J1 Visa Waiver, Specialist Category but came as Chaperone

RSmith1034

New Member
Hello Everyone! I'm new to the Forum, and I'm so excited to share stories with others who are facing similar situations!

Let me start with some simple background; I was a college English teacher at a university in China. I came to the US in 2012 with a group of students to chaperone them on a 4 week journalism workshop. The university issued everyone a J1 Visa, which had the 2 year residency requirement on it. The students and myself along with another colleague had to fund the entire trip out of pocket. I met a marvious man in those four weeks and not a day has gone by since that we do not talk all day.

So he traveled to china, I traveled back to the US under B1 visa to visit for a month. He came to china for a few months and I came back to the US under a F1 visa so I could get my second master degree in 2013. A year later we got married in 2014.

After bouncing around the State Department I found out that I should have been issued a B1 Visa and not a J1 Visa, because I wasn't in the US for any other purpose but to supervise the students.

We applied for J1 Advisory Opinion, and was told I was Subject, because the university classified me as a specialist and was subject to the 2yr rule. So we applied for NOS, and the Chinese government told us that we couldn't get a NOS, because I don't qualify for the J1 program.

So my Husband and I are not sure what to do now, should we plead with the university to get a letter saying they issued the wrong visa, but even then we wouldn't know where to take it.

Thank You for reading, any comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
1. They simplest way is : Just go back to China constantly, to accumulate the days to complete the two year residency requirement. The days you stay in China will add up together, including before or during your B1 and F1. So you can add the days up by yourself now. Or: You may stay in China, and your husband can apply for CR1 for you. The processing time of CR1 is about 1 year or more.
2. You can apply for J-1 Waiver on Extreme Hardship, which is hard to get.
 
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