J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[Robble42 6]

15 minutes ago, J1 hardshiper said:

I already got denial on my hardship waiver. So, the plan might be to go back to my home country and try to fulfill the two years since I do not wanna waste more time trying to fight this denial or applying for different waiver. Once I am at my home country, my wife will be  filling I-130 petition so I can comeback after the two years.  Does that make sense? 

Yes, she should file right away if you aren't planning on coming back on a non-immigrant visa. I heard it's taking about 2 years to process the I-130 these days.

[Wyboxcx 49]

34 minutes ago, Hardship_waiver said:

Two main things:

1. If you file i-130/i-140 without waiver and later waiver is denied, you risk your future entries as non immigrant. 

2. If you file i-130/i-140 without a waiver and later have to fulfill 2 years HRR, the approved i-130/i-140 will go to NVC (embassy) and they provide a certain time to schedule interview otherwise petition gets revoked. That seems the logic behind filing immigrant petition after waiver is approved. 

Exactly! Like it’s not advisable to apply when the waiver is not guaranteed . I just wish they would decide these waivers faster! Having to wait 2 years to waive a 2 year residency requirement defeats the purpose of the waiver 

[Hardship-waiver 6]

3 hours ago, J1 hardshiper said:

I already got denial on my hardship waiver. So, the plan might be to go back to my home country and try to fulfill the two years since I do not wanna waste more time trying to fight this denial or applying for different waiver. Once I am at my home country, my wife will be  filling I-130 petition so I can comeback after the two years.  Does that make sense? 

You said that you went out of status. Do you know if you are subject to a bar or not?! 3 or 10 year bar? Have you asked you lawyer?

[Robble42 6]

11 minutes ago, Hardship-waiver said:

You said that you went out of status. Do you know if you are subject to a bar or not?! 3 or 10 year bar? Have you asked you lawyer?

Out of status doesn't mean an automatic 3 or 10 year bar anymore. You are not accruing unlawful presence until a judge or immigration agency says so. In 2020, a court issued a permanent injunction (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/injunctions/Guilford-College-v.-Nielsen-summary-judgment-permanent-injunction.pdf) against the 2018 rule, instructing the USCIS to go back to the 2009 Guidance (https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/revision_redesign_AFM.PDF). 

However, we heard from a lawyer that if you are out of status and go back, you still risk not being able to get back to the US because the issuance of a visa is at the discretion of the embassy. 

[Hardship_waiver 54]

7 hours ago, KA1214 said:

So, if your hardship case was denied by USCIS and you went home to fulfill the 2years HRR, there wouldn’t be problems with applying for H1B which is a dual intent visa compared to going back again with another J1 program? Thank you.

That's right. Dual intent visa will have no issue but another J1 chances are bleak. 

[Hardship_waiver 54]

7 hours ago, J1 hardshiper said:

I already got denial on my hardship waiver. So, the plan might be to go back to my home country and try to fulfill the two years since I do not wanna waste more time trying to fight this denial or applying for different waiver. Once I am at my home country, my wife will be  filling I-130 petition so I can comeback after the two years.  Does that make sense? 

That makes complete sense. Your wife can select NVC processing for you and you could enter on an immigrant visa. However, the processing time is unpredictable and there might be some time spent separate. So patience will be the key. 

[AM820 12]

9 hours ago, J1 hardshiper said:

I already got denial on my hardship waiver. So, the plan might be to go back to my home country and try to fulfill the two years since I do not wanna waste more time trying to fight this denial or applying for different waiver. Once I am at my home country, my wife will be  filling I-130 petition so I can comeback after the two years.  Does that make sense? 

Try to wait for USCIS decision. Also would you mind if you share the name of your lawyer? There might be a way to appeal this with a good lawyer. 

[Crazy Cat 41,661]

FAQs: Waiver of the Exchange Visitor Two-Year Home-Country Physical Presence Requirement (state.gov)

"Waiver recommendation applications are thoroughly considered, and the Waiver Review Division does not have a policy to reconsider applications once a final determination has been made. Also, there is no policy for you to appeal the Waiver Review Division’s determination. You may, however, reapply using another basis for waiver, if another basis applies to your situation."

[Hardship_waiver 54]

It looks like game is over for hardship waivers (especially for those with government funding). Should we still keep hope??????

[Wyboxcx 49]

Just now, Hardship_waiver said:

It looks like game is over for hardship waivers (especially for those with government funding). Should we still keep hope??????

Terrible! Is this a new case denied today ?! 

[Hardship_waiver 54]

Just now, Freidrichm said:

Terrible! Is this a new case denied today ?! 

Denied last week but not already on this forum. So it's a new one in addition to previous denials but n this forum. 

[extreme_hardship 22]

1 hour ago, Hardship_waiver said:

It looks like game is over for hardship waivers (especially for those with government funding). Should we still keep hope??????

This one does not look like had a governmental funding. At least no sponsor view request. Is there anything on this case that suggests otherwise ? 

[Wyboxcx 49]

16 minutes ago, extreme_hardship said:

This one does not look like had a governmental funding. At least no sponsor view request. Is there anything on this case that suggests otherwise ? 

Yeah it seems that no sponsor views requested means they didn’t have gov funding. Which is even worse because it used to be the case that those who didn’t get gov funding typically got approved by the DOS when USCIS forwarded the i-613. Now it seems that the chances are bleak for all hardship applications. This process is a nightmare 

[Waiting_in_limbo 1]

If I may ask, how do people on this forum keep track of other people's applications being recently resolved? Is there any way of knowing, for example, if any persecution waivers have been resolved this year? Thank you!

[Hardship_waiver 54]

Corrected:

It looks like game is over for hardship waivers (especially for those with government funding). Should we still keep hope??????