J-1 Waiver / Sponsor Views and Skills List

A

achilleas

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I am a student from Cyprus (EU) and I came here on the Fulbright Scholarship. My sponsor on my DS-2019 is the US Department of State and all my paperwork was handled by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

I recently applied for the J-1 Waiver and I am still waiting to hear back from the US DoS.

Here is my situation:
(1) I am on a "Traditional Fulbright Scholarship" which means I only received $6K to relocate here to the U.S. No other funding was received.
(2) My country is not on the skills list anymore according to the J-1 Waiver website and the 2009 Skills List . It is also stated there that if my country is out of the skills list I am not subject to the 2yr requirement. I was told that this is different for Fulbright Scholars. Any clue?
(3) I am currently on an F-1 VISA.
(4) Currently doing my F-1 OPT

Here is my timeline:
------------------------
No Objection Statement Received March 01, 2010
Request for Sponsor Views Sent March 01, 2010
Sponsor Views Requested March 01, 2010
Fee Received February 22, 2010
Form DS-3035 Received February 22, 2010
Form DS-2019 Received February 22, 2010
Passport Data Page Received February 22, 2010
Statement Of Reason Received February 22, 2010

Questions:
-------------
(1) Am I or am I not subject to the 2yr requirement?
(2) Should I try and contact my sponsor? Who is my sponsor? The IIE, the US Department of State or the Fulbright Commission in Cyprus? How do I find who to contact? I called the waiver office and they said they cannot tell me who my sponsor is, something which I do understand.
(3) Is the wait time I am facing, normal?

I understand that each case is different but I feel that if the IIE is considered the "sponsor" then I will be a bit concerned since I have not been under their umbrella for 2 or more years now (my master's school switched me to F-1 ) and I have changed and grown (not just educationally) so much since I was last in touch with them. Therefore their judgment on whether I should stay in the country might not be as relevant nowadays.

Any thoughts? Thank you in advance for viewing this post.
 
Hi,

I am in the same situation, waiting for sponsor views since April. I talked to Fulbright Peru and after 5 months of documenting my case and pleading with them the directory approved of my waiver (or that is what the coordinator told me in the phone), then apparently they filled a form online with the department of state (so they did not have a copy for me) but I have not seen any change in the J1 status website. so now I am thinking that may be IIE could be in charge of my final sponsor views? let me know if you figure out who is the "sponsor". This whole process is beyond abusive, but I guess one need to keep the hope.

best

Hinsby
 
Hello,
We have just gone through a similar situation. My husband is a former Fulbrighter from the EU who applied for the no-objection waiver. We were told that the final decision rested on sponsor's views so naturally we contacted the Fulbright Commission in his home country who assured us that "they never say no" to Fulbrighters seeking the waiver. As it turns out, though, at least in our case it was not the commission in his home country who represented sponsor views but parties within the DoS -- and we received the same obfuscated replies when we asked specifically who within DoS is the sponsor. So for all intents and purposes, we were seeking sponsor views from the same people who were ultimately deciding on the waiver, which makes absolutely no sense.
The best I can say is to keep up the faith...to be perfectly honest, once DoS funding is involved coupled with the Fulbright, the waiver becomes more unlikely, no matter the amount (my husb. received only $10,000 of funding for a 7-year program - the rest was internal through his univ.).
We applied via the no-objection route and again via IGA and both were denied (No-obj took around 7 months to process and IGA was about 4 months). There are other options, though, without having to leave and fulfill the 2-yr. HRR, such as an O-1 visa, if you qualify. I do not mean to shatter your hopes but I know that when we were going through the same, any and all info was really important, no matter what.

Best of luck to both of you. Hang in there.

Oh, and your original DS 2019 and/or your visa will show whether or not you are subject to the 2yr HRR.
 
Beli,

When did you get denied last time? Just recently? I hope there will be some changes in DOS and they would become more reasonable.

My understanding is that in the countries where there is no F commisions DOS plays the role of a sponsor, and gives the sponsor views, but in countries with F commisions, they play this role.

Good luck people and don't give up!

J
 
There is a Fulbright Commission in Cyprus and they have sent me the information where they claim to the US DoS that they do not object to me receiving a waiver. Their argument is that if the government gives a no-objection letter then they concur with the government.

I recently found out that the money I have received through Fulbright ($5K) is to be used for travel expenses. This is actually stated in my terms of appointment. Does that count as not really funding toward my education? And if it does, doesn't that mean I am not required to do the 2 years?

This is all very confusing to me. The U.S. DoS and the U.S.C.I.S. said that my arguments did not overweight the mutual education act of 1961. I say we all get together and get a good lawyer and some media attention now that's election process and explain to these people that they cannot discriminate based on funding. I paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on 7 years of my education (5 years on J-1 and 2 years on F-1) and now I am on my OPT and cannot find a job due to Fulbright. Everybody wants to hire me but they want to spend the money to train me and then keep me. Supreme Court cases cost $15K, I am sure we could find the money and if we have enough people, we can explain that the mutual education act of 1961 might not exactly be valid in 2010. It is a beautiful concept that was more than valid back in the day but they don't need us to go back and become ambassadors of the U.S. in our home countries. This is the era of information people!

I am a little tired of listening to people's discussions and heartbroken seeing how many families get torn apart. To be quite honest, it was not clear to me about the two year requirement when I signed up for it in my 'teens'.

Anybody has any ideas?
 
That's so unfair if Fulbright did not mind and your government did not mind becuase they make their decidions based on these two documents. I think you might have a decent chance of resolving your case in a court, only one thing that might let you down is that you are not a US citizen, i.e., the court might deny your case easyly as well b/c you don;t have rights in this country...Sorry to hear about this...Let's hope that these people will become nicer to others one day who will apply later...I just don't know how they can sleep well after hurting so many people....so heartless....
 
same situation

Hi,

I can not tell you how surprised I am to have seen your post since I am EXACTLY in the same situation.

I am a fulbright scholar from Cyprus. was a J-1 between 2003-2005 (for MA) and since 2005, F-1 for my PhD.

I recently got a job and working now under OPT. I need to apply for j-1 waiver immediately. I have heard fulbright cases that are successful recently. However, i heard that your personal statement is very impotant and that most lawayers dl not want to take no objection waiver cases since it is most likely to be denied for Fulbright.

Have you heard anything in regards to your application? I know that our government as well as the fulbright at home do not object, but is the D.O.S.(in US) that makes the final decision. I only received $ 7000 for 2 years as well which i used for flight ticket and my books whereas univerisyt covered everythng.

How is your application going? Did you hear any final thing?

cyp80



achilleas said:
There is a Fulbright Commission in Cyprus and they have sent me the information where they claim to the US DoS that they do not object to me receiving a waiver. Their argument is that if the government gives a no-objection letter then they concur with the government.

I recently found out that the money I have received through Fulbright ($5K) is to be used for travel expenses. This is actually stated in my terms of appointment. Does that count as not really funding toward my education? And if it does, doesn't that mean I am not required to do the 2 years?

This is all very confusing to me. The U.S. DoS and the U.S.C.I.S. said that my arguments did not overweight the mutual education act of 1961. I say we all get together and get a good lawyer and some media attention now that's election process and explain to these people that they cannot discriminate based on funding. I paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on 7 years of my education (5 years on J-1 and 2 years on F-1) and now I am on my OPT and cannot find a job due to Fulbright. Everybody wants to hire me but they want to spend the money to train me and then keep me. Supreme Court cases cost $15K, I am sure we could find the money and if we have enough people, we can explain that the mutual education act of 1961 might not exactly be valid in 2010. It is a beautiful concept that was more than valid back in the day but they don't need us to go back and become ambassadors of the U.S. in our home countries. This is the era of information people!

I am a little tired of listening to people's discussions and heartbroken seeing how many families get torn apart. To be quite honest, it was not clear to me about the two year requirement when I signed up for it in my 'teens'.

Anybody has any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
As it turns out, though, at least in our case it was not the commission in his home country who represented sponsor views but parties within the DoS -- and we received the same obfuscated replies when we asked specifically who within DoS is the sponsor. So for all intents and purposes, we were seeking sponsor views from the same people who were ultimately deciding on the waiver, which makes absolutely no sense.
The best I can say is to keep up the faith...to be perfectly honest, once DoS funding is involved coupled with the Fulbright, the waiver becomes more unlikely
 
Achillea please send me an email-am also a fulbright scholar from Cyprus pursuing my Masters degree in DC and I would like to contact you with regards to the HRR.
my email is iac.iacovou@gmail.com

sorry for the multiple postings guys
 
request for sponsor views inforrmation

Hi all,

I am a fulbright scholar from Cyprus. I applied for J-1 waiver and it is stuck at where it says "request for sponsor views sent." I was a Fulbright scholar between 2003-2005 and i was wondering who is my sponsor views?

Is it Fulbright at the US Department of State? Department of State is refusing to provide this information.

thanks.

cyp80
 
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