Wyboxcx

It’s probably additional hardship evidence.

Congrats. Did you have government funding??

I honestly don't know the exact circumstances. But my lawyer told me that DOS has in recent months said that they suddenly experienced a "big increase in the number of hardship waiver applications", simultaneously, the Philippines government decided to stop issuing non-objection statements to its citizens, so they were only left with the hardship route most of the time. There are a lot of Filipino J-1 visa holders here so the sheer number of waivers is apparently overwhelming the hardship category.

oh trust me I feel your frustration. This is not to blame Filipino students because often times they have no choice. My frustration is mostly at the waiver review division and their inhumane wait times. They also came up with this crazy rule that has no basis in law that you can only request to expedite your case once. It does not matter how compelling the circumstances are if you once requested it and it was denied they will not expedite again. There is literally nothing in the law that says they can do this but here we are.. It's cruel and so unfair.

I think the real reason for this ridiculous delay is a combination of understaffing from Covid and when the Philippines government stopped issuing NOS to its citizens they all flocked to hardship waivers, thus this increased workload.

As you can see from this thread, no one has received a decision and unlikely to do so anytime soon .

Also, I have noticed that they did not publish the statistics on how many J-1 waivers they approved or denied for the fiscal year 2022. The last available data is from 2021. It’s almost the end of 2023…

I’m sorry to hear. That is ridiculous.

There is a class action lawsuit going on for another type of waiver , I think I-601, also for the excessive delay in processing.

May 2023

I am sorry you are going through this, but this is honestly an expected denial given that you received gov funding. I would not have filed for a NO waiver if I were you, I would have chosen the hardship route from the beginning. As for the sponsor views, no one knows for sure. Since the basis of the waiver request is different, they will probably weigh the hardship against program and policy considerations and decide again.

Has anyone successfully filed for AOS with a pending DOS hardship waiver?

I doubt that having any connections will influence this process whatsoever. If they had connections their case would not have taken a year. No one knows how the DOS Waiver Review Division operates, it's like a blackbox.

Congratulations! It seems that 20 months is their actual processing time.

Time to file a write of mandamus if you ask me. That is an unreasonable delay that goes even beyond their ridiculous processing times.

it does not seem that this person even had any government funding, based on the lack of "sponsor views". While I am happy for them, the fact that it took them 20 months to issue a FR is beyond depressing. This is so fundamentally cruel

It seems the State Department wrongly believes that marriage to a US citizen is often used by J-1 visa holders to bypass the requirement, that is why they are dragging the hardship waiver process to take longer than the requirement itself, it's a form of punishment for those who actually face severe hardship and cannot return home with their families. They might as well just stop allowing waivers under this category. There is no other reason why all other waiver categories are processed faster than hardship to a US citizen, even persecution waivers are processed faster. You would think that the Biden administration would prioritize the wellbeing of its own citizens and their families, but no, they decided to prioritize politics and program and policy considerations. They have not even posted the statistics for the past fiscal year, my guess is that there is a shocking increase in the rate of denials of hardship waivers by the DOS. it's a desperate time.

I am still waiting for a DOS decision and at this rate I am not expecting to hear back from them until at some point in August or September 2024

Congratulations! Did they expedite?

I have an application pending with USCIS since earlier this month. Seems like it's going to be a long wait based on the processing times posted on USCIS website (14 months)

Anyone know what is going to happen in case there is a government shutdown? USCIS is fee funded so it will continue to process applications, but it's unclear whether DOS waiver review division is affected?

She said that her case has gov funding even when no such request for sponsor views was made.

I believe it depends on which government. If it’s US gov funding then they definitely seek sponsor views. If it’s a foreign government sponsor maybe they don’t always do that.

Yeah this is ridiculous. Absolutely no consideration even for their own processing time estimates. It feels like a punishment for people who apply for hardship. I just don’t get why this category specifically?

Sponsor views are requested when US or foreign government funding is involved.