I am a medico from India doing a research fellowship in spine surgery on j1 research visa. I was subject to two year home residency rule on the basis of exchange visitor skill list of India.
I was not sure whether I will get a sponsor for a H1B visa so started very late once I got a sponsor.
Step 1: Went myself to the Chicago consulate and got the attestation on four forms and paid requisite fees( $60). Feb 2008
Step2: Sent all the documents to India. My father went to passport office and the the home department by himself. He followed both the things regularly .
Passport office NORI was the easiest and got in two visits.
April 2008 Hired a lawyer so that I dont make any mistakes which will cause time loss. She was very helpful and did not take a lot of money . So if you are having a simple case then you can do the work yourself. But for complicated cases hire a lawyer.( 470$ was the charge for the lawyer.) I spoke to many and they asked for fees ranging from 1000-10000 USD . But this was the only lawyer who told me that there not much of lawyer's work and you can do the procedure yourself. I asked insisted that I need help for statement of reason. So it worked out.
Home department was little difficult. They sent one letter to my city's police commissioner and my father had to take a no objection from them which he needed to submit to the Home department in Mumbai.
Then after 1 -2 weeks we got the letter. My father faxed both the letters to me.
Then the most difficult thing was to get the NORI letter from Delhi. Those people are the worst to deal with. I used to call them from here everyday. Those bastard would say that the work is pending even before hearing my name or case. It took almost 2 months. Still the work was not done. Then I found one contact who works in ministry and got the work done in typical Indian way
( You know what I mean). Was expensive but the work was done in 2 weeks.
I got all the letters by 12 th May.
14 May: Personal submission to the consulate - three NORI, passport photocopies and 20$ . Got their waiver certificate one the same day. They faxed one to DC embassy.
DC embassy forwarded the copy to Waiver review division DC.
June 5: online update of receiving the NOC on DOS website mentioning 4 June as the date of receipt.
June 11 : online update showing that a favorable recommendation was sent to USCIS and me.
June 16: Received the favorable recommendation letter from DOS ( Postmarked on 13 June) mentioning that a waiver should be granted to me an d my immediate family members who are subject to 2 year HRR.
Now I am waiting for the final letter to arrive from USCIS so that my employer can start the H1b.
This is really a painful procedure for everyone and requires a lot of patience.
My advise is to start the procedure as soon as you start your program on J1.
I now hope that the final step is done in time so that I can join on 1August.
Wish me luck!
If you have any questions , let me know and I will be happy to help you all.
This forum has helped me in all stages. And I would like to continue the trend of helping others.
I was not sure whether I will get a sponsor for a H1B visa so started very late once I got a sponsor.
Step 1: Went myself to the Chicago consulate and got the attestation on four forms and paid requisite fees( $60). Feb 2008
Step2: Sent all the documents to India. My father went to passport office and the the home department by himself. He followed both the things regularly .
Passport office NORI was the easiest and got in two visits.
April 2008 Hired a lawyer so that I dont make any mistakes which will cause time loss. She was very helpful and did not take a lot of money . So if you are having a simple case then you can do the work yourself. But for complicated cases hire a lawyer.( 470$ was the charge for the lawyer.) I spoke to many and they asked for fees ranging from 1000-10000 USD . But this was the only lawyer who told me that there not much of lawyer's work and you can do the procedure yourself. I asked insisted that I need help for statement of reason. So it worked out.
Home department was little difficult. They sent one letter to my city's police commissioner and my father had to take a no objection from them which he needed to submit to the Home department in Mumbai.
Then after 1 -2 weeks we got the letter. My father faxed both the letters to me.
Then the most difficult thing was to get the NORI letter from Delhi. Those people are the worst to deal with. I used to call them from here everyday. Those bastard would say that the work is pending even before hearing my name or case. It took almost 2 months. Still the work was not done. Then I found one contact who works in ministry and got the work done in typical Indian way
( You know what I mean). Was expensive but the work was done in 2 weeks. I got all the letters by 12 th May.
14 May: Personal submission to the consulate - three NORI, passport photocopies and 20$ . Got their waiver certificate one the same day. They faxed one to DC embassy.
DC embassy forwarded the copy to Waiver review division DC.
June 5: online update of receiving the NOC on DOS website mentioning 4 June as the date of receipt.
June 11 : online update showing that a favorable recommendation was sent to USCIS and me.
June 16: Received the favorable recommendation letter from DOS ( Postmarked on 13 June) mentioning that a waiver should be granted to me an d my immediate family members who are subject to 2 year HRR.
Now I am waiting for the final letter to arrive from USCIS so that my employer can start the H1b.
This is really a painful procedure for everyone and requires a lot of patience.
My advise is to start the procedure as soon as you start your program on J1.
I now hope that the final step is done in time so that I can join on 1August.
Wish me luck!
If you have any questions , let me know and I will be happy to help you all.
This forum has helped me in all stages. And I would like to continue the trend of helping others.