Is University Salary considered US Govt funding?

[tabaliya]

Hi,

A friend of mine has applied for her J-1 waiver through the "No Objection Letter" route. She has not received any fnding from the government of her home country. She is on salary from an academic department at a local university. Is this considered funding from the US GOvernment? I think not - the university is state supported by receiving salary from one of its academic departments would hopefully not be construed as receiving US govt funding. I would think USAID, Fulbright or similar funding would fall under that category.

Any clarifications would be deeply appreciated.

AP

 

[tabaliya]

Hi,

A friend of mine has applied for her J-1 waiver through the "No Objection Letter" route. She has not received any fnding from the government of her home country. She is on salary from an academic department at a local university. Is this considered funding from the US GOvernment? I think not - the university is state supported by receiving salary from one of its academic departments would hopefully not be construed as receiving US govt funding. I would think USAID, Fulbright or similar funding would fall under that category.

Any clarifications would be deeply appreciated.

AP

Sorry about the typos: she is employed by one of the academic departments at a US university and is employed as a visiting professor. Just to clarify further.

 

[galantry]

Only the responsible officer who signed your friend's DS-2019 can clarify that. This could be tricky since it really depends on your government if NOS may or may not be granted to those directly (Fulbright, USAID) or indirectly (salary from NIH-funded program) receiving government (US or other) or international organization funding. And even if your government grants the NOS for your waiver of the 2-year residency requirement, the DOS or the USCIS may decide otherwise.

 

[tabaliya]

Only the responsible officer who signed your friend's DS-2019 can clarify that. This could be tricky since it really depends on your government if NOS may or may not be granted to those directly (Fulbright, USAID) or indirectly (salary from NIH-funded program) receiving government (US or other) or international organization funding. And even if your government grants the NOS for your waiver of the 2-year residency requirement, the DOS or the USCIS may decide otherwise.

I understand. Just to clarify further - she does not have USAID, Fulbright or any such fellowship. She is not here for research but purely for teaching purposes and is paid a salary on the payroll of the University of Minnesota.

I found this definition of US Government funding at the Cornell website:

http://www.isso.cornell.edu/academicstaff/jrequestfillable.pdf

**U.S. Government Funding: The Exchange Visitor is considered to be government funded ONLY if s/he received funds directly from a U.S. Government agency. When individuals are supported through government funds paid to a Cornell professor, department, or grant, this is NOT considered to be direct government funding. Receipt of government funding will subject the J visitor to the 2-year home residency requirement.

AP

 

[tabaliya]

I understand. Just to clarify further - she does not have USAID, Fulbright or any such fellowship. She is not here for research but purely for teaching purposes and is paid a salary on the payroll of the University of Minnesota.

I found this definition of US Government funding at the Cornell website:

http://www.isso.cornell.edu/academicstaff/jrequestfillable.pdf

**U.S. Government Funding: The Exchange Visitor is considered to be government funded ONLY if s/he received funds directly from a U.S. Government agency. When individuals are supported through government funds paid to a Cornell professor, department, or grant, this is NOT considered to be direct government funding. Receipt of government funding will subject the J visitor to the 2-year home residency requirement.

AP

Her teaching is also not supported by any funding (NIH, NEA or anything like that). It is purley a salary from the U of M for teaching a course in music.

AP

 

[mmed]

She is fine, this is not governmental fund, the challenge is to get the no objection statement from the country of origin and then her chance to get waiver is 99.9999%

 

[tabaliya]

She is fine, this is not governmental fund, the challenge is to get the no objection statement from the country of origin and then her chance to get waiver is 99.9999%

Yes, she has already gotten the three letters (the so called NORI) from three different govt authorities in India (and sure enough, this was a huge challenge - but she initiated the process about two years ago), submitted to the Chicago Consulate and already received the Waiver Certificate from the CGI - Chicago. The next step is I guess the CGI - Chicago sending the NOS to the Indian Embassy and the Indian Embassy sending the final NOS letter to the DoS. So she is already in the process. Just that she was concerned about the definition of what constitutes US government funding and had heard about some rejections of the J-1 waivers based on that finding.

AP

 

[mmed]

Yes, she has already gotten the three letters (the so called NORI) from three different govt authorities in India (and sure enough, this was a huge challenge - but she initiated the process about two years ago), submitted to the Chicago Consulate and already received the Waiver Certificate from the CGI - Chicago. The next step is I guess the CGI - Chicago sending the NOS to the Indian Embassy and the Indian Embassy sending the final NOS letter to the DoS. So she is already in the process. Just that she was concerned about the definition of what constitutes US government funding and had heard about some rejections of the J-1 waivers based on that finding.

AP

What she got is considered NOT governmental fund as I said. Just keep in mind that the basis of approval or denial is not just one factor dependent, it is a process with personal statement stating why the person needs waiver, type of field of J, ..............etc. It is not just, I need waiver because my country has no objection and I have job offer. Obviously some people even without any fund from any where and not in the skill list get denied, others with real governmental fund get approved. Just do you part and wait to see the decision and act after that accordingly.

 

[tabaliya]

What she got is considered NOT governmental fund as I said. Just keep in mind that the basis of approval or denial is not just one factor dependent, it is a process with personal statement stating why the person needs waiver, type of field of J, ..............etc. It is not just, I need waiver because my country has no objection and I have job offer. Obviously some people even without any fund from any where and not in the skill list get denied, others with real governmental fund get approved. Just do you part and wait to see the decision and act after that accordingly.

Fair enough. There is no consensus though, on whether or not the DoS reads the statement of purpose consistently, and if at all, in some cases. So no one knows really.

AP

 

[tabaliya]

What she got is considered NOT governmental fund as I said. Just keep in mind that the basis of approval or denial is not just one factor dependent, it is a process with personal statement stating why the person needs waiver, type of field of J, ..............etc. It is not just, I need waiver because my country has no objection and I have job offer. Obviously some people even without any fund from any where and not in the skill list get denied, others with real governmental fund get approved. Just do you part and wait to see the decision and act after that accordingly.

Update:

She received the Favorable Recommendation two days ago from the DOS. Now I guess she needs to just wait for the USCIS NOA.

In her case, it was a No Objection waiver and for the statement of reason all she wrote was "No Objection from Home Government". That's it. I guess a detailed personal statement is not really required unless you have Fulbright or NIH or some other government funding. She did go through an attorney and that was the advice given by the attorney - no detailed personal statement needed.

From the filing with the DOS to the favorable recommendation it was 6 weeks total time of which the bulk of the time was spent waiting for the Indian Consulate and the Embassy of India to do their thing.

AP