I wanted to resurrect this thread to write about my experience:
My DOS recommendation was forwarded to USCIS on January 24, 2007. It was towards the end of February and I still had not gotten a receipt notice. I called USCIS customer service, who asked me for my last name, first name, and date of birth. They could not find my case at all. They said sometimes it takes up to 45 "working days" to appear online and advised that I wait. I called a week later and still nothing. After the first week of March, I called again and the immigration officer (I was always transferred from Customer Service to an Immigration Officer) suggested that I send an inquiry to the Vermont Service Center, which he did on my behalf. He said I would receive a response within a month. I continued to call USCIS every Friday, yet there was no record, and no news from the inquiry.
I was beginning to think that they had lost my case entirely, especially as the DOS transmits the recommendation to USCIS "electronically" and therefore, it should appear in USCIS's systems almost instantly. However, at least 2 other people (and another on this thread, I see) had reported that their cases were thought to be lost and that were was no record of their waiver at USCIS, but after 2-3 months they would suddenly get an approval out of the blue. Therefore, I didn't really panic.
Last week, as I was getting ready to call again, something occurred to me. The J-1 waiver application was initially sent to the DOS using their form DS-3035. This form asks the applicant to enter their name exactly as it appears in their passport. In my passport, my full name is not written in English, only my first and last names, and two middle initials. If my name was Ahmed Mordechai Smith, my passport wrote my name as Ahmed M T Smith (the extra T is a cultural thing). So I decided to try and give USCIS my name as Smith, Ahmed M T instead of just Smith, Ahmed. And BINGO - they found it! Not only did they find it, but it had just been approved and the notice was sent. They gave me the receipt number so I could track it. Apparently, the case had been received on Jan 25, right when DOS sent it (or the day after).
Therefore, the moral of the story is that if you think your J-1 waiver is lost:
1- For J-1 cases, give your name as you wrote it on your DS-3035, i.e. as it appears on your passport even if that is not how you normally write it.
2- USCIS is apparently NOT issuing receipt notices for J-1 waivers received from the DOS every time, only sometimes (I and others on this forum never received one).
3- It may take a long while for some cases to be processed. Most cases received around the time mine was received at USCIS were approved within a few days to 2 weeks at most.
Just thought I'd share.
Addendum: In late April, after I had already received my final J-1 waiver approval notice, I received a separate response to the inquiry that had been sent to the Vermont Service Center during one of my calls to USCIS as noted above. The letter stated that they could "not find a record of my filing an application" !!!! My application had already been approved, but they were never able to find my name without those two pesky middle initials in their records!!!
