Reading other people's experience helped a lot to calm my anxiety during this process, so I am paying it forward and sharing my timeline.
I applied for the J1 waiver based on 'No objection'. I haven't received funding from my or the US government.
Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Favorable Recommendation
Item
Action
Date
Recommendation
Sent
June, 12 2018
Change of Address
Received
June, 06 2018
No Objection Statement
Received
April, 30 2018
Fee
Received
April, 12 2018
Form DS-3035
Received
April, 12 2018
Form DS-2019
Received
April, 12 2018
Passport Data Page
Received
April, 12 2018
Statement Of Reason
Received
April, 12 2018
June 19th, 2018: USCIS received my case
June 22th, 2018: USCIS sent me the notice that they had received my case
July 2nd, 2018: The USCIS notice arrived in the mail (in the US)
That's as far as I have gotten. I haven't received my final approval yet. However, my employers are filing my H1B petition with the DOS recommendation, and USCIS will process the waiver together with the visa petition.
My pitfalls:
- Since my case was opened, the DOS case status online indicated: "Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: pending." I applied directly to the waiver and did not ask for the advisory opinion at any point, so I got a big scare when I saw what my online status showed. I consulted with a lawyer, and they let me know that it always indicates "Advisory opinion" with regard to this type of waiver.
- As you can see above, I had a change of address while waiting for the DOS recommendation. I filled out and sent the forms for change of mailing and official addresses, which the DOS received before sending my recommendation. However, I didn't know I had to include new envelopes with my new address. (Remember we had to send self-addressed envelopes with our initial packet?) As a result, my DOS recommendation didn't arrive at my new house, but at my old address. I was lucky that my old building saved it for me and was able to retrieve it. You might not be this lucky, so send new envelopes together with your change of address forms.
Best of luck everyone!
