corgidance

It's finally happened for me as well. Favorable recommendation. Two years and a month since the beginning of the whole process and just over a year at the DOS stage. I had both the request for documents (that came after 6 months of waiting) and sponsor views. My sponsor was the education division of the DOS, but my program wasn't Fullbright. My spouse and I spent 6 months in Ukraine before having to leave and apply for the hardship waiver. I would have much rather preferred to stay and finish my time, if it were safe to do so, than go through this process. I was waiting for the decision outside the US in a third country.
 
The request for documents was weird. They asked me to prove that there really was war going on in Ukraine (this was fall of 2022). And also asked for information that was already provided in my case. So we provided the info again in a different statement, added a medical evaluation, and found a bunch of published official reports from places like UNICEF and other organizations about the war.
Best of luck to everyone.
 

It's finally happened for me as well. Favorable recommendation. Two years and a month since the beginning of the whole process and just over a year at the DOS stage. I had both the request for documents (that came after 6 months of waiting) and sponsor views. My sponsor was the education division of the DOS, but my program wasn't Fullbright. My spouse and I spent 6 months in Ukraine before having to leave and apply for the hardship waiver. I would have much rather preferred to stay and finish my time, if it were safe to do so, than go through this process. I was waiting for the decision outside the US in a third country.
 
The request for documents was weird. They asked me to prove that there really was war going on in Ukraine (this was fall of 2022). And also asked for information that was already provided in my case. So we provided the info again in a different statement, added a medical evaluation, and found a bunch of published official reports from places like UNICEF and other organizations about the war.
Best of luck to everyone.
 

Guys!!! It’s over, thank Goodness, thank you for this group, for all the support along way, appreciate ya! Got Favorable yesterday, but of course it’s like updated today. So how long now it takes from the USCIS side? Hopefully not months! 

So, I finally received the waiver document from USCIS. The timeline so far looks like this 
Filed documents to USCIS Feb 2022. 
USCIS made finding of hardships in September 2022
Filed documents to DOS in October 2022. 
Favorable recommendation from DOS April 2024 
Waver document send by USCIS May 2024
 
I retained an Ellis Porter immigration attorney to file for my adjustment of status. 

Mine is approved! Please find the timeline in the below. USCIS approved my cased on 4/22/2024. I am waiting for the approval notice from USCIS. 

And so my watch has ended. It was a pleasure to be a part of this community, and a lot of words of encouragement to me and others on this forum kept me sane over this long period of uncertainty. My case involved 2 J-1 visas that I took in 2014-2015 and second in 2017-2022. It took 560 days, from October 6, 2022, to April 17th, 2024, with ten months extra when the case was at USCIS, so overall, it took me about 28 months from the initial documents being submitted to receiving a Favorable Recommendation. I was able to obtain an O-1 visa and, this way, stay in the US; if I did not have O-1 support, there would only be 5 months left for me to complete the 2YHR if I returned to my home country upon expiration of my J-1 in October 2022. 
 
I used to live with this endlessly pending case, and now I don't know exactly how I feel about it. I suppose it is good that it is over, but honestly, I feel empty. Actually, what happens next? Will the case be returned to USCIS, and will they issue a waiver? Then, with a waiver attached, I can file for an adjustment of status. How long does it usually take? I would appreciate those who already received an FR to share their experience after FR and its timeline. 

After 18 months of waiting, I finally got the first update in my case, "Sponsor views (Received)." Interestingly, no sponsor views were requested on the record but only received. As I had two J-1 visas it is difficult for me to conclude which entity provided the sponsor views. I would presume NIH, but at this point, I don't know. Another thing is that it was received apparently on February 28th, and now we are in mid-April when I got an update to my case file. In many other cases, the decision is usually made within a few weeks after receiving the sponsor's views. I'm unsure what to make out of it or what my decision timeline is considering this development. At this point, I'll be relieved to have any decision to move on from this exceptionally draining situation.

Well now you can relax! Hopefully we all can move to finally getting our decisions soon.  Good luck to you!!

Thank you. I was so nervous and prepared for a NFR honestly. But I was so sick and tired of the word “pending” that I wanted a decision, any decision at this point. I will never understand why they make us wait between Sponsor views received and Final recommendation. But who knows, I am glad this nightmare is finally over and I can focus on other things. Good luck everyone! i will stay on the forum for a while to offer help if it’s needed. 

The time has come for me to share this with you and hopefully give you some hope in this seemingly never ending nightmare. After what felt like eternity, my hardship waiver was approved yesterday. I was Fulbright and received US government funding. I tried to expedite and DOS didn’t respond. I was eligible for both persecution and hardship and didn’t know that you can’t apply for both so I did, but the hardship waiver ended up being decided faster. It was crucial to combine factors from both grounds for the waiver to win the case. You can see my timeline here . 

It’s honestly ridiculous. This process has traumatized me. I just want a decision. Any decision at this point!!

Hi all, I got my favorable recommendation yesterday! Now waiting for the USCIS final document before going for GC. 
I was a Fulbright, so it is possible. I will say that I am from a political enemy country of the US, so I'm not sure how much that played a role given the restrictions and sanctions imposed on my home country in the past. The hardship case was for spouse, who struggles with mental health issues, also my spouse is a member of lgbtq, so I am sure that also played a role given my country's anti-LBTQIA+ laws. I was also a sole breadwinner and insurance provider in our household. We worked with Ranchod law firm and they did a decent job, a bit slow on the start, but the case was presented well. Good luck to all who are waiting! I will be disconnecting from this forum after a couple of days, happy to answer questions in the meantime.

Hi All
Wanted to share my news with you all. Got the DOS favorable recommendation on Jan 4. Got the USCIS final letter on January 24. I am a Fulbright scholar, applied for the NOC in 2019, got rejected, and then applied for hardship. After 5 years of sleepless nights, hardship, and anxiousness, finally I can see the sunny rays. Almighty is great, please have patience. That is the only key to this waiting game. 

please note: This is just a guess and no solid facts or information.
 
For those with gov funding:
 
I collected these cases from this thread and from the facebook group. I think there are two different offices or different officers who handle hardship cases. One for cases with gov funding and one for those who have no gov funding.
 
First, they take 4 months and up to 8 months to post i612/i613 on the portal for gov funding cases.
 
second, if you look at the time of requesting sponsor views, it’s usually a month after the one year mark of posting i612/i613. Then sponsor views could take a month to three maximum and a recommendation is issued within a month.
Again, this is just a guess of the pattern based on these cases and could be right or wrong. I’m  not sure about any of this.
As for  those who have no gov funding. I didn’t really look closely at past cases, but seems to be taking a month to 4 after the one year mark of i612/i613.

My hardship case, which arrived at DOS on May 04, 2023, just got sent for sponsor views. My sponsor was DOS. Happy with some movement. I just want to know one way or the other. So tired of waiting. 
Does anyone know how long the sponsor views usually take from DOS?

My hardship case, which arrived at DOS on May 04, 2023, just got sent for sponsor views. My sponsor was DOS. Happy with some movement. I just want to know one way or the other. So tired of waiting. 
Does anyone know how long the sponsor views usually take from DOS?

I also want to share the same update! my hardship case reached DOS on May 24th, 2023 and I just saw now that they requested Sponsor views yesterday! at long last some movement!! My sponsor is also the DOS . No idea how long the sponsor views step takes, can be few weeks to a few months now. Fingers crossed for a favorable outcome . 

Can't figure out how to reply to comments here. But no, I didn't contact a representative or do anything but sit and wait. I highly doubt that contacting my congressperson from Texas would have helped things. I really hope that DOS is speeding up their processes now and all still waiting will get answers soon.

My hardship case, which arrived at DOS on May 04, 2023, just got sent for sponsor views. My sponsor was DOS. Happy with some movement. I just want to know one way or the other. So tired of waiting. 
Does anyone know how long the sponsor views usually take from DOS?