Plz Help!! J1 Waiver takes forever!!!

R

rmswookq

Registered Users (C)
Hello Everyone,

I recieved the favorable recommendation letter by mail around 20th of April 2007. Since then, I have never heard from USCIS. It has been almost 3 months now. I am really getting very nervous. Please tell me what I am supposed to do to get the final waiver from USCIS. I need to apply H1B ASAP. My current DS-2019 expires at the end of September this year. Any advice will help. Thank you in advance.

Timetable so far is

Recommendation Sent April 09, 2007
No Objection Statement Received March 05, 2007
Fee Received February 15, 2007
Form DS-3035 Received February 15, 2007
Form DS-2019 Received February 15, 2007
Passport Data Page Received February 15, 2007
Letter of Representation Received February 15, 2007
Statement Of Reason Received February 15, 2007
 
Have you tried calling the USCIS customer service center? Sometimes they are clueless since this is an application forwarded to them by DOS, but insist on having them pull up your name in their systems. The application will appear on their system as a form I-612: Application for a waiver of foreign residency requirements.
 
Case Number?

Thank you for quick reply. Do you think they can pull up the infomation regarding my case. I do not have any reciept number. All I have it the case number for J1 waiver which is 6 digit number. As far as I know, USCIS case number is 13 digit. Anyway, I am going to call USCIS tomorrow morning. Thank you again
 
You will just have to tell them that you have an application pending since April 9 but you haven't gotten a receipt. It would have gone to the Vermont Service Center, in case they ask.

You will first get the regular customer service people who will ask you a bunch of generic questions. Then you will have to explain that you never received a receipt notice for your case. They might ask you if your check was cashed, you will have to explain that it's not a regular sort of case because the US Department of State applies on your behalf and you have confirmation that the state department did forward the case (just don't bother explaining too much about J-1 waivers and no objection statements and all of that, the customer service people don't know these things usually). But try to make it short because they should transfer you to an immigration specialist - you want to get transferred there ASAP.

Once you reach an immigration specialist, hopefully you will get one who knows how the J-1 process works (not all of them do). In any case, ask them to look up your name, it should be associated with a I-612. If they tell you they can't find it, make sure you give them the name exactly as it appears on the DS-3035 form you initially sent to the DOS, which should be exactly as is written in your passport.

Good luck.
 
I went to my local office and they were able to pool up the receipt from the computer and gave me my Alien Registration Number. The receipt was in the mail by the time I got home the same day, so I am not sure if the local office would have been able to get the case number if it were not in the mail already but I found that it was easier to talk to people face-to-face then explaining all the J1 waiver business over the phone. If the local office is not too far from you - visiting might be worth your time.
 
Thank you all above

I spend 1 hour to call USCIS this morning.

1st call
A lady kept saying "there is nothing I can do here. Go to a local office". She seemed not want to listen to me. I hung up.

2nd call
This lady was kind. She understood J1-Visa process well. She immediately transferred me to a higher level representative. This new lady asked my name and address, and easily pulled up the information regarding my case.
She told me that my case was received and still in pending at Vermont Center. She gave me the receipt number for USCIS online status check-up. She also told me I should wait for 90 days at least and I still have to wait 15 more days.

I checked my online stutus at uscis.gov. It say Vermont Center sent me a receipt notice on 04/12/07. But, I did not received it.

3rd call
I asked about the receipt notice that I was supposed to receive. The lady transferred me to a customer servise lady at Vermont Center. She told me she can not regenerate this notice and just wait until you receive the final notice. She added the reciept notice is not necessary if you recieve the final decision. I asked also about my current status. She told me to check the website at uscis.gov

I checked the website for procssing time but could not find the case foro I612 based on "No Objection"

4th call
This lady was very kind. I asked about the current status of my case. She asked all the info like name, receipt number and case number and etc. She pulled up the info from her computer. She said there was some trouble in my case and needed to ask for supervisor about the status about my cases. It took more 15 minutes she talked to her super. She finaly asked my telephone number. she said that her super need to look into my case in more detail. She promised to call me back.

30 minutes after
She called me back and said something. But, I could not clearly understand what she was trying to say. I guess is they accidently did not processed my case and they should have processed long time before.
To clarify, I asked "Can I expect the final waiver decision within a month?"
She said "Absolutely sir"

I think I did make some progress today.

Thank you all again
 
Many (including myself) never received a receipt notice. And indeed, it doesn't really matter as long as you know what your receipt number is (which you now do). I'm sure you will get your waiver soon. Good luck.
 
Today, I checked online stutus. I shows that they sent Approval Notice yesterday right after I called Vermont Center. Thank you jk0274
 
you should have made sure they have your current address.

Put your name inside your mail box.

My I-612 was sent by Texas Service center, since I am in ATL.
 
Hi LucyMO
Thank you for the advice. I made sure that they have my current address. There is my name on my mailbox and I think the post man knows my name. Sometime he delivered mails with my name but wrong address to my mail box.
 
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