfect.

Can you clarify on PP and VSC (Vermont?) 

not sure what you mean by that

[Hardship_waiver 54]

18 hours ago, DrIdaddoq said:

Try to find a temporary 1 year position to extend your stay on J-1 or get an O-1 if you’re eligible (you’ll have to leave and come back). Otherwise, ask your lawyer. Don’t overstay if you can. It will be detrimental in the future when you apply for a green card. 
My lawyer told me they got an approved case today from January 2021. They’re very backlogged and it seems like the wait time is closer to 18-20 months rather than 11-13. 

The hardship is the only category suffering the delay. I have seen many persecution cases being approved within a week or two after being forwarded by USCIS. Once USCIS found a hardship, it means there is a serious hardship, but DOS keeps it for several months. Those who have to go back after applying hardship waiver will have already completed their two year stay in their home country and still DOS would be processing the waiver. The purpose of hardship waiver is dead. 

[ErinK 35]

8 hours ago, DrIdaddoq said:

I believe yes, you should have taken your USMLEs and able to get a medical license as the underserved route is sponsored by the health department of the state.

 

the only other path I see for you would be an army recruitment of some sort and staying on the reserve for 10 years or active duty for 3 or so. Not sure if they take researchers but if they do you’ll be forgiven off the 2-year rule and you can apply for naturalization in a year (bypassing green card). 
 

And wow, I didn’t realize they can be that scrutinizing. I’m applying for an O-1 soon through an academic center but their lawyers seem confident. Let’s see, or hope the waiver comes prior to even needing that. 
good luck to us. 

Depends which center your O-1 application goes to. If you are in the north east, it goes to Vermont center and they almost always issue a RFE and are pretty brutal. Isn't the underserved route another waiver though? You are talking about Conrad 30, right? Can you apply for that year round? I know it has a deadline in most states

[ErinK 35]

13 hours ago, Robble42 said:

You're right--it doesn't allow overstay, per se, but it will be forgiven once we do the AOS. (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-b-chapter-8). And the main reason he is out of status in the first place is because it's taking so gosh-darn-long at the DOS. We filed for the hardship waiver at the beginning of his fellowship (3 years ago). No one was expecting it to take quite so long, and the processing times were much shorter when we started. Yes, the marriage itself won't protect him from deportation if anything untoward happened. We're certainly keeping a low profile and we have an immigration lawyer.

 

We did have a stressful encounter with a highway patrol officer (in a blatant profiling case), but that guy was such a meathead, he was only interested in whether we had drugs and stuff. 

that encounter sounds so terrifying. I am so sorry. Hope his case gets resolved soon.