J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[Hardship_waiver 54]

6 hours ago, DrIdaddoq said:

I guess different interpretations. Maybe no one really knows what happens there. My case wasn’t kicked back to the USCIS. I’m pretty sure DoS has authority to refuse the waiver based on the degree of hardship and not just J1. You can see some unfavorable outcomes there when the sponsor says something sometimes. It doesn’t go against J1 but it doesn’t bode well to applicant. 

No he just said to wait. Him and another lawyer think it’s been taking 17-24 months nowadays at DoS so just waiting is the best course of action, unfortunately. I’ve been waiting since September 2021 at the DoS (~17 months now). 

After a long wait, sad to see today (not mine).

[Laferbe 0]

Has anyone been experiencing delays at USCIS? My case has been with them for 10.5 months now. At this rate and adding the outrageous processing times at doS we’re looking at potentially 2.5 - 3 years wait time 

[ErinK 35]

13 minutes ago, Laferbe said:

Has anyone been experiencing delays at USCIS? My case has been with them for 10.5 months now. At this rate and adding the outrageous processing times at doS we’re looking at potentially 2.5 - 3 years wait time 

Currently the processing time at USCIS is 10 months. You can fill out an "outside normal processing time" request with USCIS and see what they say. My guess is that uscis is slowing down their processing time to match the delays at the DoS

[KA1214 1]

34 minutes ago, Laferbe said:

Has anyone been experiencing delays at USCIS? My case has been with them for 10.5 months now. At this rate and adding the outrageous processing times at doS we’re looking at potentially 2.5 - 3 years wait time 

Mine is going nine months now… Do you have govt funding? Thanks.

[Hardship_waiver 54]

1 hour ago, Laferbe said:

Has anyone been experiencing delays at USCIS? My case has been with them for 10.5 months now. At this rate and adding the outrageous processing times at doS we’re looking at potentially 2.5 - 3 years wait time 

I filed a service request with USCIS and they do respond in a week or so. So try it out as you are out of 10 months and can raise one. And yes, USCIS process is getting slow over the last few months. 

[Wyboxcx 49]

1 hour ago, Laferbe said:

Has anyone been experiencing delays at USCIS? My case has been with them for 10.5 months now. At this rate and adding the outrageous processing times at doS we’re looking at potentially 2.5 - 3 years wait time 

I am. Almost 9 months so far and they haven’t responded, no RFE, no updates . Nothing, just radio silence. It’s depressing especially when you anticipate how much we have to wait at the DOS step. It wasn’t like this, literally a few months ago USCIS decided those hardship cases in 4-6 months and forwarded them to DOS. Now it seems that the whole process is on hold. 

[Laferbe 0]

7 hours ago, KA1214 said:

Mine is going nine months now… Do you have govt funding? Thanks.

No funding  

[KA1214 1]

8 minutes ago, Laferbe said:

No funding  

Same here…and it is taking forever…

[extreme_hardship 22]

14 hours ago, Hardship_waiver said:

After a long wait, sad to see today (not mine).

I still don't understand why should the sponsor views matter, given that the USCIS found a hardship? It appear to me that no matter what the USCIS finds the cases with funding (requiring a sponsor's view) are going to get Not Favorables.

[Wyboxcx 49]

14 hours ago, Hardship_waiver said:

After a long wait, sad to see today (not mine).

This is really sad and proves that the idea that once USCIS finds prima facie hardship, the DOS will certainly approve the case is a wrong belief. Not favorable recommendation by itself is terrible, let alone after such an extremely long wait. This is awful 

. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Freidrichm

[Wyboxcx 49]

3 minutes ago, extreme_hardship said:

I still don't understand why should the sponsor views matter, given that the USCIS found a hardship? It appear to me that no matter what the USCIS finds the cases with funding (requiring a sponsor's view) are going to get Not Favorables.

A lawyer told me that in these cases it's always political. If the US government funded the waiver applicant and they are determined to send them back to their home country, they will always so no, even when USCIS finds hardship. and sadly, there is no appeal possibility. 

[PeterW 17]

7 hours ago, Freidrichm said:

A lawyer told me that in these cases it's always political. If the US government funded the waiver applicant and they are determined to send them back to their home country, they will always so no, even when USCIS finds hardship. and sadly, there is no appeal possibility. 

So sad.

[Hardship_waiver 54]

11 hours ago, Freidrichm said:

This is really sad and proves that the idea that once USCIS finds prima facie hardship, the DOS will certainly approve the case is a wrong belief. Not favorable recommendation by itself is terrible, let alone after such an extremely long wait. This is awful 

. 

It is a correct belief for those who don't have govt. funding. They will always be accepted when USCIS forwards them to DOS. 

[g3dan00 20]

2 minutes ago, Hardship_waiver said:

It is a correct belief for those who don't have govt. funding. They will always be accepted when USCIS forwards them to DOS. 

I think this is correct, a few months back there was a post where someone got "not favorable recommendation" from DOS and USCIS still approved it. Pretty crazy stuff 

[Robble42 6]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:40 PM, Hardship_waiver said:

Any luck so far in your case?

Nope