Visa Wavier Questions

naje

Registered Users (C)
Does anyone on this site know of people who have had their J-visa wavier declined and had to leave for the 2 years.
For those of you who were granted the wavier, at what stage did you apply for it i.e. how many months before your J-visa was going to expire?
Is it correct to say that not everyone on a J-visa is subject to the Foreign Residency Requirement, who do you know if you fall into this category?
Look forward to your replies.
 
there have been cases

i personally don\'t know anyone of the cases who were declined and had to go out, but i am sure if you search on this forum and on the FAQ you will find the answer to that question.
as for your question on when is the best time to apply, on the FAQ of this forum, it was mentioned that actually the best timing to apply for a waiver is actually after 6 months to one year of your visa expiration date.

as for some people are subject and some are not, this is true.
1-if you come on J1 as a Medical Student then you are automatically subject.
2-if you come on J1 for other type of training or studies, then you are not subject unless on of those 2 items below is your case:
  a- your participation in the program for which you came to the
United States was financed in whole or in part, directly or
indirectly, by an agency of the United States Government or by
the government of the country of your nationality or of your last
legal permanent residence;

  b- at the time of admission or acquisition of status under
you were a national or resident of a country which the
Director of the United States Information Agency, pursuant to
regulations prescribed by him, had designated as clearly
requiring the services of persons engaged in the field of
specialized knowledge or skill in which the alien was engaged.
in other words if you your skill is listed under the skill list of your conutry than you are subject to the 2 years.

All those information as well the skill list can be found on the following website:
http://travel.state.gov/jvw.html
it has a lot of information, read it well
good luck

Ziad

the information above are not a legal advice, they are based only on my personal experience and readings from the internet.
 
Little confused

Thanks for your reply,

When you said 6 months to one year of your visa expiration date, I am guessing you mean if your visa is valid for 18 months then apply after 6 months or 1 year into it, as apposed to after it.
Do most wavers get approved by the INS if the DOS have issued a “no object letter”?
I have read a lot of information and am pretty sure I don’t fall into either of the classes, I haven’t actually applied or a J-visa I am still researching it at the moment and trying understand everything about it.
I notice on the net there are a few company’s (who say they are not profit) that offer programs that help organise the J-visa for you (at a cost of coarse) is it necessary to go through one of these programs or can you and a potential company just apply for the J-visa separately, I am a little confused about these programs? Are these programs these companies offering the same as the programs you refer to in your post.
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
 
J-1 waiver

Ziad\'s reply was indeed a very informative one.

If you are just browsing the web for possible entry into the US for the purpose of employment, better to opt for H-1B/O-1 if possible.

Majority of private companies are NOT authorized to issue IAP-66 (the document that is necessary for J-1). Several not-for-profit, research, government and educational organizations, however, can sponsor your J-1. I know a person with J-1 sponsorship from IBM research lab. Non-government, non-medical and non-educational J programs mostly don\'t have 2-year HRR. This is my personal observation and not a general policy matter of the DoS.

Before you get your IAP-66, you might like to ask your sponsor whether you would be subject to the 2-year home country residency requirement (HRR). Sometimes they might not know that very accurately. Sometimes even if you are not subject to the HRR, the visa-issuing officer might stamp that you are subject to it! These are not so frequent cases, though.

To the best of my information, most of the no-objection based and interested government agency (IGA) based waiver cases get approved - however, be informed that this is my personal observation and not an INS/DoS policy. I have seen several hardship-based waivers being denied. Also please note that waiver is not a "master key" to your immigration journey - you will still need most of the times an employer sponsor you in order to get H-1B/O-1 or an approved immigration petion if you ever intend to do so.

Waiver procedure typically takes 6 to 8 months - so around 8 to 10 months before the end of your J-1 program (that means J-1 status as specified on the IAP-66 and NOT the expiry date on your visa stamp), you should think about initiating the waiver procedure.

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
No Title

Usually if DOS approve your waiver, INS most probably will approve it, unless you have some problems with INS like previous Visa issues and violations.
as for the company based J1, i received my J1 from a company and not from a program. actually getting your J1 from a company, in my opinion, is better once you want to get a waiver.
one thing though, you really have to be careful about this, your company might tell you or you might think that you are not subject, and then the next thing you know , you are subject to the 2 years HRR. this has happened to me.

good luck

Ziad
 
J-Visa

Thanks for you reply guys. Just a few more quick questions.
How does a company know or find out if they are authorized to issue the IAP-66, is it based on the type of work they are in, size etc.
If I was only looking at working in the US for 12-18 months etc, would a J-visa be more appropriate then the H1-B, what is the length of stay for a J-Visa (What are the advantages and disadvantages of the J over the H1B).
If a particular company is not authorized to issue the IAP-66, can you still go and work for that company if you go through one of the programs.
What advantages are there (if any) for going through a program, and do you know of any programs that sponsor J-visa for people in the engineering/construction field.
And finally, if I found a company who was authorized to issue the IAP-66, what sort of time frame is it from them submitting the first bit of paper work to actually being granted the J-Visa, thanks again for your responses before. Look forward to hearing from you.
 
Your questions..

1. To cut a longer answer short, if the company has blank IAP-66 with them, that means they can most probably issue it! [The company has to check with the DoS to see if they can sponsor for J visa.] If the company is not authorised to issue IAP-66, you can not work under J-1 for them. If they are also not ready for H-1B, that means look elsewhere.

2. H-1B is preferable no matter what the intended period of work is. May be, not everyone on this form might agree on this, though. If your purpose is only employment and earnings, then H-1B is should be a way to go. If you want to carry out some research alongwith some remuneration, then J-1 is the widely used option. On the positive side, J is the only non-immigrant visa, where a dependent can officially work if applied for work-permit. There are sometimes income-tax concessions for J visa holders from certain countries depending upon whether the US has any tax treaty with that particular country. Dependent of H-1B can neither work on H-4 nor are there any income tax benefits.

3. I don\'t understand what you mean by "what are the advantages of going through a program." Do you already have various options or what?

4. Once you get IAP-66, you are ready for J-1 visa stamp. The company, in fact, generally needs very little documentation (except probably your resume - which you can e-mail them; and sometimes a copy of passport). However, the type of documentation needed might also depend upon the type of company and/or the nature of project you might work in. So the time taken should be less than a month for IAP-66 if nothing is lost in the postal transit.

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
Agency Vs Program

Thanks again for your responses Jigesh & Ziad they have been very helpful. As for the Programs and the advantages etc. Without naming any, I have come across some on the internet that offer to sponsor the participant for the J-Visa, the programs cost roughly $1,000 + insurance for the duration if you don’t have any your self and let you get training from a company/organization for up to 18 months, the company has to provide some training plan to them also. Now I am not sure if these programs (agencies) are just a scam, or just catches those people who don’t know too much about the J-visa. From what you guys have said above I can’t see any real benefit is using one of these agencies if the organization can authorise the IAP-66 themselves, to me the particular agencies I have looked at appear to be just acting as a middle man. Not unless by them sponsoring your J-visa could allow you to go and train/work for a company that is not authorized to issue the IAP-66 themselves. If you are interested I could maybe e-mail you the site separately and you could take a look and let me know what you think. (I think I may have gotten you confused with what I meant of Programs & Agencies, or maybe I am confused myself)
As far as the company/organization being authorised to issue IAP-66, do they need to submit some sort of documentation or go through an interview process with the DOS so that they can become eligible to submit the IAP-66 and become a sponsor, I read something about a form IAP-37. Maybe these agencies (or Programs I referred to as above) that offer the J-Visa sponsorship relive the company from having to go through this process with the DOP as they have already been approved as sponsors, and its just a matter of the company providing the agency a plan of the training and skill the person will learn.
Thanks guys, I hope I haven’t confused the matter.

ps Ziad, you mentioned you received your J-Visa from a company and not a program, do you mean program as in an agency ? Was that company already authorized to issue the IAP-66 before you arrived or did they have to go through the process of becoming eligible.
 
a Corporation

i was hired by an American Corporation, and went to the US to get my training before starting the real job with them. this Company has been issuing IAP 66 for ages, they hire a lot of international people and they need to train them in their training center which is in the US before throwing them on jobs, so they use the J1 route almost all the times. so yes they were already authorized when they filed for my IAP 66.

Ziad
 
Top