J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[Hardship_waiver 54]

3 hours ago, Sabina Bart said:

 

Hi, I am trying to reach to the senator here too. They received all my complete documents earlier this year I know it’s early but I also have I-485 pending because of that, I am super concerned and I cannot really get any new visa unfortunately. Did anyone try to expedite not on humanitarian basis? Like if your spouse is veteran with disability I wonder if it counts?! 

Hello, its always better to give a try, but DoS has been paying little (infact No) heed to senators, congresspersons requests. If you have a compelling case, you can try requesting expedite on your own to save senator's routing time. DoS is pretty fast in deciding whether to approve or disprove expedite request. Even if it approves, it takes some time depending upon if you have government funding or not, as sponsors take 1-4 months in responding back to DoS. Good luck! 

[g3dan00 20]

I came upon this reddit post from 1 month ago where i485 is denied because they concurrently submitted with i612. 

Weirdly enough I know two cases where they exactly did that successfully and just took the approval (one cases even the screenshot of DOS) to the interview and got approved. 

 

Does anyone have any information about this? Any experience? 

 

[Sabina Bart 28]

8 minutes ago, g3dan00 said:

I came upon this reddit post from 1 month ago where i485 is denied because they concurrently submitted with i612. 

Weirdly enough I know two cases where they exactly did that successfully and just took the approval (one cases even the screenshot of DOS) to the interview and got approved. 

 

Does anyone have any information about this? Any experience? 

 

Hello, thanks for your reply. I heard something like that, I am sure there is a human element. I know of a person who asked for administrative closure of I-485 while I-612 is pending. I have been waiting now for the latter and it's such an excruciating wait that I believe I am getting depressed. Attorney btw should be doing administrative closure meaning your case is in hold so you don't have to reapply all over again for I-485. I wonder those who are waiting for the waiver and invited for interview what do they do? I see that USCIS started working faster while DOS not.

[Hardship-waiver 6]

On 5/13/2023 at 9:31 AM, g3dan00 said:

I came upon this reddit post from 1 month ago where i485 is denied because they concurrently submitted with i612. 

Weirdly enough I know two cases where they exactly did that successfully and just took the approval (one cases even the screenshot of DOS) to the interview and got approved. 

 

Does anyone have any information about this? Any experience? 

 

this what USCIS website says and it’s the law. My guess is that it depends on the office processing the case. Some offices ask for an RFE about the waiver, some might leave it until the interview and this Reddit post is the first case I see denied right away. I applied for the waiver and the i130 but not the i485 as advised by the lawyer. The only problem is if the i485 gets denied, they might put you in removal proceedings if you are out of status.

[Hanijani 8]

What are the chances of approval of -O1 visa? I do not have great research and publications. I have one first author publication and multiple poster presentations and case reports and few 2nd author publications in which i provided pathology part of the study.  
I insisted my employer for O1. They could do J1 too. Now the letters and other papers that lawyers asked me scared the hell out of me. And i am thinking i should have agreed to J1. 

[ErinK 35]

10 hours ago, Hanijani said:

What are the chances of approval of -O1 visa? I do not have great research and publications. I have one first author publication and multiple poster presentations and case reports and few 2nd author publications in which i provided pathology part of the study.  
I insisted my employer for O1. They could do J1 too. Now the letters and other papers that lawyers asked me scared the hell out of me. And i am thinking i should have agreed to J1. 

Not trying to scare you. Just sharing what I learned looking into O-1: 

 

O-1 visa has pretty high standards and some USCIS service centers have made it more difficult recently. I had 280 citations, multiple articles where I was the first author, multiple national awards, and reviewing experience. However, the lawyer still wanted me to review a few more articles before applying! In the end, I decided not to pursue the O-1 route because leaving the country to obtain a stamp was not feasible for me.

 

If you decide to pursue the O-1 visa, it's crucial to work with a knowledgeable lawyer who specializes in NIW/O-1 cases. Not every lawyer is equipped to handle O-1 cases effectively. Chen Immigration Attorneys-North America Immigration Law Group is a great option. You can send them your CV, and they will evaluate whether your case is suitable for O-1 without charging you for the evaluation. Also FYI, if you are in the north east your O-1 application goes to the Vermont service center and they tend to issue an RFE for every O-1 case which makes the process so much longer.

 

If J-1 is an option for you, I suggest considering it because it's generally easier, and you don't need to leave the country for it. Even if your O-1  gets approved, you would still need to leave the country to obtain a visa stamp.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by ErinK

[ErinK 35]

19 hours ago, Hardship-waiver said:

this what USCIS website says and it’s the law. My guess is that it depends on the office processing the case. Some offices ask for an RFE about the waiver, some might leave it until the interview and this Reddit post is the first case I see denied right away. I applied for the waiver and the i130 but not the i485 as advised by the lawyer. The only problem is if the i485 gets denied, they might put you in removal proceedings if you are out of status.

A lawyer told me that it is possible for the officer to allow you to proceed with the interview for your I-485 application, but then deny the application based on the fact that you applied before obtaining your J-1 waiver, even if you have the waiver by the time of the interview! How mean is that!!! 

[Hanijani 8]

1 hour ago, ErinK said:

Not trying to scare you. Just sharing what I learned looking into O-1: 

 

O-1 visa has pretty high standards and some USCIS service centers have made it more difficult recently. I had 280 citations, multiple articles where I was the first author, multiple national awards, and reviewing experience. However, the lawyer still wanted me to review a few more articles before applying! In the end, I decided not to pursue the O-1 route because leaving the country to obtain a stamp was not feasible for me.

 

If you decide to pursue the O-1 visa, it's crucial to work with a knowledgeable lawyer who specializes in NIW/O-1 cases. Not every lawyer is equipped to handle O-1 cases effectively. Chen Immigration Attorneys-North America Immigration Law Group is a great option. You can send them your CV, and they will evaluate whether your case is suitable for O-1 without charging you for the evaluation. Also FYI, if you are in the north east your O-1 application goes to the Vermont service center and they tend to issue an RFE for every O-1 case which makes the process so much longer.

 

If J-1 is an option for you, I suggest considering it because it's generally easier, and you don't need to leave the country for it. Even if your O-1  gets approved, you would still need to leave the country to obtain a visa stamp.

 

 

Didn't have an option to choose lawyer. They wanted their own lawyer. My center would be Vermont too.  Do they take long even with premium processing? 

[Wyboxcx 49]

3 hours ago, ErinK said:

A lawyer told me that it is possible for the officer to allow you to proceed with the interview for your I-485 application, but then deny the application based on the fact that you applied before obtaining your J-1 waiver, even if you have the waiver by the time of the interview! How mean is that!!! 

Yes it is very mean, and that's why most lawyers advise against filing any Green card forms before having the waiver in hand. 

[g3dan00 20]

32 minutes ago, Freidrichm said:

Yes it is very mean, and that's why most lawyers advise against filing any Green card forms before having the waiver in hand. 

My lawyer actually advised doing that and said none of their cases have been denied so far. 

[Hardship-waiver 6]

5 hours ago, ErinK said:

A lawyer told me that it is possible for the officer to allow you to proceed with the interview for your I-485 application, but then deny the application based on the fact that you applied before obtaining your J-1 waiver, even if you have the waiver by the time of the interview! How mean is that!!! 

Case review and interview is all discretion based. If the officer thinks that there isn’t enough evidence, he can issue an RFE or deny your application.
 

If you apply for the i485 before getting FR, you are ineligible. But they receive over 800000 adjustment of status applications all over the country. Some of these officers aren’t experienced enough with the waiver process and they check with their supervisors. Some offices might go by the book and deny it, some will issue an RFE, and sometimes it just slips and goes to the interview.
 

At the interview, I guess it would be rare that an officer does what the lawyer told u, but even if he did that. U can go to administrative appeal and they will approve it. I saw somebody’s post on a Facebook group about an interview. The officer asked for the waiver and she just showed them her visa and DS2019 saying not subject and she got approved.

 

It’s a risk to send the i485 before the waiver. You might get lucky and all come together at a perfect time. You get an FR from DOS and you get it before an RFE or interview.

[ErinK 35]

4 hours ago, Hanijani said:

Didn't have an option to choose lawyer. They wanted their own lawyer. My center would be Vermont too.  Do they take long even with premium processing? 

They don't take long to decide but Vermont's first decision on O-1s is almost always an RFE based on what the lawyer told me. So they basically bypass the premium processing and buy themselves time by issuing RFE for almost every case they get there. Yeah most employers have their own lawyer unfortunately. Sometimes you get lucky and the lawyer representing your employer is experienced with O-1. Ask the lawyer how often he/she files O-1 and what's their success rate

[Hanijani 8]

33 minutes ago, ErinK said:

They don't take long to decide but Vermont's first decision on O-1s is almost always an RFE based on what the lawyer told me. So they basically bypass the premium processing and buy themselves time by issuing RFE for almost every case they get there. Yeah most employers have their own lawyer unfortunately. Sometimes you get lucky and the lawyer representing your employer is experienced with O-1. Ask the lawyer how often he/she files O-1 and what's their success rate

Than you ErinK. 

[Kalaz 0]

On 5/1/2023 at 4:59 AM, SMARCA4 said:

No, I asked my lawyer about this and emphasized that I will get a new SON and start a fellowship with a different institution. He confirmed that that’s absolutely fine.

Thank you for your answer. There is a question in ECFMG J1 sponsorship application that asks if you have ever applied for or received a waiver. How does this affect the J1 sponsorship if you answer yes (i.e. considering that you have applied for a waiver and still waiting)?

Edited May 17, 2023 by Kalaz

[SMARCA4 15]

42 minutes ago, Kalaz said:

Thank you for your answer. There is a question in ECFMG J1 sponsorship application that asks if you have ever applied for or received a waiver. How does this affect the J1 sponsorship if you answer yes (i.e. considering that you have applied for a waiver and still waiting)?

It doesn’t. Personal experience, twice!