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Help request regarding J1 and DV lottery

Y

Yecoww

New Member
Hello, I have a rather complex problem and I would be grateful if you could share your thoughts.

I have won DV lottery this year with case number EU22xxx. I am currently in the US with J1 and unfortunately, it is subject to 2-year home residency requirement. My visa will end in November 2022. However, I have to transfer it to another institution in August 2022. The new institution will extend my visa for one more year.

Here is the questions,

1. Should I follow CP or AOS path? If I choose to follow CP path, I need to send DS-260 ASAP. I am wondering if DoS will take into consideration my DS-260 form during transfer/extension of my J1.

2. Waiver problem! I know that once a waiver granted, we cannot extend the J1. However, it is a long process that may take 6-12 months. Will my waiver application be affected J1 transfer/extension in you opinion?

Thank you very much for your time.
 
Yecoww said:
Hello, I have a rather complex problem and I would be grateful if you could share your thoughts.

I have won DV lottery this year with case number EU22xxx. I am currently in the US with J1 and unfortunately, it is subject to 2-year home residency requirement. My visa will end in November 2022. However, I have to transfer it to another institution in August 2022. The new institution will extend my visa for one more year.

Here is the questions,

1. Should I follow CP or AOS path? If I choose to follow CP path, I need to send DS-260 ASAP. I am wondering if DoS will take into consideration my DS-260 form during transfer/extension of my J1.

2. Waiver problem! I know that once a waiver granted, we cannot extend the J1. However, it is a long process that may take 6-12 months. Will my waiver application be affected J1 transfer/extension in you opinion?

Thank you very much for your time.
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1. Sorry I can’t help you decide as to which processing option will work best for you. You need to decide on that on your own. You can take a look at some of the pros and cons of both option which listed on the AOS process spreadsheet to help you decide.
2. I would expect the extension request to be denied if a waiver request is already pending in the system.

My suggestion is to focus on getting the extension first if you wish to remain in the US. Historical trend shows EU22XXX is not likely to become current before the first quarter of 2023 anyway. Or request a waiver now with the mindset of departing at the end of your current program and process your DV selection via CP.
 
So a question, assuming from what you have said that you/the institution you are transferring to will have to file form i539 to extend your J status, have you already submitted your application for this? Because according to the uscis website https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ , the fastest service center processing J extensions is Texas, and that is taking most cases up to 17.5 months to process.

If this were me, and the waiver takes 6-12 months as you say, and my ultimate goal were to stay permanently in the US, that would seem to take precedence to a one year extension of the J? Rather than waiting for an extension to be approved first and then applying for a waiver and quite possibly running out of time before Sept 2023? Just my opinion/what I would do.

one other question- are you on a program other than a Fulbright?
 
Sm1smom said:
1. Sorry I can’t help you decide as to which processing option will work best for you. You need to decide on that on your own. You can take a look at some of the pros and cons of both option which listed on the AOS process spreadsheet to help you decide.
2. I would expect the extension request to be denied if a waiver request is already pending in the system.

My suggestion is to focus on getting the extension first if you wish to remain in the US. Historical trend shows EU22XXX is not likely to become current before the first quarter of 2023 anyway. Or request a waiver now with the mindset of departing at the end of your current program and process your DV selection via CP.
Click to expand...

I sincerely thank you for your explanation, truly appreciate it. I will investigate more and will share my experience here.
 
@SusieQQQ
Honestly, I am shocked with these processing times. My program notified me to send extension request more than 1 month before the DS-2019 end time. I assumed it would only take a few weeks. However, I cannot send this extension request before transferring to another university in August. It will leave me only 2-2.5 months for processing time of the extension . If these timelines are correct, no one can extend if their J1 issued for 1-year. Would it be possible that there is another way for exchange visitors?
 
Yecoww said:
@SusieQQQ
Honestly, I am shocked with these processing times. My program notified me to send extension request more than 1 month before the DS-2019 end time. I assumed it would only take a few weeks. However, I cannot send this extension request before transferring to another university in August. It will leave me only 2-2.5 months for processing time of the extension . If these timelines are correct, no one can extend if their J1 issued for 1-year. Would it be possible that there is another way for exchange visitors?
Click to expand...
Everything has slowed down dramatically since Covid, I believe it only used to take a couple of months prior to 2020. I have seen many situations reported over the past year and till today where people applying to extend visit visas only receive a decision on the i539 months after the maximum amount of time they could have extended for has already passed, and I guess the same thing is happening with shorter-term J extensions like yours. It’s possible your institution has more accurate figures as to what pertains specifically to them, or has some insight into potential workarounds, but the most logical process is to follow the official timelines.

Bear in mind that although it is possible to try to AOS while an extension request is still pending, AOS approval would be subject to a positive extension decision, as you would be out of status and unable to adjust otherwise. If that i539 decision has not been made before the end of the FY in which you are trying to AOS, the AOS process cannot be completed. (@Sm1smom - i’m a bit rusty here, so can you confirm if this is correct?)
 
SusieQQQ said:
Everything has slowed down dramatically since Covid, I believe it only used to take a couple of months prior to 2020. I have seen many situations reported over the past year and till today where people applying to extend visit visas only receive a decision on the i539 months after the maximum amount of time they could have extended for has already passed, and I guess the same thing is happening with shorter-term J extensions like yours. It’s possible your institution has more accurate figures as to what pertains specifically to them, or has some insight into potential workarounds, but the most logical process is to follow the official timelines.

Bear in mind that although it is possible to try to AOS while an extension request is still pending, AOS approval would be subject to a positive extension decision, as you would be out of status and unable to adjust otherwise. If that i539 decision has not been made before the end of the FY in which you are trying to AOS, the AOS process cannot be completed. (@Sm1smom - i’m a bit rusty here, so can you confirm if this is correct?)
Click to expand...
Confirmed!
 
I’m in the exact same situation, the only difference is that I’m a few months ahead of you in the process, so let me tell you:

- Having a pending waiver doesn’t disqualify you from extending your DS2019. I was waiting for my extension whith a crazy amount of anxiety because I wasn’t sure, but it got approved without any issues.

- Processing times for hardship waiver (if that’s what you’re seeking) are disappointing! There are people with applications that have been pending for 18 months! Mine is 11 months and still counting.

Good luck
 
SusieQQQ said:
Everything has slowed down dramatically since Covid, I believe it only used to take a couple of months prior to 2020. I have seen many situations reported over the past year and till today where people applying to extend visit visas only receive a decision on the i539 months after the maximum amount of time they could have extended for has already passed, and I guess the same thing is happening with shorter-term J extensions like yours. It’s possible your institution has more accurate figures as to what pertains specifically to them, or has some insight into potential workarounds, but the most logical process is to follow the official timelines.

Bear in mind that although it is possible to try to AOS while an extension request is still pending, AOS approval would be subject to a positive extension decision, as you would be out of status and unable to adjust otherwise. If that i539 decision has not been made before the end of the FY in which you are trying to AOS, the AOS process cannot be completed. (@Sm1smom - i’m a bit rusty here, so can you confirm if this is correct?)
Click to expand...

Sm1smom said:
Confirmed!
Click to expand...

I sincerely thank you for your time and guidance.
 
AnasMD said:
I’m in the exact same situation, the only difference is that I’m a few months ahead of you in the process, so let me tell you:

- Having a pending waiver doesn’t disqualify you from extending your DS2019. I was waiting for my extension whith a crazy amount of anxiety because I wasn’t sure, but it got approved without any issues.

- Processing times for hardship waiver (if that’s what you’re seeking) are disappointing! There are people with applications that have been pending for 18 months! Mine is 11 months and still counting.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for sharing this. It is very hard to find similar experience.

I am glad you didn’t encounter a problem with extension. How long did it take to process your extension request?

My waiver will be through NOS from my country. I did not apply for a waiver yet, because I was afraid it may cause a problem during transfer/extension.

Lastly, did you also win dv lottery? If yes, when did you send DS-260? Did it cause any trouble with your J1?
 
I won DV22 but I didn’t fill out DS260 because:

- It’s not a requirement for DV based AOS
- It would’ve disqualified me from extending DS2019 (as far as I know).

DS2019 renewal through my sponsor took like a week or so.

Keep in mind that USCIS takes at least 2-3 months to send your waiver application to DOS, which will also take some months to get to it.
 
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