waiver2020

Hi,
 
My case was approved by DoS today.
Here is the timeline:
My embassy sent the NOS on 12/27/2019. (It took 1.5 months for DoS to update in their tracking system)
I sent the application packet to DoS on 12/27/2019. (Again it took 4 weeks for DoS to update in their tracking system)
My J-1 sponsor sent the Sponsor Views on 3/5/2020. (It is interesting that this date was shown as 3/1/2020. They actually updated this date with the recommendation on the same day)
 
Will share the USCIS timeline later.
 
Thanks everyone on this forum. Good luck to you all.
Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Favorable Recommendation
  Item Action Date Recommendation Sent March, 10 2020 Sponsor Views Received March, 01 2020 Request for Sponsor Views Sent February, 18 2020 No Objection Statement Received February, 10 2020 Fee Received January, 23 2020 Form DS-3035 Received January, 23 2020 Form DS-2019 Received January, 23 2020 Passport Data Page Received January, 23 2020 Statement Of Reason Received January, 23 2020

Hi Everyone
 
Finally I got my approval from USCIS. Its been a long 4 month wait!! Here is my time line
 
02/28/2020- DOS letter recevied to my US address
 
03/04/2020 - USCIS form I797C received to my US address
 
03/07/2020 - USCIS Notice of action form received.
 
To all those waiting for some action on their cases my only advice is be patient and good luck to you all.

Here just to share my timeline. I had funding from Brazil. Sent the docs on November, only now they sent a request for sponsor views. It seems that my case is part of some with a delayed compared to majority in here, but I hope the decision will comes soon.
 

 

I have been following this thread for a long time while waiting for my waiver recommendation, and I just received a favorable recommendation today, so thought I'd share my timeline in case people are wondering about current wait times. 

 
For context, I am from India, had no government funding, and was applying based on "No Objection". My documents (including the No Objection Statement) were physically received by the DOS on 1/2/2020. 

Good luck everyone!

Hi all, 
We finally got the Fav. Recommendation! I'm sharing the time line here.
Thanks to all of you, this blog has been super helpful. Please don't panic, if I learn something by looking at the different cases and time lines is that they are somehow unique... 
I have no idea how or when will we get the receipt notice to track the USCIS part...
I'll continue sharing my updates with you!
 
Best! 
Lau

My timeline (NOL j1 waiver):
1/13/20 All documents received at DOS, it took my embassy (Taiwan) 2~3 months to send the NOL
1/28/20 DOS FR sent
2/5/20 USCIS received my case
2/10/20 receive I-797C in mail, finally have case number
2/25/20 USCIS case approval, egov website/app status also updated at the same day
2/29/20 receive I-797A in mail

Dear all, 
I would like to just post information for a new waiver applicants. Since last year, there was a change in I-94 number format. The format was changed from 11 digits to 10 digits and 1 letter. However, this format was not supported in the online DS-3035 and was giving error message. When I was filling the DS-3035 earlier this year, I was desperately looking for somebody who is posting or discussing this issue and how to overcome it but I did not find anything. For that reason, I would like to just give a quick update for people which are right now in the same situation I was. The DOS responded to my email after more that one month and said following about the issue:
 
"We are aware of the issue and are trying to fix it.  In the meantime you can leave that section blank and fill it out before mailing your application in.  Its also helpful to include a copy of your most recent I94 number included in your packet."
 
Hope that this can help to somebody!

Thank you !!!
My timeline:
I sent all the documents on the 4th of November and was received on the 6th. But they only updated on December !!
 
 

 

Hi waiverTR
 
As I mentioned earlier, I got funding from US government. So mine will be automatically sent to sponsor view. But I was surprised it didn’t show up in the timeline when they asked for it.

Every step was slow for my case.
Sept 13th: Sent docs to DOS and Indian Embassy. Indian Embassy sent docs back within 1 week.
Oct 10th:  DOS website updated as received except NOS.
Dec 17th: NOS received. After Indian Embassy resent NOS.
Feb 10th : Favorable recommendation issued.
...now waiting for the USCIS notice of action and rest. Lets see.

I finally got my USCIS I797 "approval notice" today (although the online system still shows the case as pending). So, it took almost 3 weeks from DOS favorable recommendation to receipt of  USCIS approval letter. Hope this information is useful for the community.

So I have some updates now.
 
I said in my previous reply that I resent all documents (except fee) to BOTH St. Louis and Washington office of DoS. The packed was delivered to St. Louis office on 1/18/2020 and to the Washington office on 1/21/2020.
 
Concurrently, I had also contacted my Congressmen's office for help in this regard, and had submitted all evidence and documents to them on 1/13/2020.
 
I got an email from the Congressmen's office today morning (1/22/2020) that they will start working on my request. Same day in the afternoon I got another email form the Congressmen's Office, with the response they received from the DoS Waiver Review Division (WRD) on their inquiry. The WRD said they received my application packet only today (1/22/2020) and have sent me a letter requesting some additional documents.
 
So my assessment of the situation (no way to prove this), is that the WRD is referring to the second application they received on 1/21/2020 and have started processing that. And the WRD was much more responsive to an email inquiry from the Congressmen's office (responded within 2 hours) compared to if I sent an email (more than a month).
 
Based on my experience, if there is no change in your situation as of today, I would recommend you contact your Congressmen's office for help and sent an application packet to DoS's Washington Office.
 
By the way, even though the WRD confirmed that they received my application and have sent me a letter for additional documents, there is no update on my case number in their system online. Just FYI.

WAIVER BASES FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE TOTAL Exceptional Hardship 141 0 141 Persecution 67 0 67 Interested Government Agency - Physician 247 0 247 Interested Government Agency – Other 65 4 69 State Department of Health 880 0 880 TOTAL 5624 98 5722
 
No Objection Statement: Approved: 4224; Rejected: 94; Total applications: 4318
 
You can find more information for other categories using link below:
 
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/waivers/INA 212(e) Waiver Recommendations - FY 2018.pdf

Thank you @waiverTR, for you response. I will update about my case as I get more information during this process. 

Hi all,
 
Approximately 4 months after the submission yesterday I saw the first update on the webpage (Docs received on February 10. I sent them in October!). And as of today they sent the favorable recommendation!  Nothing happened in 4 months and everything happened in 2 days!
 
Good luck to you all!
 
 

Imagine having some random people creating barcodes with some random numbers and names. To me, generating barcode is just a way to help filing the forms. Without submitting the form and the processing fee, they won't start looking at anything related to your file.