lennikov

Dear Community, it's been a while. I wanted to provide an update on my timeline from a Favorable Recommendation in April this year to my current situation of the adjustment of status. It took me several months to assemble all the documents to file the adjustment of status; I had to re-issue my marriage certificate due to a minor mistake we did not notice years ago and complete health appointments for STDs, transmittable diseases, and overall health. The point of interest is that you will need many vaccines, most of which are available for free from CVS, with most health insurance coverage. However, if you do this vaccine on the day of the appointment, your insurance will not cover it and will go 100% from your pocket. The immigration health appointment staff may not necessarily be forthcoming regarding this aspect unless you ask them directly. So, it is best to get the list of the vaccines you are missing and get them from CVS or your PCP. Finally, I filed for the position on September 5th of this year. I filed I-485 for myself and my wife, I-131 for travel authorization, and I-765 for work authorization. On October 25th, I reviewed my fingerprint appointment. A few weeks later, my work and travel authorization was approved, and I received a combo card allowing me to work in the US without restrictions and travel in and out of the country. The filing fees and other unrelated expenses have depleted my resources, so even though I can travel now, I don't expect any international travel in the next couple of years. My wife only received work authorization; her travel authorization is still pending after fingerprint collection. While green card review certainly takes its time, it is incomparable with the hell of 3 years of waiting for an I-612 waiver, and you get benefits along the way with work and travel authorizations. I'll update you on the final outcome and if I will be required for the green card interview. Here is some advice for those waiting for their waiver: If you want to save time, prepare your green card submission package in advance. It makes sense to do it after a positive recommendation. If rejected, the document effort would be useless, but preparing the green card submission can save you several months as you can file within weeks you receive the I-612 approval letter as soon as you finish your health appointment and receive the sealed package with your health information.

So, I finally received the waiver document from USCIS. The timeline so far looks like this Filed documents to USCIS Feb 2022. USCIS made finding of hardships in September 2022 Filed documents to DOS in October 2022. Favorable recommendation from DOS April 2024 Waver document send by USCIS May 2024 I retained an Ellis Porter immigration attorney to file for my adjustment of status.

I will update the community regarding the timeline of what happens after FR from DOS and when I'll be able to file for an adjustment of status. I have a feeling that many members understandably leave the community after receiving their decision.

Thank you! Lack of transparency with DOS (I will never know who submitted those sponsor views and what they were), years of waiting, and my overall negative personality to assume and prepare for the worst possible outcomes for everything played its role. It was rough when I went to Canada to apply for an O-1, fully understanding that I might not get an O-1 as it is a rather challenging visa; without an O-1, I would be stranded in Canada on a tourist visa, with nowhere to go I'm not exactly welcomed in my home country due to my work in the US. Yes, it's now finished, and it's a relief.

And so my watch has ended. It was a pleasure to be a part of this community, and a lot of words of encouragement to me and others on this forum kept me sane over this long period of uncertainty. My case involved 2 J-1 visas that I took in 2014-2015 and second in 2017-2022. It took 560 days, from October 6, 2022, to April 17th, 2024, with ten months extra when the case was at USCIS, so overall, it took me about 28 months from the initial documents being submitted to receiving a Favorable Recommendation. I was able to obtain an O-1 visa and, this way, stay in the US; if I did not have O-1 support, there would only be 5 months left for me to complete the 2YHR if I returned to my home country upon expiration of my J-1 in October 2022. I used to live with this endlessly pending case, and now I don't know exactly how I feel about it. I suppose it is good that it is over, but honestly, I feel empty. Actually, what happens next? Will the case be returned to USCIS, and will they issue a waiver? Then, with a waiver attached, I can file for an adjustment of status. How long does it usually take? I would appreciate those who already received an FR to share their experience after FR and its timeline.

After 18 months of waiting, I finally got the first update in my case, "Sponsor views (Received)." Interestingly, no sponsor views were requested on the record but only received. As I had two J-1 visas it is difficult for me to conclude which entity provided the sponsor views. I would presume NIH, but at this point, I don't know. Another thing is that it was received apparently on February 28th, and now we are in mid-April when I got an update to my case file. In many other cases, the decision is usually made within a few weeks after receiving the sponsor's views. I'm unsure what to make out of it or what my decision timeline is considering this development. At this point, I'll be relieved to have any decision to move on from this exceptionally draining situation.

So, your case was with DOS only for about a year because the USICS took a year to deliberate on whether they had provided findings of hardships and Forms I-612 and I-613. My case with DOS for 1.5 years (with another year spent with USCIS) had no apparent activity since the initial submission of 612 and 613, in which all the documents were recorded. On the other hand, DOS sometimes does not post updates on the tracking page, with bulk updates suddenly showing up. But honestly, 1.5 years with no end in sight is a long long time. I'm collecting money for mandamus, but with this economy and family, it is rough, especially with an entirely possible outcome after all of these investments of time and effort can be a simple NFR. I see a usual document in your stack Letter of representation. Could you tell us more about it? While many of us submit hardships applications through an immigration attorney firm, I have never seen such documents posted by DOS before.

Only a fraction of all J-1 cases are posted on this forum, so there are certainly cases that are decided upon, simply not among the members of Visajourney. The lack of activity is, of course, disheartening.

No, they did not; I have gov support, making it even less promising as sponsor views take about 4-6 months extra, so it's unlikely that I will have a decision in 24 months. I need to file mondamus, but don't have spare funds for it. Indeed it is a privilege, but I'm on an O-1 visa, if you check the requirements for an O-1, you will see that they dramatically exceed the requirements for an NIW green card, which was also granted to me, but I can't claim it due to an unresolved waiver. I would be glad to fulfill the 2YHR, but my country is ravaged by war. I should have probably applied for fear of prosecution waiver, but I submitted the hardships waiver due to my son's health condition to USCIS a few weeks before the war started, and did not have spare funds to do another application. I think it's very different from the hardships waiver situation. If you want a direct comparison, even if you are married to a US citizen, you still have to fulfill 2YHR or get a waiver; on the other hand, you are also non-deportable in this case, giving you plenty of time to deal with the situation.

I've been waiting since October 6, 2022. My case has had no activity since it was registered in the system. I'm sick and tired of this whole hardship and don't want to waste any more money on the mondamus case. While an O-1 visa allows me to stay and work in the US nearly indefinitely, the lack of progress on the waiver is very draining. But still, I can only imagine how stressful it might be for those who wait for the waiver on J-1. I would say that the exceptional hardships waiver is unfair and unconstitutional, giving people a perceived route to solve their J-1 2YHR requirement. Still, in reality, 12 months of USCIS and then 24 months of DOS those times nearly impossible for most people. You need to file exceptional hardships during the first year of your J-1 in order to fit into the time frame required. I honestly even stop checking the status and trying to be comfortable that I need to live with my O-1 situation for the foreseeable future. The government should either abolish the hardships category altogether or make it the same as other categories ~6 months from application to decision.

The DOS does not request sponsor views if the case involves the health of the US citizen (i.e., US citizen receiving some life-saving therapy that can only be provided in the US and reasonably expected to not be available outside of the US), as even with the negative opinion of the sponsor, the case would still get a favorable recommendation based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Denial of the request to expedite. It doesn't affect the results of the application process.

We do, but DOS probably does not. I never heard that the expedition request was honored by DOS, to the point that attorneys refused to file it because it was pointless, as the only reaction you will get is a boilerplate email/letter that your request was considered (not really), and denied.

I honestly doubt it, there is no indication that waiver involving less money invested into scholar are handled differently. It’s not really about money even few hundred thousands spend on 5 years J-1 scholar is nothing in the grandiose of US gov economy. It’s more about the promise you made (even if you did not fully understand this promise at the time) and now trying to break.

Sometimes, it is pretty straightforward: if you work for any governmental institution, NIH, FDA, NASA, DOD, etc, under your J-1, you receive a salary provided by taxpayers from these institutions, thus governmental funds. Many government-sponsored study and exchange programs are usually short-term but also processed through J-1 and come with 2YHR and 2Y repeat participation bars, even though you sometimes spend only a few weeks or months in the US. It is usually less harmful as subjects of such programs are typically young. The program is short-term, so they stay in their home country long enough to fulfill the requirements. In other cases, it is less clear; for instance, if you worked in some private institution that governmental funds support, i.e. you were a post-doc working under the PI who received NIH or NASA funds, does that constitute governmental funding? You received nothing directly from the government, but your salary is still technically from the taxpayer's funds. I don't have a clear answer for it. In some cases, DOS doesn't know itself. You may or may not be a subject, and your passport's DS forms or statement may not correctly reflect it. You need to file for an Advisory Opinion for them to decide in each case. If you are curious, you can fulfill the 2Y-participation bar and not complete 2YHR. i.e., by living and working in a country that is not your home country. In this case, you can only get another J-1. The good news is that the J1 2YHR does not stack, so even if you get 2 or 3 J-1, you will not have to spend 4 or 6 years in your home country. The bad news is that all your accumulated time in your home country will be reset back to 24 months as soon as you enter again as the J-1. Oh, and by the way, O-1 trumps the 2YHR and participation bar but its requirements are seriously insane and it only allows you to work in the US indefinitely as soon as you retire, or somehow lose your O-1 sponsored job you need to leave.