J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[Hardship_waiver 54]

On 7/22/2022 at 6:10 AM, PeterW said:

It is very frustrating. But the processing time before is also very long, longer than they posted in the website. I think DOS may try to accelerate the process now. As the time in USCIS is much shorter, the cases will be highly accumulated if DOS keep the pace of 36-52 weeks.

There are around 200-300 hardship cases a year, but they have stopped working on them from the last few months. Not even a single case with a decision I have heard so far. This attitude might cause someone a life as hardships also include cases such as cancer to a qualifying relative. The additional stress will exacerbate already weakened body of that person. This is an example how people are suffering at the ends of this processing halt. USCIS processing times improved but DOS times ruined these efforts at USCIS end. 

[J1 hardshiper 2]

39 minutes ago, Hardship_waiver said:

There are around 200-300 hardship cases a year, but they have stopped working on them from the last few months. Not even a single case with a decision I have heard so far. This attitude might cause someone a life as hardships also include cases such as cancer to a qualifying relative. The additional stress will exacerbate already weakened body of that person. This is an example how people are suffering at the ends of this processing halt. USCIS processing times improved but DOS times ruined these efforts at USCIS end. 

No update on my case.

 

 

[Pillowchis 6]

43 minutes ago, Hardship_waiver said:

There are around 200-300 hardship cases a year, but they have stopped working on them from the last few months. Not even a single case with a decision I have heard so far. This attitude might cause someone a life as hardships also include cases such as cancer to a qualifying relative. The additional stress will exacerbate already weakened body of that person. This is an example how people are suffering at the ends of this processing halt. USCIS processing times improved but DOS times ruined these efforts at USCIS end. 

Do you have any idea why did they stopped? DoS not even answering email. From their auto reply “you can expect a reply within an estimated 25-30 business days. ” My last email was June until now no response. My case is almost a year now and I can not do the next step without waiver approval. 

[J1 hardshiper 2]

41 minutes ago, Hardship_waiver said:

There are around 200-300 hardship cases a year, but they have stopped working on them from the last few months. Not even a single case with a decision I have heard so far. This attitude might cause someone a life as hardships also include cases such as cancer to a qualifying relative. The additional stress will exacerbate already weakened body of that person. This is an example how people are suffering at the ends of this processing halt. USCIS processing times improved but DOS times ruined these efforts at USCIS end. 

They are working on very few hardship cases / month.  I believe they are focusing on other types of waivers, but not the hardship ones. I checked the previous years cases that got done. it was way more cases than the current rate.  Example from 2020: 278 hardship cases got done by the end of fiscal year, which is about 22 cases / month. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/waivers/INA 212(e) Waiver Recommendations - FY 2020.pdf . I believe, nowadays,  they are at rate of 4-6 cases / month. I saw only 4 cases that got approved last month.

[Pillowchis 6]

3 minutes ago, J1 hardshiper said:

They are working on very few hardship cases / month.  I believe they are focusing on other types of waivers, but not the hardship ones. I checked the previous years cases that got done. it was way more cases than the current rate.  Example from 2020: 278 hardship cases got done by the end of fiscal year, which is about 22 cases / month. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/waivers/INA 212(e) Waiver Recommendations - FY 2020.pdf . I believe, nowadays,  they are at rate of 4-6 cases / month. I saw only 4 cases that got approved last month.

Thank you for the link

 

[Hardship LM 1]

Although this is killing me, I’d like to assume that they would want to accelerate the process because the fiscal year is about to end. Assuming they want to end the year with good numbers they should hurry up right now. 

[Pillowchis 6]

41 minutes ago, Hardship LM said:

Although this is killing me, I’d like to assume that they would want to accelerate the process because the fiscal year is about to end. Assuming they want to end the year with good numbers they should hurry up right now. 

Crossing my fingers. As of July, there are 280,000 green card available. I hope we will have a positive outcome. Thats why many j1  are filing their AOS and petition even without the waiver.

[ErinK 35]

18 hours ago, Pillowchis said:

Crossing my fingers. As of July, there are 280,000 green card available. I hope we will have a positive outcome. Thats why many j1  are filing their AOS and petition even without the waiver.

Can one do that? You can't file AOS without a waiver as far as I know.  You can file i130, i140,.. but not the AOS itself 

[ErinK 35]

Has anyone had any success reaching out to their congress person and asking them to request an expedite? 

[ErinK 35]

21 hours ago, J1 hardshiper said:

They are working on very few hardship cases / month.  I believe they are focusing on other types of waivers, but not the hardship ones. I checked the previous years cases that got done. it was way more cases than the current rate.  Example from 2020: 278 hardship cases got done by the end of fiscal year, which is about 22 cases / month. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/waivers/INA 212(e) Waiver Recommendations - FY 2020.pdf . I believe, nowadays,  they are at rate of 4-6 cases / month. I saw only 4 cases that got approved last month.

Wow! How do you know that only 4-6 cases got approved last month? Based on the information on this forum? Or there is a place on the DoS website to check their stat? When I applied persecution and hardship had the same processing time. Now hardship all of a sudden taking much longer than persecution. I wish I knew this back then :/

[ErinK 35]

10 minutes ago, ErinK said:

Can one do that? You can't file AOS without a waiver as far as I know.  You can file i130, i140,.. but not the AOS itself 

 

18 hours ago, Pillowchis said:

Crossing my fingers. As of July, there are 280,000 green card available. I hope we will have a positive outcome. Thats why many j1  are filing their AOS and petition even without the waiver.

 

Based on what I see on USCIS's website if you apply for AOS without a waiver, they don't even issue you an RFE. They just reject you AOS petition and then you have to start over. At least that's my understanding.

 

This is what USCIS says:

Certain exchange visitors (J-1 and J-2 nonimmigrants) ^[26] admitted to the United States are subject to a 2-year foreign residence requirement. These exchange visitors generally must reside and be physically present in the country of their last residence or the country of their nationality for a cumulative total period (in the aggregate) of at least 2 years after the end of their exchange program and after leaving the United States before they can apply for permanent residence. If such exchange visitors do not return to the country of their last residence or country of nationality for at least 2 years, in the aggregate, after the end of their exchange program, they may be ineligible for adjustment of status. However, certain exchange visitors may be eligible for a waiver of the requirement through an Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement 

Officers should first adjudicate the waiver request, as denial of the waiver necessarily renders the applicant ineligible for adjustment of status. Officers should not hold adjustment cases while waiting for either the applicant to submit a waiver application or the Department of State to make a recommendation on a waiver application and instead should deny the adjustment application for ineligibility based on the evidence of record. 

[Laferbe 0]

What’s the average waiting time after you submit to USCIS for them to send it to DOS? Case was received April 22 of 2022 and still nothing

[Pillowchis 6]

1 minute ago, ErinK said:

 

 

Based on what I see on USCIS's website if you apply for AOS without a waiver, they don't even issue you an RFE. They just reject you AOS petition and then you have to start over. At least that's my understanding.

 

This is what USCIS says:

Certain exchange visitors (J-1 and J-2 nonimmigrants) ^[26] admitted to the United States are subject to a 2-year foreign residence requirement. These exchange visitors generally must reside and be physically present in the country of their last residence or the country of their nationality for a cumulative total period (in the aggregate) of at least 2 years after the end of their exchange program and after leaving the United States before they can apply for permanent residence. If such exchange visitors do not return to the country of their last residence or country of nationality for at least 2 years, in the aggregate, after the end of their exchange program, they may be ineligible for adjustment of status. However, certain exchange visitors may be eligible for a waiver of the requirement through an Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement 

Officers should first adjudicate the waiver request, as denial of the waiver necessarily renders the applicant ineligible for adjustment of status. Officers should not hold adjustment cases while waiting for either the applicant to submit a waiver application or the Department of State to make a recommendation on a waiver application and instead should deny the adjustment application for ineligibility based on the evidence of record. 

I know someone who filed AOS and EAD at the same time. She was granted to have EAD and still waiting for AOS. She just submitted her waiver May or June this year. Lawyer advised me to wait for the waiver approval before we move on. 

[Pillowchis 6]

1 minute ago, Laferbe said:

What’s the average waiting time after you submit to USCIS for them to send it to DOS? Case was received April 22 of 2022 and still nothing

For my case it took 5 mos before USCIS forwarded it to DOS

[ErinK 35]

11 minutes ago, Laferbe said:

What’s the average waiting time after you submit to USCIS for them to send it to DOS? Case was received April 22 of 2022 and still nothing

For me it took 10 months. But I also got an RFE from USCIS which slowed down the case by 2,3 months. On the USCIS website the processing time is 11.5 months for hardship/persecution cases.

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

Edited August 2, 2022 by ErinK