jjj20

Hard to say. Mine did not show up in the DOS system for 3 months and USCIS claimed to have sent it and DOS told me they did not receive anything from USCIS. Then an Emma chat agent told me that USCIS actually did not send it to DOS. I sent a complaint to Ombudsman but they could not say anything other than what USCIS told me. So I am really sorry, but it seems like they wasted 11 months of your time...

What was your timeline with USCIS? thank you

A little update: after sending my passport and waiting for 6 weeks, the consulate sent me an email that a J1 waiver is required for processing my immigrant visa. Change of mood I guess.

I am sorry to hear that you are going through this and I understand your frustration with this requirement as I am in the same boat. I think you have a good chance of getting a waiver. It requires some "creativity" to present your case. I assume your son is a U.S. citizen so you can show that a hardship will be experienced by two qualifying American relatives. What I mean by creativity is that you need to expand on your reasoning for claiming a hardship. For example, maybe your son's diagnosis is not enough for them to grant a waiver but you having to leave your son to satisfy the requirement will constitute an exceptional hardship. Or should you choose to leave with your son for the Phillippines, this may cause an emotional hardship on both your husband and son etc. As for pregnancy, I do not think USCIS considers it as grounds for an expedite but maybe you can get a letter from your therapist stating that you leaving for the Phillipines will be detrimental to your emotional state etc. Maybe your husband's stay in Japan is coming to an end soon and they are sending him to the U.S. which I guess can be good grounds for an exceptional hardship too. You can also look into your country's conditions: level of pollution, crime rate, healthcare system etc; anything that could affect your qualifying relatives' wellbeing while they are there with you. I hope my flow of thoughts makes sense to you. You do not have to have one solid argument for an exceptional hardship, there can be 10 small ones. For the exceptional hardship you need to present two cases basically: what will hapen if I leave my U.S. relatives and go satisfy this requirement by myself and what will happen if my qualifying relatives come with me to the Phillipines. It is also important to not focus on yourself much when applying for this waiver because they do not really care about our hardship, they do care about the hardship your qualifying American relative will have. As for that couple that expedited their case. Unfortunately, I do not know much. All I know that her husband had his superior call USCIS and then DOS for the expedite or something. I believe there is a USCIS military line so maybe they will help you guys understand better how it works. I am not sure if I can attach links in this post or advertise one's Youtube channel. But there is a lawyer on youtube that specializes in J1 waivers and if you can watch a handful of his videos you can get a better idea of how to navigate thru this process and what arguments you can use to make your case stronger.There is not many lawyers talking about J1 waivers so I am sure it will be easy to find him on youtube. Back in the day I also found this mannual on this very website that talked about J1 hardships in depth. I can't send the link because It has been a while but I am sure you will find it in one of the J1 waiver threads. Good luck!

Hey Victoria, I have been waiting for my waiver for almost 2 years and I think I can share my opinion and hopefully give you advice: 1) Yes, your trips go towards your requirement no matter how far apart they are. 2) Your visa won't get denied but it will be refused until you have satisfied the requirement. You will be given one year since the date of the interview to obtain the waiver. I am not sure if you can complete your residency requirement by just returning to the home country after the interview though. That is something you need to clarify with the consular post. 3) If your visa was sponsored by your country's government and it is reluctant to waive it- you can still apply for other types of waiver such as: exceptional hardship. You do not need your country's permission for such a waiver, all you need to prove is that your partner, who is a U.S. citizen, will suffer tremendously should you (or both of you) go back to your home country to serve the requirement. Bad news is that it takes about 2 years to receive a waiver, good news is that I know one person who is married to a military guy and they managed to expedite the case and she got her waiver within 3 months of applying or so.

Russia but I hold both Ukrainian and Russian citizenships.

Hey all. I am subject to 2 year home residency requirement (212e) because of my previous J1 visa. Due to the war breaking out I could not complete my last several months of a two year stay and I left the country. I had my spouse visa interview 2 months ago and the visa officer could not issue the visa because of this requirement not being satisfied. We also applied for a J1 waiver back in the day and it has been processing for almost 20 months. Today I received an email from the embassy saying that they need me to submit my valid passport to finalize my immigrant visa. The waiver has not been processed yet that is why we are confused. 1) Does the visa officer have the power to waive this requirement on their own? 2) Did they make a mistake though I am sure they can all see why my visa was not issued and that the waiver is still pending.