Help please!!! Fulbright Scholar Waiver denied!!

J

j1w

Registered Users (C)
Hi
I came to the U.S. as a J-1 Fulbright student for my bachelor's degree. Fulbright sponsored me (provided a total of $4000 for 4 years while my college provided a full tuition scholarship).

I then switched to an F1 visa to pursue further studies. Since 2009 I have been on a new J-1 visa doing a fellowship with a US government agency. My fellowship will be over next summer. I have not taken any time off between my trainings since 1998 and I have not completed the 2 year home requirement as required by Fulbright program.

2 months ago I applied for the J-1 waiver based on a no objection reason. My home country has approved my request for a waiver and forwarded the favorable recommendation to DOS. DOS just decided on a non-favorable recommendation. I have been told that Fulbright fellows are easily denied whereas the fellows from my current J-1 visa are usually accepted so I am strongly suspecting that Fulbright was the issue. I have not yet received the final decision by USCIS.

Does USCIS always follow the recommendation of DOS or could they have another opinion? Is there something that can be done prior to USCIS sending the final decision?

I am not eligible for the persucution nor the hardship waivers and my current government agency said they do not generally sponsor for IGA waivers because they do not want to go against DOS decision and because it costs them a lot of money and effort. Is there any other way to get the waiver?

Any ideas of how to deal with this? Is there a way to appeal to this decision? Could I pay the money back to Fulbright?


Please help!!!!!!!!!
 
Hi,

I don’t think I can tell you anything positive. I have been watching the waivers over forums over the last five years, and have never seen a case when governmentally-funded programs received a waiver on no-objection grounds. It is just seems to be a waste of time and money, but it is hard to resist not trying it because often it is only the option.

You might have a better shot trying other types of waiver. However, in the last 2.5 years it became even worse to secure a waiver for governmentally- funded programs. Lawyers explain it by changes in DOS waiver division stuff. Some people try to fulfill this requirement over the several years, and it seems like one of the reasonable options to me

I wonder how long it takes to receive sponsor views these days? Thanks and good luck with your further decisions.

J
 
Thank you for your reply..

I am contacting lawyers to see if there is a way around this.

It took me 4 weeks for the sponsor views. After they were received DOS decided in 2 days.
 
Thanks. I am not sure if laweyrs can help. I contacted so many of them and spent lots of money on lawyers, and it was useless b/c of the gov funding. I think the only way you could do is to go to study more and go back and forth between countries. There are a few cases of rejection of waivers based on gov funding out there that are in court right now. Most of them are based on procedual errors b/c you can't really appeal the DOS decision. They also try to claim that there is a discrimintation on waivers decisions for gov-funded j1s.

However, it takes a long time to resolve it in a court (a few years) and people often fall out of status, which is very dangerous, and the outcome is perhaps not positive b/c of the relation to gov (though I did not hear of the outcomes yet, just guessing, b/c most of the cases that I heard are still pending in courts)...Given all of these, the DOS just easily rejects our waivers applications b/c people just don't want to bother to deal with them in courts but rather go back home. However, I wonder if the increased amount of cases in court in the last two years would make the DOS's attitude different in the future.

My no-objection waiver got rejected in teh past. I thought I had a very strong hardship case with a sick husband a child and a good lawyer, but it fell through, and a lawyer did not make any suggestions about what to do, just moved on not hesitating to take lots of my money....There are very few decent lawyers out there who would not take your case and just tell you to go home.

J
 
Uscis always agrees with DOS. Even in hardship cases, if USCIS approved that there is hardship, and then DOS issues not favorable recommendation, USCIS denies hardship waivers inspite they found hardship to beginning with.

My problem is different than yours, I can return to the USA after two years becuase my husband is a US citizen. When my visa was expiring and waivers were rejected I was rushing into crazy decisions of how to stay and hoping to get another waiver later. I got accepted at a very expensive private school, but later decided not to go to ecuase I woudl spend all money and then I would not have money to stay in my home country for two years if I have to and I would loose my skills obtained from new degree and will not be copetetive on a job market. So, I lost the waiver battle, and I am back to my home country. It is very hard, becuase my family got separated but I don;t see other ways around the problem for the moment...I hope it will change in the future.
 
The DOS has changed with the new administration. And the USCIS does not like the AAO.
So here is the Myth:
They all got together hoping to change the rules with the AAO and lost.
But, they found a way around the appeal process by having the DOS do the denials.
They tested this big time in 2010. There are no appeals with the DOS.
Now there are very few waiver appeals with the AAO,
because the USCIS sends them to the DOS approved but with a private denial request. How’s that for slick myths. That so far seem to be true. But may be changing because of all the mess ups.

You do have an option as a Fulbright. It is possible that you are not subject to the rule.
Ask the DOS for an opinion letter. Hope it helps
 
To Jula258,
My situation is somewhat like yours. I applied J1 hardship waiver in the end of 2008, and still waiting. No dicision has been made. My visa has expired, but when we called USCIS, they said since my I-612 is pending, I can wait here in USA. More than two years has passed. I'm afraid if my J1 waiver is denied, I have to appeal first. If the appeal fails, I have to go back to my home country to fulfill the 2 year residency. But I'm afraid I can't enter USA since my visa expired for so long. I'm afraid even my USC husband cannot help. So frustrated! Life is so hard! I lost my job, lost my income, and lost my retirement compensation. I'm afraid I will lose my husband since he is old and sick. He needs my help here. He cannot leave USA. He cannot go with me. Probably I will lose my whole life! Why J-1 waiver is so hard! They'll mess up our life if they deny my waiver! So bad!
 
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Amyyoung,

It is outside of the processing time. I know that it if you do not hear from them 90 days outiside of the time (which is about 4-5 months now), you should contact them regarding your case and they will start searching for it. This happened to my earlier hardship waiver, I started searching for it and USCIS denied me right away without reading my application carefully. Perhaps, I annoyed them. I came back to my home country and applied for a hardship waiver again. It went through USCIS stage without problem, but got denied at DOS again!

It is intolerable to be separated from my family! My child keeps asking why her father is not without us and where he is hiding, my child is constantly sick in the country without a good medical care, and we both can’t stand it anymore, but we have to suffer through it because it looks like the government thinks that we and our US citizen-families and innocent children deserved this punishment..I hope one day they will be ashamed of what they did to people like us, it is like sending us to a war zone. Who gave them this right to control our fates?

J
 
I did J1 hardship waiver. After several rejections, I won it.
I hired an immigration lawyer from the beggining.

My lawyer told me that J1 waiver pending will not give me a legal status to stay in US, unlike GC pending.
This is difefrent from what you heard from USCIS officer. I do not know which one is saying corerct.

My first J1 waiver application got rejected (processing time: 5-6 months).
The denial letter said "NO APPEAL".
My lawyer told me "yes, as this letter states we cannot appeal. But we can do other things."
We did "motion to reconsider". Then rejectied (processing time: about 3 months).
Then we did 2nd request of J1 waiver. We won this time (processing time: 5-6 months).

For the motion to reconsider and 2nd J1 waiver application, we added more information in the statement and supporting documents.

The two rejections were hurtfull. But, with the cmpletion of them, we could make next move.
When it was the time I should hear from USCIS (or see some change on their website), I checked with my lawyer's office.
They contacted somewhere and got information of the status of my case. Their information was more detailed
that what we see on USCIS website. Basically, there is no big delay in my cases.
You may consider hiring an immigration lawyer.
 
j1w said:
Hi
Does USCIS always follow the recommendation of DOS or could they have another opinion? Is there something that can be done prior to USCIS sending the final decision?
Any ideas of how to deal with this? Is there a way to appeal to this decision? Could I pay the money back to Fulbright?
Click to expand...

I was with another US government funded J1 program. I asked the visa officer at the program whether I could pay the money back to avoid 2 years home rsidency requirement.
The visa officer told me that there is not financial route in their program to accept "money back". Also, the program is getting funding from US government and they need to get funding from US government in future, they basically go with the government policy (2 years home residency rule) and not give away "no objection letter".
The officer told me that if the money they spent on the participant was really small and participation period was short, they may give no objection letter.

You can check with your J1 program about their policy.
 
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j-1 waiver question

Could you please tell me what you did after this rejection of the waiver? Did you appeal? and if you did, what was the outcome?

thanks.


j1w said:
Thank you for your reply..

I am contacting lawyers to see if there is a way around this.

It took me 4 weeks for the sponsor views. After they were received DOS decided in 2 days.
Click to expand...
 
question about waiver denial

Hi j1w,

I am curious as to what happened after your denial. Did you appeal or talk with any lawyer? what other options are you considering? thanks.

cyp80

j1w said:
Hi
I came to the U.S. as a J-1 Fulbright student for my bachelor's degree. Fulbright sponsored me (provided a total of $4000 for 4 years while my college provided a full tuition scholarship).

I then switched to an F1 visa to pursue further studies. Since 2009 I have been on a new J-1 visa doing a fellowship with a US government agency. My fellowship will be over next summer. I have not taken any time off between my trainings since 1998 and I have not completed the 2 year home requirement as required by Fulbright program.

2 months ago I applied for the J-1 waiver based on a no objection reason. My home country has approved my request for a waiver and forwarded the favorable recommendation to DOS. DOS just decided on a non-favorable recommendation. I have been told that Fulbright fellows are easily denied whereas the fellows from my current J-1 visa are usually accepted so I am strongly suspecting that Fulbright was the issue. I have not yet received the final decision by USCIS.

Does USCIS always follow the recommendation of DOS or could they have another opinion? Is there something that can be done prior to USCIS sending the final decision?

I am not eligible for the persucution nor the hardship waivers and my current government agency said they do not generally sponsor for IGA waivers because they do not want to go against DOS decision and because it costs them a lot of money and effort. Is there any other way to get the waiver?

Any ideas of how to deal with this? Is there a way to appeal to this decision? Could I pay the money back to Fulbright?


Please help!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
After the denial, you can file Motion to Reconsider, or you can appeal, or you can file another J-1 waiver application.
 
Amy what is Motion to Reconsider or how does one appeal? I have been contacting tons of lawyers but nobody has mentioned this. Can you please give me more information? My waiver was based on no objection from my country and it was denied in November. Can I still apply for the Motion to Reconsider or appeal and do I need a lawyer for that?

Also if I reapply can I do it again under the no objection? I can not apply for hardship and I was told for the IGA waiver it is very hard to obtain a government sponsor.
Thank you so much
 
j1w said:
Amy what is Motion to Reconsider or how does one appeal? I have been contacting tons of lawyers but nobody has mentioned this. Can you please give me more information? My waiver was based on no objection from my country and it was denied in November. Can I still apply for the Motion to Reconsider or appeal and do I need a lawyer for that?

Also if I reapply can I do it again under the no objection? I can not apply for hardship and I was told for the IGA waiver it is very hard to obtain a government sponsor.
Thank you so much
Click to expand...

I did J1 waiver in hardship category, denied twice, and won at last.
Read the denial letter you received carefully.
The following is the extract from the denial letter I received.
"There is no appeal from this Decision in accordance with 8 C.F.R. 212.7(c)(11)."
This means that I cannot appeal. If you see something like this in the denial letter you received, you may not be able to appeal.

I had an immigration lawyer since my first waiver application. My lawyer also said I cannot appeal to this.
The recommendation from the lawyer was as follows.
1. Do motion to reconsider to the denial of my 1st J1 waiver.
2. If the motion to reconsider is denied, do 2nd J1 waiver request.
1 and 2 are not "appeal".

The result (denial) of motion to reconsider came kind of soon, like a month.
Then, we went to 2nd J1 waiver, again in the hardship category.
After 6 months, I got the final approval letter.

My lawyer pushed me to do the motion to reconsider very soon. So, there may be a set period that allows us to do motion to reconsider after the denial.
I submitted "motion to reconsider" within a month.

This lawyer also told me that J1 waiver pending period nor motion to recoisider pending period itself will not give me the legal status and keep extend my DS-2019 to hold legal status in US. (I do not have the legal book soutce about this but this is what my lawyer said. Note that my lawyer changed her words later somtimes.)

Also, if you do reapply for the waiver again, it is better for you to provide new evidence/document/claim to justify why they have to look at your application again and why you need to bother them again.

My case, J1 waiver in hardship category, could be different from your case.

I recommend you to talk to immigration lawyers who have real experience of J1 waiver. Some has free first meeting and some has 30 minutes meeting for $100. You are not commited to hire them on this meeting. Get informed and then decide what you want to do, do more or not, hire him or not, after you met them. I recommend you to meet the immigration lawyers face to face, showing your documents to them.
 
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