J-1 2 year HRR - appointment scheduled month before 2 years ends

[VaneGio 0]

My wife and I got our USCIS and NVC applications accepted and we just got our interview letter today. 

 

Our Situation:

She is a current J-1 Visa Holder subject to the 2 year home residency restriction. On the visa, the 2 years ends December 21, however she traveled to United States to visit me for a total of roughly a month. So now the 2 years are technically ending on Febuary 6. 

NVC scheduled our interview for January 9. 

Our question:

Is it advisable to reschedule the appointment for after Feb. 6 or should we go ahead and go to the interview on Jan. 9?

Do they take into account the 2 year end date/US travel? We would much rather prefer to do the interview sooner (Jan. 9)

Thank you ahead of time for any help we get!

[Hypnos 6,579]

Only time spent in the applicant's home country counts toward the residency requirement. Your wife is ineligible to receive most visa types, including an immigrant visa, until the two years have passed.

 

So yes, rescheduling the interview until after the time period has ended would probably be a good idea.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Hypnos

[abum 324]

2 hours ago, VaneGio said:

My wife and I got our USCIS and NVC applications accepted and we just got our interview letter today. 

 

Our Situation:

She is a current J-1 Visa Holder subject to the 2 year home residency restriction. On the visa, the 2 years ends December 21, however she traveled to United States to visit me for a total of roughly a month. So now the 2 years are technically ending on Febuary 6. 

NVC scheduled our interview for January 9. 

Our question:

Is it advisable to reschedule the appointment for after Feb. 6 or should we go ahead and go to the interview on Jan. 9?

Do they take into account the 2 year end date/US travel? We would much rather prefer to do the interview sooner (Jan. 9)

Thank you ahead of time for any help we get!

the will count the time spent at her home country (not any other country) to fulfill that requirement. They can be very particular about this  - and you need to show proofs of how she had fulfilled the requirement (travel details, tenancy agreement, work contract etc to cover the 2 years period).

 

These are the items i was asked to provide (i used to be on J1 too). 

 

Initially i gave them a sheet of paper with the dates i spent in my home country which easily covered close to 3 years - along the front page copies of all the passports that i have (just so happen that i have a gap between the passport that i have - meaning there was a period of time where i do not have a valid passport, and that was close to 2 years, even then, the embassy was not satisfied with that document and requested the items mentioned in my first paragraph).

[VaneGio 0]

I wonder if the days entering and leaving the countries counts towards that. 
For example: let's say she left at 1pm from her country, would that day be counted? (if that makes sense)..

[abum 324]

to be safe, i would discount those days - it is better to err on the safe (2 years + 1/2weeks) side than to give them exactly 2 years based on your own counting - but when they looked at the time spent, in their calculation, it is less than 2 years. 

[Leah09 67]

I would postpone the interview to be on the safe side. I personally added my visits to the US to my timeline and thank God my interview date falls after that. What did you answer on the DS-260 where it asked if she had fulfilled the 2 year requirement?

[Ryan H 3,892]

The problem with postponing the interview is it may be many more months before you are able to get another one (you are on the Embassy or Consulate's schedule, not your own).  Your wife can go to the interview as scheduled; however, she must be honest about time spent in her home country and will not receive the visa until that requirement is met.  The case could simply sit in AP until the HRR is met which would then allow for issuance of a visa.

[VaneGio 0]

So the earliest we could schedule our interview for was January 31st, 5 days before the end of the HRR. 
The earliest appointment they had was May...

 

Do you think that would be a huge problem?

[VaneGio 0]

On 12/2/2017 at 11:10 PM, Leah09 said:

I would postpone the interview to be on the safe side. I personally added my visits to the US to my timeline and thank God my interview date falls after that. What did you answer on the DS-260 where it asked if she had fulfilled the 2 year requirement?

My wife put down that she was subject to the 2 year HRR and we submitted a document showing her times in and out of the Dominican Republic, as well as passport photos
We were only able to postpone the interview until Jan. 31 - 5 days before our 2 years ends - the earliest we could postpone was until May if anything. 

 

[Leah09 67]

1 hour ago, VaneGio said:

My wife put down that she was subject to the 2 year HRR and we submitted a document showing her times in and out of the Dominican Republic, as well as passport photos
We were only able to postpone the interview until Jan. 31 - 5 days before our 2 years ends - the earliest we could postpone was until May if anything. 

 

That shouldn’t be a big deal. Maybe they can put you under AP if they are so strict about it and issue the visa after the 2 years are fullfilled.