J1 Hardship Waiver 2021-2022 Timeline

[lennikov 34]

Quote

They're officially working on cases received on Jan, Feb 2023. That's the only logical reason why some cases were adjudicated

It may look like this, but the most recent cases in 2022 are dated October. So, it is unclear why they skipped November and December adjudicating cases from January 2023. It is clear, however, that cases are not processed in the order they are received. Perhaps they separated with Gov funding and without gov funding. My case was submitted in October 6, 2022. So when cases from October 5, 2022, I hoped for a quick decision as the case submitted a day earlier was already decided, which did not happen. 

[Jennifer Ramos 1]

Are they done with September 2022 cases? I am still waiting for my case, DOS received last Sept. 22,2022

Edited January 18 by Jennifer Ramos

[extreme_hardship 22]

1 hour ago, Jennifer Ramos said:

Are they done with September 2022 cases? I am still waiting for my case, DOS received last Sept. 22,2022

They are not done with even May 2022 cases. I know of one at least, also know of 1in June and 2 in July. 

Edited January 18 by extreme_hardship

[J1hardshipwaiverg 3]

Yes, there are some cases from 2022 that's for sure but probably they sent those to different adjudicators or something because how come 2022 are still there but you have cases that were received in Jan 2023 that have been adjudicated, it means that it's not first come first serve at all 

[Magnet 12]

Another approval in almost a year. Not mine. It seems they are trying to move faster.

[blooper1899 16]

I've been tracking several cases from May-October 2022, including my own in June 2022. They skipped them and moved on to Nov-Dec 2022 and Jan 2023. My hypothesis is because they adjudicate the cases without funding first and then do the ones with gov funding later. Don't know how much later. This is very disheartening, because I also saw cases from June 2022 being decided and was optimistic, only to have my hopes crushed when they moved on to January 2023 cases. I'm very happy for those who don't have to wait that long, but it is very unfair to not process cases as they came in, even if it requires more work on the DOS's behalf. 

[blooper1899 16]

I don't think so. My case reached them in June 2022, and they skipped it. And there is at least one more from May 2022 not decided. 

[extreme_hardship 22]

1 minute ago, blooper1899 said:

I don't think so. My case reached them in June 2022, and they skipped it. And there is at least one more from May 2022 not decided. 

Did they request a Sponsor's view for yours ?

[extreme_hardship 22]

1 hour ago, J1hardshipwaiverg said:

Yes, there are some cases from 2022 that's for sure but probably they sent those to different adjudicators or something because how come 2022 are still there but you have cases that were received in Jan 2023 that have been adjudicated, it means that it's not first come first serve at all 

Yes. Definitely not a first come first serve situation.

[Wyboxcx 45]

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

Another approval in almost a year. Not mine. It seems they are trying to move faster.

I have noticed that all cases decided relatively quickly are ones without government funding. Interesting.

[blooper1899 16]

6 minutes ago, extreme_hardship said:

Did they request a Sponsor's view for yours ?

They did not! There is one case in October 2022 that they requested SV for, but not for the earlier cases. Now I wonder if it's based on who the sponsor was. 

[Wyboxcx 45]

Has the DOS published their Visa waiver statistics for 2022 or 2023? The last available data is from 2021. 

[PASTJOURNEY18 9]

28 minutes ago, blooper1899 said:

I've been tracking several cases from May-October 2022, including my own in June 2022. They skipped them and moved on to Nov-Dec 2022 and Jan 2023. My hypothesis is because they adjudicate the cases without funding first and then do the ones with gov funding later. Don't know how much later. This is very disheartening, because I also saw cases from June 2022 being decided and was optimistic, only to have my hopes crushed when they moved on to January 2023 cases. I'm very happy for those who don't have to wait that long, but it is very unfair to not process cases as they came in, even if it requires more work on the DOS's behalf. 

Who was your sponsor?

[lennikov 34]

7 hours ago, Wyboxcx said:

Has the DOS published their Visa waiver statistics for 2022 or 2023? The last available data is from 2021. 

They did not. Gov Sponsor cases take 24+ months since the request for sponsor views takes 6-12 months (not necessarily reflected in the online status, as DOS frequently updates the case in bulk, i.e., my documents were sent at different time points, yet they all showed up in the system on the same date). The sponsor's view requirements have poor approval odds because regardless of the actual hardships, that is recognized by USICS and probably would be recognized by DOS. Still, as soon as the Sponsor says "No" without reading the documents, the DOS closes the case with NFR. The sponsor doesn't need to justify their position or consider what hardships they cause to the person who was foolish enough to take any money from them. The overworked clerk in some governmental agency saves an hour of his/her work day by quickly clicking "no" without even reading the document package since there is no consequence for him/her to say "no." Still, in theory, there might be if he/she clicks "yes" without figuring out the case. Again, we don't even know what is precisely sent to the sponsor or, in many cases, who the sponsor is. For instance, many J-1s come from scientific positions. Is the sponsor an NIH that provided the grant to the PI to hire a J-1 postdoc? Or the sponsor in the host Institution that the PI and postdoc worked at? I don't have a clear answer to it. 

[asevstr 20]

A couple of more recent ones.

 

371 Days

 

357 Days