Kteixeira

1 minute ago, Coco8 said:

 

But I think that is not your case. 

 

First, you already submitted the waiver application. So they do not have to wait for that.

 

Second, the DOS made a recommendation on the waiver. So you don't have to wait for that either. 

 

 

 

 

 

That is what I said... but they keep insisting! I was transferred for 3 different lines, everyone insisting that I have to wait so I got tired of arguing with USCIS about their own rules!

5 minutes ago, Kteixeira said:

USCIS called me back today with bad news...

 

They confirmed that the  "Adjudicator's Field Manual' mention that  "A no objection case is the only situation where the alien is allowed to file an adjustment application concurrently with waiver request." (see https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML)

However they called me back to apologize because there is another manual called "Police Manual - USCIS" that confirms that officers should reject adjustment of status forms (I-485) submitted before the applicant receives a final answer on the I-612 form (chapter 7 - Part A). According to USCIS the "Police Manual" instructions cancel the information that I got from the  "Adjudicator's Field Manual" and I should wait for my I-612 decision before submitting any documents/fees. 

 

See https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume7-PartA-Chapter2.html for the "Police Manual" for the citation:

 

"

Certain Exchange Visitors ^[25] 

 

Certain exchange visitors (J-1 and J-2 nonimmigrants) ^[26] admitted to the United States are subject to a two-year foreign residence requirement. ^[27] These exchange visitors generally must return to the country of their last residence or the country of their nationality for a continuous two-year period after the end of their exchange program before they can apply for permanent residence. If such exchange visitors do not return to the country of their last residence or to their home country for at least two years after the end of their exchange program, they may be ineligible for adjustment of status. However, certain exchange visitors may be eligible for a waiver of the requirement through an Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement (Form I-612). ^[28] 

 

Officers should first adjudicate the waiver request, as denial of the waiver necessarily renders the applicant ineligible for adjustment of status. Officers should not hold adjustment cases while waiting for either the applicant to submit a waiver application or the Department of State to make a recommendation on a waiver application and instead should deny the adjustment application for ineligibility based on the evidence of record. "

 

I didn't  want to argue with them anymore, but for me it is clear that " Officers should not hold adjustment cases while waiting for either the applicant to submit a waiver application or the Department of State to make a recommendation" means that after the decision from DOS I can submit my adjustment of status application and not that i need to wait for the I-612 approval (USCIS decision)!

 

 

22 hours ago, Coco8 said:

I am waiting for the waiver. My case is work related.

 

If you are not within the US, people usually apply for visas without the USCIS decision and they change the interview date if USCIS hasn't decided on their case.

 

If you are within the US, they will link your cases and make the decisions together.

 

Reading your information, I'm concerned that it took USCIS' confirmation letter like 20 days to arrive. I need that letter for the application but waiting another 20 days is so long! I hope I can get a digital version earlier in some way. I think I've read about that somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

USCIS called me back today with bad news...

They confirmed that the  "Adjudicator's Field Manual' mention that  "A no objection case is the only situation where the alien is allowed to file an adjustment application concurrently with waiver request." (see https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML)

However they called me back to apologize because there is another manual called "Police Manual - USCIS" that confirms that officers should reject adjustment of status forms (I-485) submitted before the applicant receives a final answer on the I-612 form (chapter 7 - Part A). According to USCIS the "Police Manual" instructions cancel the information that I got from the  "Adjudicator's Field Manual" and I should wait for my I-612 decision before submitting any documents/fees. 

See https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume7-PartA-Chapter2.html for the "Police Manual" for the citation:

"

Certain Exchange Visitors ^[25] 

Certain exchange visitors (J-1 and J-2 nonimmigrants) ^[26] admitted to the United States are subject to a two-year foreign residence requirement. ^[27] These exchange visitors generally must return to the country of their last residence or the country of their nationality for a continuous two-year period after the end of their exchange program before they can apply for permanent residence. If such exchange visitors do not return to the country of their last residence or to their home country for at least two years after the end of their exchange program, they may be ineligible for adjustment of status. However, certain exchange visitors may be eligible for a waiver of the requirement through an Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement (Form I-612). ^[28] 

Officers should first adjudicate the waiver request, as denial of the waiver necessarily renders the applicant ineligible for adjustment of status. Officers should not hold adjustment cases while waiting for either the applicant to submit a waiver application or the Department of State to make a recommendation on a waiver application and instead should deny the adjustment application for ineligibility based on the evidence of record. "

1 minute ago, Coco8 said:

 

Yes, that is is exactly why I had asked if it was "no objection". I think you should go with what your lawyer says. What I've heard is that they decide the waiver and the case at the same time if they have not decided on the waiver already. There is no point to waiting 3 months for the USCIS decision on the waiver, particularly when the green card application is probably going to take longer than that (I'm assuming this is through job so you have to do a labor certification first).

 

 

 

My green card is family based (marriage)... Now that I have this information directly from the USCIS website I will proceed with my green card/adjustment of status application but I'm still working on the forms. Did you submit a green card application or still waiting for the waiver? I was hopping someone could help me with few answers about the forms... 

On 6/28/2017 at 0:21 PM, Coco8 said:

 

I think you can apply without the USCIS decision if your waiver was based on "no objection". USCIS is taking a few months to decide on the DOS waiver so it is not like you will get it soon. If USCIS goes over your GC application, they will make the decision for your waiver if they hadn't done it at that point. 

 

I have a friend whose husband filed a filed a GC application and she was listed as his wife. Her GC was processed and she will get it when she finishes the 2 years in her home country (she had Fulbright so a J1 waiver was not possible).

I just found on USCIS website: 

On 6/28/2017 at 0:21 PM, Coco8 said:

 

I think you can apply without the USCIS decision if your waiver was based on "no objection". USCIS is taking a few months to decide on the DOS waiver so it is not like you will get it soon. If USCIS goes over your GC application, they will make the decision for your waiver if they hadn't done it at that point. 

 

I have a friend whose husband filed a filed a GC application and she was listed as his wife. Her GC was processed and she will get it when she finishes the 2 years in her home country (she had Fulbright so a J1 waiver was not possible).

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

I called USCIS today and they informed me that I should NOT apply for the green card/Adjustment of status before having the final waiver from USCIS. They can't give me a processing time for the form I-612 but they are still processing forms from April 3rd =/ My lawyer also said that i could start the application after DOS sending the favorable recommendation since my waiver was based on "no objection", but after USCIS saying the opposite I'm a little worried. Do you know if I can find this information officially written somewhere? 

13 hours ago, Coco8 said:

 

You should start a new thread with this. 

 

Is this a green card based on employment? I know that for H1-B you can submit the application before USCIS makes a decision. The DOS recommendation is enough. However, I don't know about your case. 

 

I cannot believe it took 20 days to get from DOS to UCSIS! I am waiting for DOS to do H1B and then I'll need to wait 20 days until UCSIS gets the letter from DOS!?! Did DOS send you something by mail? I thought they did but it seems the mail confirmation is from UCSIS, right? 

 

Hi,

My green card is family based (marriage) so I wanted to know if a need to wait for the decision from USCIS. The DOS sent me a copy of the favorable recommendation by mail, the recommendation was showing online on June 8th but I think I received the copy just on June 18th. 

Hi,

The Department of State received my Waiver application on April 19, 2017 and they sent the "Favorable Recommendation" to USCIS on June 8th. Yesterday, June 27, I received the notice of action (form I 797C) from USCIS confirming that my form I 612 (application to waive foreign residence requirement) was received on June 13. I understand that until receiving the actual waiver from USCIS I should consider myself without the waiver, however, the lawyer who helped me with the waiver application explained that after USCIS receiving the favorable recommendation I could start the green card application to save some time.

I wanted to know if someone applied for the green card while still waiting for the waiver... I really need to start my adjustment of status process but I do not want to take the risk of paying all the high fees for the green card and later discover that my waiver was rejected by USCIS even with the favorable recommendation from the Department of state!  Did someone ever heard of USCIS rejecting waivers after the positive recommendation?

In addition, one of the forms I need to submit for the green card has the following question:

"Have you ever been a J nonimmigrant exchange visitor who was subject to the 2-year foreign residence requirement and have not yet complied with that requirement or obtained a waiver?"

Should I answer yes and submit the copies of the favorable recommendation and the receipt notice from USCIS or should I answer no since both cases (waiver/green card) would be in process with USCIS?

Thanks

The department of state just sent a favorable recommendation on my case to USICS. I sent my application on april 5, 2017. 

I think they update the system everyday around 2am so I usually check one time during the morning. Someone applied for the waiver in 2017 and had more news than having the application and NOS received?

Thank you so much for letting me know! I hope that when the system start working again they add "favorable recommendation" to everyone's case lol

Hi Everyone,

I sent my waiver application on April 5, 2017. The Department of State updated their system on April 18th accusing that they received my documents. On April 25th they received the NOS from my home country embassy. However, when I tried to access the system today to check the waiver status it is showing the following message: 

"Currently, there is no information regarding the status of your case. If you would like additional information, please contact Public Inquiries at 212ewaiver@state.gov"

Someone ever had a problem similar to mine? I'm planning to wait one or two days until contacting them to make sure that it is not a temporary problem at their system, but I'm really worried about this now since my whole timeline was erased and I never took a screenshot or something similar.

Hi,

After senting the waiver application to the department of state, how long usually takes for them to update application details at the DOS website ? By postal tracking I could see they recived my application on April  5, 2017, but I am still not able to check the status at the DOS website... it shows as an inexistent case number. My government consulate also sent the no objection letter on April 5th so I wanted to make sure that all my documents arrived...

thanks

4 minutes ago, KurosawaSan said:

You can do that, just be aware that you will need to provide the no-objection letter and sponsor views within the same application, and you will need to contact both sponsors about it, not just one.

 

Actually, sorry - I misspoke. You can "serve" these concurrently, but since your J-1 status was not at the same for both visas, you have 8 months left-over from one visa, and 2 years from another. So technically you still have to go back for 2 years.

 

@KurosawaSan I saw that you live in Tampa, I'm also living in Florida. Did you use any help from an attorney in Florida that you can recommend me or did you do the process by yourself? Did you receive the waiver?

Hi @KurosawaSan , thank you so much for your information. But I received an email from the US. Department of state explaining that I just need one application:

"You must list all the J-1 programs in which you participated and copies of the Form DS-2019s.  One application for a waiver will cover all the programs"

Where did you get the information about the multiple applications? Also, what I understood from the 2 years home residency rule, every time you finish a J1 program you need to start the 2 years period from zero but you don't accumulate time from your previous J1 visas.

Do you have any additional information about the required residency time been accumulative?

Someone knows how to complete the DS 3035 in case you had more than one J1 visa? Because it has some questions as "Did you receive financial support from the government?" But I received just for my first J1, not for my last J1 and my waiver application is for both J1!! Thank you