J1 Waiver - Sponsor Views

[KurosawaSan 52]

My sponsor views were requested on October 30th, and until today, I still see two options in the online system:

 

Sponsor Views - Requested

Request for Sponsor Views - Sent

 

Both marked with the date above. I've contacted DOS 3 times now and they say they will request the views again, but seems like nothing comes out of it. Is there a way to reliably determine the sponsor contact information, so that I can reach out to them and maybe ask to send the views? 

 

Or is there a better way around the problem?

 

PS: This thread is related to this thread.

Edited January 24, 2017 by KurosawaSan

[BLR 3]

Hello, i think we are on sane boat. I have requested to waive my j1 visa waiver on december, after long wait, my sponsor views has been received march 06, I didn't have any decision yet. I am a former Fulbright scholar and dos funded. But i think i have completed 21 months of my requirement, physically. I was visiting to usa back and forth on tourist visa, that days aren't count towards to 2year hrr. And i am guessing rest of months are still subject  so I requested advisory opinion. The response received i am a subject.  

[KurosawaSan 52]

Yeah this is definitely the fun part - waiting for the results. My sponsor views are still pending since October. @BLR when did they request your sponsor views?

 

For Fulbright (and really, any govt-funded program) I would expect that the Advisory Opinion would come back positive - that was one of the reasons I didn't bother applying for it and instead chose to go straight for the waiver.

Edited March 10, 2017 by KurosawaSan

[KurosawaSan 52]

Updating thread - this Monday (March 13) the system shows that my sponsor views were received.

 

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get this waiver 

[Coco8 1,039]

That is great news @KurosawaSan - Good luck!

 

I hope my sponsor views don't take 5 months! But I found someone else on this board (who posted like 2 years ago) and her/his sponsor views also took like 5 months. That is unacceptable. I feel that they should have a system in place.

 

I already submitted everything. My No objection letter should be ready soon. And then DOS will request sponsor views and I'll have to wait.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Coco8

[Coco8 1,039]

On 3/9/2017 at 6:32 PM, BLR said:

Hello, i think we are on sane boat. I have requested to waive my j1 visa waiver on december, after long wait, my sponsor views has been received march 06, I didn't have any decision yet. I am a former Fulbright scholar and dos funded. But i think i have completed 21 months of my requirement, physically. I was visiting to usa back and forth on tourist visa, that days aren't count towards to 2year hrr. And i am guessing rest of months are still subject  so I requested advisory opinion. The response received i am a subject.  

Hi: Did you find out what the "sponsor views" were? If so, could you share your complete timeline?

Edited April 7, 2017 by Coco8

[BLR 3]

4 hours ago, Coco8 said:

Hi: Did you find out what the "sponsor views" were? If so, could you share your complete timeline?

Hi Coco8,

i got the favorable recommendation on 29th march. I don't know what is in the sponsor views, but its response took a month and received on 6th of march. The recommendation decision took 23 days, that is longer than i expected. Finally i got decision and hard copy arrived on 4th of April. I still have no response or anything from uscis. Regardless of that, my route is no objection, so i proceeded with my aos.

Edited April 7, 2017 by BLR

[Coco8 1,039]

1 hour ago, BLR said:

Hi Coco8,

i got the favorable recommendation on 29th march. I don't know what is in the sponsor views, but its response took a month and received on 6th of march. The recommendation decision took 23 days, that is longer than i expected. Finally i got decision and hard copy arrived on 4th of April. I still have no response or anything from uscis. Regardless of that, my route is no objection, so i proceeded with my aos.

 

Cool. Yours is the fastest timeline I've seen (for a case requiring sponsor views). I know it probably felt like a lot to you!  They actually asked for the sponsor views pretty fast. I've seen that often it takes them like 2 months just to request the opinion! 

 

I am at the stage that they just got the "no objection statement" so now they have to ask for the sponsor views. I hope it takes a short amount of time, like yours. I'm not Fulbright.

 

You got really lucky with Fulbright. I have a lot of friends that had to go back home after their PhD even though they had no job prospects there but they had offers here. Pretty sad. They probably gave you the waiver because you had almost completed the 2 years.

 

Edited April 8, 2017 by Coco8

[BLR 3]

1 hour ago, Coco8 said:

 

Cool. Yours is the fastest timeline I've seen (for a case requiring sponsor views). I know it probably felt like a lot to you!  They actually asked for the sponsor views pretty fast. I've seen that often it takes them like 2 months just to request the opinion! 

 

I am at the stage that they just got the "no objection statement" so now they have to ask for the sponsor views. I hope it takes a short amount of time, like yours. I'm not Fulbright.

 

You got really lucky with Fulbright. I have a lot of friends that had to go back home after their PhD even though they had no job prospects there but they had offers here. Pretty sad. They probably gave you the waiver because you had almost completed the 2 years.

 

But for Fulbrighters, it is hard to get the no objection waiver. For my case, I have completed 21 months and several days physically spent in my country. Technically, 2 years was done already. Only my tourist visa days in USA, probably aren't count towards my requirement. I have visited to USCIS, infopass officer told me that I have completed my requirement. Just in case, I am making sure for everything. After my sponsor views are received, DOS sent me several additional documents to submit ( not recorded in the status check). I have submitted my each exit/entry stamps, issued visas, highlighting the issued place, paystubs, electric and water bills, my tax records etc.  

[Jack1994 0]

I'm about to start this process - under what circumstances do they ask for sponsor views, and do I have to inform my sponsor that I'm applying for a J1 waiver?

 

Thanks.

[Coco8 1,039]

1 hour ago, Jack1994 said:

I'm about to start this process - under what circumstances do they ask for sponsor views, and do I have to inform my sponsor that I'm applying for a J1 waiver?

 

Thanks.

 

They ask for sponsor views if your J1 has "government funding". You can check that on your DS2019. Sometimes they ask for "funding source memo" if you are in a postdoc, mostly to figure out if your postdoc was funded by a government grant like NIH or NSF (they don't always do that). 

 

DOS does everything once all your documents are on the system. So you don't have to request anything from the sponsor, they do it after the get your documents and the no objection letter from your embassy.

 

Someone on one of these boards told me that you sometimes know who the "sponsor" is and you can e-mail them to make sure they got the request and they answer the request. 

Edited April 9, 2017 by Coco8

[Coco8 1,039]

I just remember that is your sponsor was NIH, there is a special form you have to fill in for the waiver. You can google it. 

 

Your sponsor should appear on the DS 2019/

[Jack1994 0]

My sponsor is a private organization that receives a small amount of funding from my home government - definitely not funding from the U.S. Government - and I personally don't receive funding from anywhere. Will they still be asked / informed I'm applying for a waiver - and could they cancel my visa if i apply for the waiver? 

 

Thanks for being so helpful.

[Coco8 1,039]

7 minutes ago, Jack1994 said:

My sponsor is a private organization that receives a small amount of funding from my home government - definitely not funding from the U.S. Government - and I personally don't receive funding from anywhere. Will they still be asked / informed I'm applying for a waiver - and could they cancel my visa if i apply for the waiver? 

 

Thanks for being so helpful.

When you ask for the "no objection letter" from your embassy, they might contact the private organization and ask for their opinion before submitting it to the Department of State. You could call the private organization before going through the process to ask them about it. To me, it seems that your case should be easy as long as they give you the letter from your embassy, which usually is not a problem. 

 

I'm assuming you are from Ireland, so when I say the "no objection letter", this is what I mean:

 https://www.dfa.ie/irish-consulate/sanfrancisco/our-services/visas/statement-of-no-objection/

 

The barcode (number 1) is given to you after you fill in the paperwork on the Department of State website. You will have to finish all the paperwork with the Department of State before you request the no objection letter from your embassy. Here,  https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/study-exchange/student/residency-waiver.html

 

The Department of State only asks for "sponsor views" when the "sponsor" is part of the US government (State Department, NSF, NIH, etc.). 

[KurosawaSan 52]

Just following-up to close this thread, but I checked the site today and it shows that the DOS issued a not favorable recommendation.

 

C'est la vie.