amw_

Dear all,
 
This process is finally over for me. These are my timelines:
 
1) Advisory Opinion:
 
Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Subject
  Item Action Date 212(e) Finding Letter Sent September, 30 2016 Form DS-2019 Received August, 25 2016 Advisory Opinion Request Received August, 25 2016  
2) No Objection
 
Department of State Decision: Favorable Recommendation
  Item Action Date Recommendation Sent August, 28 2017 Response to Funding Source Memo Received August, 23 2017 Funding Source Memo Sent January, 10 2017 No Objection Statement Received December, 08 2016 Fee Received November, 30 2016 Form DS-3035 Received November, 30 2016 Form DS-2019 Received November, 30 2016 Passport Data Page Received November, 30 2016 Statement Of Reason Received November, 30 2016 Other Received November, 30 2016 DOS Case File Number Sent November, 30 2016
3) At USCIS, the case was received on 06 Sept 2017, and approved on 14 Sept 2017. I received the I-797C and I-797 by mail not in the US address I had indicated when I submitted the original package, but instead (and surprisingly) in my home address abroad.
 
4) I applied for the Visa in the US embassy in my home country and in less than a week had the visa approved and was finally able to fly to the US (from where I am now writing) and be onboarded in my new job on 31 October 2017.
 
Hope everyone manages to have their cases sorted out. Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving!
 
 
 

Interesting but still bad advice. The Waiver Review Division is not quite the IRS. It's a small group of employees based in a single office space. The cases in which the a waiver apply are better defined than taxation matters, and further, the evidence to be presented is also better defined.
 
The consequence of asking the AO twice is that one will have to wait 3 more months, not to mention the lawyer fee if one submits through one. Only submit again if circumstances change, or if there are new facts. Otherwise, it's just time wasted.
 

I applied in Out/2016 and my case isn't quite over yet.

There was an update to my case a few days ago. No actual recommendation yet...
 
 
Funding Source Memo - Sent - January, 10 2017
[] - Requested - January, 10 2017
No Objection Statement - Received - December, 08 2016
Fee - Received - November, 30 2016
Form DS-3035 - Received - November, 30 2016
Form DS-2019 - Received - November, 30 2016
Passport Data Page - Received - November, 30 2016
Statement Of Reason - Received - November, 30 2016
Other - Received - November, 30 2016
[] - Sent - November, 30 2016