Full J1 waiver timeline

[avalerio]

As others have mentioned, this forum was very helpful during the J1 waiver application, so I'd like to share my timeline that may be useful to others.

Mine was a fairly simple case: I'm from Costa Rica and I had a J1 visa for one year back in 2003. The program wasn't financed by either government. After that I remained in the US with an F1 visa. Here is the timeline for my application:

30-may-09: Mailed DofS forms and documents
3-jun-09: DofS cashed check
17-jun-09: DofS rec'd fee, DS3035, IAP66, passpt, stmt-of-reason
10-jul-09: DofS rec'd No-Objection-Stmt from Embassy
22-jul-09: DofS sent favorable recommendation
23-jul-09: IUCIS rec'd form I-612 from DofS
7-ago-09: Favorable recomm letter from DofS arrived!!
24-ago-09: Called USCIS to get receipt number*
16-set-09: USCIS sent I-612 approval notice
24-set-09: I-612 approval notice from USCIS arrived!!

* As many others, I didn't get a "receipt notice" from USCIS after DofS filed form I-612. The receipt notice has a case number you can use to track your case on the USCIS system. You need to call USCIS to get it after the DofS issues the recommendation. There are a couple of threads about it here.

I would advice to start as early as you can and then just be patient, which is probably the hardest part. Hope this is helpful to others and good luck.

[MuBuBa2009]

Hello, Thanks for your complete deadline.
My NOC was received by DOS on Nov 10th, still case is pending. I am eagerly waiting and counting days.
What do u think? How long it might take?
Thanks.