waiverstress

USCIS received 08/02
Transferred to another office 08/03
final approval online status 08/16
Mailed final approval received yesterday showed approval date 08/15

Hello everyone,
 
I have an update regarding my case. I received FR on August 19. Now my new employer is trying to figure out if we should file for H1-B immediately or wait until USCIS send notice of receipt. My J1 is expiring in one week so I'm quite nervous. I hope everything works out.
 
Good luck to everyone out there still waiting for FR!

Hi. I have updates! 
I got a favorable recommendation July 28th. 
I then got a letter from USCIS saying that they received my case and giving me a number to check my case status (Aug 2nd). 
Upon checking USCIS website, I got the J waiver approval around August 10th. I am now waiting for the official approval letter from USCIS to arrive in the mail.
 
It looks like things move fast once the DOS submits a favorable recommendation.
 
Good luck to everyone! 
Here is how the timeline looked:
  Department of State Advisory Opinion Finding: Favorable Recommendation
  Item Action Date Recommendation Sent July, 28 2022 Sponsor Views (Received) Received July, 11 2022 Request for Sponsor Views Sent July, 07 2022 Fee Received April, 14 2022 Form DS-3035 Received April, 14 2022 Form DS-2019 Received April, 14 2022 No Objection Statement Received April, 14 2022 Passport Data Page Received April, 14 2022 Form G-28 Received April, 14 2022 Statement Of Reason Received April, 14 2022 Other Received April, 14 2022

this is my timeline. I sent my documents in November 15th. When did you receive the waiver after the Final Recommendation ? How long did it take?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share an update. 
 
I received favorable recommendation on June 29th.
My lawyer informed me that USCIS approved the waiver July 15th. 
 
Currently waiting for it in the mail! Good luck everyone, took about 8 months from start to finish for me. Now to file AOS! Wish me luck. 

These threads were very helpful for me during my application process.  Therefore, sharing my timeline so that it can be helpful for others.
I submitted my documents in end of Oct 2021.
NOS was sent on first week of Nov 2021 by embassy.
Follow up: Feb and March 2022. No update.
Third follow up: There was no update so I emailed on dedicated email id and shared all documents. Also, sent the hard copy of same on 13th March 2022.
All Documents updated on March 15th 2022 except NOS.
Fourth follow up: I emailed embassy and asked to resend. They did it very fast. I forwarded email on dedicated email id.
I got response that they received NOS and will update soon.
NOS was updated late but they put date of 14th Mar 2022.
Favorable recommendation on 15th Jun 2022. 
Wish you good luck.

FINAL UPDATE:
FINALLY case approved on USCIS website today. 
What a RELIEF! A long long journey finally came to an end. PHEW!
 
Good luck guys. Hang in there. Hustle on!

Sharing my timeline above.
 
I got FR on Sep 22nd and since then I have been contacting USCIS to get my receipt number, they were never able to locate me in their system. After 3 months of not having answers I got my congressmen involved and they were able to locate my case with USCIS. It turns out my case was approved on Oct 7th and on Oct 22nd USCIS was informed that my letter was undeliverable to my address. I have to mention I changed my address with DOS but this was never informed to USCIS. So my letter was delivered the my old address which was an empty unit so it couldn't be delivered. On Dec 31st USCIS sent my approval notice to my new address (thanks to the congressmen) and I received my letter Jan 10th. If you have a similar issue were USCIS can not find you in their system, please contact your congressmen and ask for help. They approved my case months ago but I didn't know!
 
I went to my H visa appointment and the consular officer did not ask me for the approval notice and didn't even mention anything about the waiver. He just asked me a couple of questions and said my visa was approved. So, I'm not sure if they have access to USCIS system to see that my waiver was approved but was never asked for it. Just for your information.
 
My journey ends here (after 9 months), I wish everyone good luck!

I got FR end of December but haven't received anything from USCIS yet. My lawyer said we could file for green card with the notice I-797C and then wait for a possible RFE for i-612.

USCIS waiver approved Jan 6, received in mailbox yesterday. Its finally over!
Good luck everyone!
 

For anyone wondering at what stage of waiver can they apply for H1B: My visa advisor (cap-exempt research position) told me she needs I-612 approval notice. Then my DS2019 was about to expire, and she applied for H1B using a screenshot showing DoS FR! My best hope was an RFE for the approval notice. H1B was approved in 8 days, no RFE!
After months of waiver pending, this was the best thing that could happen!

Hello all,
 
Surprisingly I just got the favorable recommendation and here is the timeline.
12/15: sent the application
02/22: NOS sent
04/15: got favorable recommendation.
 
Good luck to all!
 
 

Thank you! My sponsor is my University. I guess yours is NIH so there is an extra step. Hope you will get it soon. 

Final update: April 18, 2022 Case Was Approved

Dear fellow travelers,

I have received the FR.
 
Thank you all for your contributions and timelines. I hope you all achieve your goals.
 

There is no "first in first out".
As I mentioned before, it is random.
My friend who sent documents a week later than me already has approval.
It's not the case of complexity because his case can be more complicated than mine since he needed to send more documents for his NOS.
I have helped him preparing documents since he is new in US and actually he doesn't need waiver (he is going back to home country).
I cannot say that they still do this randomly, but I'm sure they messed up the documents around late October to early November.

Quick updates:
 
All document sent - October 4th 2021
NOS sent - October 5th 2021
System update (all document received except NOS)  - December 20th 2021
NOS received - January 10th 2022
Favorable Recommendation Sent - March 17th 2022
FR Hardcopy received from DOS - March 23rd 2022
USCIS got the case - April 1st 2022
USCIS transferred the case to another office - April 5th 2022
Receipt notice in mail from USCIS - April 7th 2022
Now I’m waiting to be approved

thanks for good wishes, it came right after
Now waiting for NOS to be uploaded 
Does anybody know how long it takes
Thank you

Hi All,
 
Here's my update from my end: 
My NOC didn't show up on the DOS portal when I checked on Monday (3/21/22). I know from the email 212e sent me, as well as the information that my contact at the local congressman's office received, that the NOC has been sent and received (by march 10th). I emailed the 212e helpline and got a quick response that yes, they have my NOC, but they'll upload it "in the coming weeks". 
Panicking, I replied requesting an expedited review, and they surprisingly emailed the same day granting my request but requiring that I demonstrate "a significant humanitarian need and clear US govt interest" in the form of a letter from my dept chair that addressed their criteria. I got all the documents they required and sent those in, only to be told that the expedite request was denied. As my research is on the virus causing this current pandemic, I am surprised that this is not considered significant, but what can you do? 
My NOC is still not showing up on the portal, and my DS2019 expires next saturday (4/2). 
I have been talking to my local congressman's office and am debating speaking with the state senator's office next week. 
 
Fingers crossed and hoping our forum starts to have good news coming in soon. 

Posting my timeline here even though it was NOT favorable. I don’t mean to alarm anyone.
 
I knew I had very small chances with a No Objection Waiver being a Fulbright Scholar. I thought I had a really strong Statement of Purpose and support from my employer. I sent all the documents on March 15th 2021.
 
Does anyone know if there’s anything else I could do at this point?
 
Thanks and good luck to everyone. 
 

I got the updates finally on March 21st.
I sent the documents at the end of October and it took full 5 months just for updating.
Hope to have FR soon.

Hi @tub77
Yes, they have put my NOS dated March 13 and they made it appear on March 18. I sent an email to my embassy so that they could send it back, I don't know if it had something to do with it, but it appeared on Friday.
 

Hi All,
 
I'm reaching out to see if anyone has had any experience with expediting their waiver review at the Department of State either on their own, or through a congressman.
 
My current DS2019 expires April 2nd 2022, and I am at my wit's end. Due to lab funding/project-related issues, I formally joined a collaborator's lab in July 2021, and started the J1 process with all updated documents (just to ensure I had all up-to-date documents and wouldn't run the risk of additional delays due to the new DS2019 signatures being needed). After long delays in getting my NORI documents from the three Indian govt orgs (if anyone wants to know I can outline these separately), I started stage 3 just before Christmas 2021. Before anyone comes for me, I am very aware of the ticking clock! 
 
Here's my timeline:
Application sent to DOS and CGI Houston: Dec 22 2021, received Dec 23 (USPS tracking)
NOC received from CGI: Jan 14 2022
No update on DOS website through January of February on any documents received.
Emails to DOS generated auto-responses about when I could expect to hear back, but no real response or update.
Reached out to my congressman's office on March 1, 2022. Their office called a contact at the Embassy and told me that they needed a copy of my No Objection certificate (march 3rd) which I sent to the congressman via email, and received their response that the NOC had been emailed to the DOS contact the same day.
I received an email from 212ewaiver on march 10 2022 stating that they had received my NOC certificate.
Documents finally updated on the DOS portal on March 15th 2022 with March 15th as date of receipt, but NOC is not shown:

 
I spoke with the congressman's office on 3/17, and they mentioned that their contact had confirmed receipt of my NOC as well. 
 
Is there anyone with a similar timeline as mine? Anyone who has reached out to expedite their waiver review with a couple weeks left on their J1? I do have 30 days' grace, but needless to say this process has been nerve-wracking.
 
Thank you in advance, and sending prayers to all who are in limbo!