J1 Waiver Approval - Complete timeline (India citizen)

[dheeraj212]

First of all my thanks to everyone who posted their comments and precious suggestions to help ppl makin their ways easier in immigration process. Below is my complete timeline of applying and getting J1 waiver.

Nov. 8, 2006 - Forms and affidavits got notarised to be sent to CGI Houston
Nov. 9, 2006 - Sent to CGI Houston for attestation
Nov. 10, 2006 - CGI Houston Receives Documents and passport
Dec. 5, 2006 - Attested Documents return back to me (to be sent to authorities in India)
Dec. 6, 2006 - Attested documents sent to parents in India
Dec. 11, 2006 - Documents received in India
Dec. 19, 2006 - DS 3035, fee and other documents sent to DoS
Dec. 22, 2006 - Received New Delhi MHRD 'NORI'
Dec. 29, 2006 - DS 3035, fee and other documents receiving information available online on DoS website by entering case no.
Jan. 2, 2007 - Received Chandigarh Passport Office 'NORI'
Jan. 2, 2007 - Received Home Ministry Haryana (Chandigarh) 'NORI'
Jan. 3, 2007 - All No Objection Statements (NORIs) sent to me in US
Jan. 9, 2007 - NORIs received by me
Jan. 10, 2007 - NORIs and other documents sent to CGI Houston
Jan. 26, 2007 - All documents returned back bcos of incorrect fee
Jan. 30, 2007 - All documents sent back again to CGI Houston with correct fee this time.
Feb. 20, 2007 - Waiver Certificate received frm CGI Hosuton ( CGI forwarded one copy to Indian Embassy in Washington DC)
March 5, 2007 - Waiver Certificate received by Indian Embassy and sent to DoS
March 7, 2007 - DoS receives Waiver Certificate (No Objection Statement from Indian Embassy)
May 9, 2007 - DoS sends Favorable Recommendations to USCIS
May 10, 2007 - USCIS receives Favorable Recommendations from DoS
May 17, 2007 - USCIS approves J1 waiver
May 24, 2007 - Waiver received

[anjali_sharma]

Dheeraj,
My heartiest congratulations to you.
Best wishes for your future.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dheeraj212]

Thanks Anjali. I think u had some queries regarding RPO Chandigarh. I hav sent my email address and phone no. to ur email address. I wud be more than happy to help u.

Good Luck with ur waiver process

Dheeraj

[nir_prince]

hey great buddy,

Congratulations ....so whats your next plan now???


Nirav

[nasho]

Heartiest congratulations to u. If i m not wrong ur J1 was going to expire v. soon.
good luck for future.

[WISH7]

Hie Dheeraj,

It was great to go through ur message. Congrats! It must be a great relief to overcome the whole process of going back and forth with the paper work. I have just started on mine and I cannot even imagine when mine will be over.
I am in a delimma rite now, I just have a question for you. Did you send the documents to obtain NORI directly to your parents back in India (and did they take it to get the NORI from the departments)or to the respective three departments. I would greatly appreciate if you could get back to me. Thank u much.

[Raghu2k]

Hi Dheeraj,

I have got my NORI from the CGI houston (letter dated May 11). I have not got the NORI from the embassy, It is June 1, I am still waiting....

--Do I need to send the CGI's NORI to the indian embassy? Do I need to send any fees?

--Does anyone have a contact number for Indian embassy where I can enquire?

--Does the embassy send the bar code page of my case number also to DOS?

[dheeraj212]

Hie Dheeraj,

It was great to go through ur message. Congrats! It must be a great relief to overcome the whole process of going back and forth with the paper work. I have just started on mine and I cannot even imagine when mine will be over.
I am in a delimma rite now, I just have a question for you. Did you send the documents to obtain NORI directly to your parents back in India (and did they take it to get the NORI from the departments)or to the respective three departments. I would greatly appreciate if you could get back to me. Thank u much.

I sent those directly to my parents and they worked out everythin for me.

[dheeraj212]

Hi Dheeraj,

I have got my NORI from the CGI houston (letter dated May 11). I have not got the NORI from the embassy, It is June 1, I am still waiting....

--Do I need to send the CGI's NORI to the indian embassy? Do I need to send any fees?

--Does anyone have a contact number for Indian embassy where I can enquire?

--Does the embassy send the bar code page of my case number also to DOS?

Dont worry, its not late...they take this much time for processing.

-- No, u dont need to send anythin to Embassy.

-- There are contact no. available on their website but no use contacting them, no one responds.

-- Ur consulate will forward Waiver Certificate (NORI) and Bar code page to Embassy and they will send it to the DoS.

[lycopenium]

Hi Dheeraj,
Congratulations!

Can you please give details of process from obtaining NORI onwards? I received all three NORI letters from India, and need to proceed further for applying to get a waiver. In fact, I am planning to visit India and that is the reason I didn't take the case number. Do you have any idea if visiting India is a risk when the waiver is under process!
Appreciate your help in this regard. I will provide you my email if you want to send details there.
Thanks!

Anu

[dheeraj212]

I dont think there would be any problem if u wanna visit home ( if u have multiple entries on ur visa). For more questions u may contact me on my phone. Check your private messages in this forum for my phone no.

D

[lycopenium]

I think I can visit home then; I will contact you if I have any more questions.

Thanks Dheeraj!

[leonid76]

Hi Dheeraj,
Did the 3 Indian agencies send copies of the no objection letters directly to the Indian consulate in Houston? Or did your family mail them to you, and you then forwarded them to the consulate?
Thanks.

[dheeraj212]

Passport office insisted to forward the copy themselves, but my mum got a photocopy anyways. My parents sent me all copies and then I forwarded'em to CGI myself.

[leonid76]

Thanks, Dheeraj and congrats on getting your waiver!

[dheeraj212]

Most of Indian citizens who have applied for J1 waiver, can check out their expected timelines here on my first posting. Good Luck.

[mahirtz]

after applying giving waiver input online when the hard copies should reach to the Dept of state.. any time line??

[dheeraj212]

My friend

Your question is not clear, could you please specify?

[vamsi23]

Hi dheeraj

I have received fav. reco from DOS and waiting for final approval from USCIS. Could you please tell me from which USCIS service center you got the final approval?

Thanks
vamsi

[sri2377]

Dear all
Thanks to all for the support and help provided by all during the process of the J1 waiver and waiting times. I want to post my time line and explain the hardship I have overcome so that it will be a tonic for the worried waiting people.

Sep 10, 2006 - Sent the NORI request documents to India to three places (Delhi, Chennai(2)).
Sep 18, 2006 - Sent the relevant documents to DOS J1 waiver section with fees.
Oct 05, 2006 - Sent documents appeared online dated Oct 5th 2006.
Jan 10, 2007 - Got all the NORIs from India - Sent them to Indian embassy (IE)Chicago
Feb 22, 2007 - Received J1 waiver letter from IE Chicago dated 15th Feb
Mar 13, 2007 - Letter from IE in D. C. dated 6th March that they forwarded letter to DOS
Mar 20, 2007 - DOS received the no objection from embassy - appeared online on 22th March
Mar 21, 2007 - Applied for advisory opinion for HRR
Apr 05, 2007 - DOS received all documents for Advisory opinion - appeared online on 6th April
Apr 30, 2007 - DOS shows that I am "Subject" to HRR in the website
May 4, 2007 - Advisory opinion sent - online
May 21, 2007 - Received copy of sent Advisory opinion
May 31, 2007 - Faxed a letter to DOS requesting to process case
Jun 04, 2007 - Sent the same letter through USPS mail.
Jun 07,2007 - DOS gives favorable recommendation online (12 weeks)
Jun 14,2007 - DOS letter arrives !!!
July 06,2007 - USCIS waiver letter (I797) arrives !!!


In the meantime, we applied H1B for my husband through the regular quota and luckily he got selected in the lottery. But we did not have DOS recommendation or the waiver. The USCIS sent a RFE asking for the waiver letter and gave 90 days time. We waited and finally we got both DOS recommendation and waiver by 60 days of that time. We submitted the waiver to USCIS and got the H1B approved!!!!! We have the I797 now with us. It still seems to be a miracle.....but it happened.

Eventually things will happen. The waiting period is painful. But as along as we are correct with the documentation and reasonably on time things will work out.

I myself have sent numerous questions to many members.They have answered them quite patiently.

I would like to provide answers that I know any time. Thanks once again.

Vidhya

[dheeraj212]

Hi dheeraj

I have received fav. reco from DOS and waiting for final approval from USCIS. Could you please tell me from which USCIS service center you got the final approval?

Thanks
vamsi

Vermont center

[garysju]

Hi Dheeraj,
How are you doing?

Actually, i was in the US before on J1, but after doing my training, I went back to Chandigarh(home).
Now I am back on F1 and I live in Philadelphia.
As you have successfully gone through the process,
Would you please about How to get started the J1 waiver on the basis of NORI.
Is it possible to talk over the phone.
garyphilly@gmail.com is my email.
I'd highly appreciate your efforts.

regards.

[dheeraj212]

Hey guys

Most of the information is available here on this forum, right from small things like 'what envelope is needed' to 'writing a statement of reason'. Try a lil bit thru search, I am sure u will get all information u want. If not, pls leave ur questions here, I will try my best to answer.

Good luck to u all.

D

[vipbat]

Hi Dheeraj,
I am an exchange student at Austin Texas on J1 with the 2 yr restriction applying to me under the skills list. I do not have any sort of sponsorship/financing. I return to India in a month and I want to start the waiver process as soon as I get back in India. I know that you started your process here. But I wanted to know if you are aware of how to start the process in India; I have seen on websites that say that the process can be started at the appropriate ministries in India but none of them mention which minstry etc. Do you have any idea? Also, which were the 3 ministry departments that your parents contacted in India...if you could get me the address and the details...it would be great. My mail id is vipbat@gmail.com in case you want to use that. Any input would be really helpful as I want to come back and work here full-time.

[pashvinder]

Hi Dheeraj
Thanks for providing good information.

I m also on JI visa and trying hard to get NORI from INDIA.Can you tell me which papers I should send to 3 departments with NORI FORMS.

I sent my NORI forms after attested by the Indian consulate , chicago to my brother in India.when he is going to submit the forms to CHANDIGARH PASSPORT OFFICE & HOME DEPARTMENT OF HARYANA to get NORI,they are saying these papers should be sent by post to us from candidate in USA, who needs this NORI forms.It is going on almost since last two months.Please help me, what should i told them.Can my brother sumbit my NORI forms to concerned departments directly.

Please give me your contact number.

Pashvinder Kaur

[rahras76]

Dear All,
I need a small favour. I was a resident of Faridabad, Haryana before moving to USA on a J1visa. I am planning to apply for NORI to be submitted in 3 deptts in India.

1.Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs
2. Ministry of Human Resource Development, (Dept. of Higher Education)
3. Government of Haryana, Home Department.
Do you have any information about Government of Haryana, Home Department ,Faridabad or any help u can give wil be appreciated ..
Rahul spirit0176@yahoo.com

[dheeraj212]

Friends

Every information is available in this forum. Please try a little bit search. If u dont find info, please post ur questions or concerns. Will try best to help.

DJ

[prakashd]

Dear Dheeraj,
Thank you very much for providing such detailed information on this forum.

You wrote

"May 10, 2007 - USCIS receives Favorable Recommendations from DoS
May 17, 2007 - USCIS approves J1 waiver
May 24, 2007 - Waiver received"

Could you please write how did you know that on which date USCIS received your recommendation from DoS? Also how did you know that on which date USCIS approved your waiver? I see my status of application on j1visawaiverstatus.state.gov/EV_Results.aspbut "Recommendation Sent June 10, 2009" is the last statement.

Regards,
Prakash

[Songbird]

Thanks everyone for posting their info out there.

Here's mine:
Recommendation July 03, 2009
Status Inquiry June 18, 2009
No Objection Statement Received April 20, 2009
Application Start Date April 14, 2009

80 days from the start date to the end, Or ~11weeks

[sahilm]

Hello Everyone,

I am in the process of applying for a waiver on my J-1 and I need your help in that.
I have got the 3 forms signed from the US Consulate in Houston and I have to get the three NORI certificates from India now. Please answer the following queries I have:
1. How long will the process of getting the NORI take? Do I have to be in India for all that time or can i get it done through my parents?
2. Does anyone of you have a copy of your NORI (you obtained from India)? If anyone has it, please contact me through email (sahil.iitkgp@gmail.com). I would be really thankful.

Thanks,
Sahil