Question on waiver: inexperienced embassy

J

jk0274

Registered Users (C)
Hello, I am hoping that anybody with experience in obtaining the J-1 waiver based on "no objection" can shed some light on the following:

1- My embassy has virtually no experience in issuing no objection letters. They sent it via regular mail on November 15 2006 and it still hasn't shown up on the DOS case status page (as of today 11/27). Is regular mail a problem? When should I start worrying about it being lost?

2- Although I emphasized that they write the case number on the envelope, I have no guarantee that they actually did so. If it happens that they didn't, what would that mean?

Thanks for any info on the 2 questions above.
jk0274
 
You may have to redo

There is an Embassy bardcode page (either sent to you by DOS if you did the mail/paper option, or generated the online case numebr and packets) that you needed to send to your embassy with your request. The bardcode is used by DOS to track the different cases.
Make sure your embassy did send it back with the letter of no objection (this is on top of the case number that needs to be written every where).

If the letter doesn't show up on your case after ~4 weeks I'd call the embassy and ask them to resend and give them clear instructions.


Good luck,
 
Thanks. Yes, I did give them the barcode and asked them to include it with the letter (again, I can only hope they remembered to do so). So I guess you're saying give the online case status 2 more weeks to show that they received the statement. I was wondering, if they did not write the number on the envelope, would the letter get returned to them or merely delayed? I am also worried about the language they used in the letter, and whether it was in the language of a "diplomatic communication" addressed appropriately. Anyway, I guess I'll find out soon. Thanks again.
 
Don't worry!

Like I said give the DOS a total of about 4 weeks or so for every thing to show up on your case number. By then if something was supposed to show up and didn't, then I'll start finding out what is wrong.

Regarding the barcode, technically the DOS says they will return or simply ignore (discretion of who ever reads or opens the letters) any communication with no case number, or in your case, bardoce page will not show up on time or show up at all.

I'll double check with your Embassy first and make sure the letter was sent and when?. If it doens't show up on your case after reasonable time, then I'll ask the Embassy to resend it.


As far as the content of the letter, it really doesn't matter, of course provided they do not say we want him back home now :)

When I visited with a lawyer (free consultation) a while back, he showed me a very think book containing official and example letters of no objection from each country (almost all countries). So I think your Embassy will know what to say and you don't have to worry.


Good luck,




jk0274 said:
Thanks. Yes, I did give them the barcode and asked them to include it with the letter (again, I can only hope they remembered to do so). So I guess you're saying give the online case status 2 more weeks to show that they received the statement. I was wondering, if they did not write the number on the envelope, would the letter get returned to them or merely delayed? I am also worried about the language they used in the letter, and whether it was in the language of a "diplomatic communication" addressed appropriately. Anyway, I guess I'll find out soon. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
 
I wish I had access to sample letters. You may find this hard to believe, but the office that wrote my letter has never done it before. As I wrote above, my embassy has no experience writing them (I'm from a very obscure part of the world) and they had previously never heard of it. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I know for a fact they mailed it via regular mail on November 14. Still has not shown up. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

When you say '4 weeks' , is that the normal time it takes for something to show up on the case status page? Thanks again.
 
Don't worry

I read some where that a DOS agent (I'll look for the link if I can) stated the following:

DOS waiver division is understaffed
The mail is sorted out St Louis then sent to waiver division
The mail sorting is done my 5 people only
They recive thousands of pieces of mail a day
On average it take about 4-5 weeks from the day they receive the mail to the day it gets assigned/shows up on the case number,

Hence the 4 or so weeks,


Again regarding your Embassy letter content I will not worry a bit, I'm sure they didn't write in Chinese :) so relax for now.


jk0274 said:
I wish I had access to sample letters. You may find this hard to believe, but the office that wrote my letter has never done it before. As I wrote above, my embassy has no experience writing them (I'm from a very obscure part of the world) and they had previously never heard of it. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I know for a fact they mailed it via regular mail on November 14. Still has not shown up. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

When you say '4 weeks' , is that the normal time it takes for something to show up on the case status page? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
 
Wow - I read about the understaffing too, but I though they had added more people recently and that's partly why the process is a lot faster these days.

My application was received via Fedex in St. Louis on Oct 31. It showed up online on Nov 15. The letter, as I wrote above, was sent via regular mail on Nov 14th, so I suppose it's a little too early to freak out (again, even though I'm not sure they wrote the case # on the outside despite my emphasizing it). Thanks a lot for your replies above, they were really helpful!!
 
They claim the process is faster now, but in reality it is not true...It as slow as before...The only difference is the online option which may cut a week or two from the process.

Remember before, when applying for a waiver, one had to wait for a case number by regular mail (still an option now too) which took some time. Tha is the only thing that impoved.

Every thing else is the same...




jk0274 said:
Wow - I read about the understaffing too, but I though they had added more people recently and that's partly why the process is a lot faster these days.

My application was received via Fedex in St. Louis on Oct 31. It showed up online on Nov 15. The letter, as I wrote above, was sent via regular mail on Nov 14th, so I suppose it's a little too early to freak out (again, even though I'm not sure they wrote the case # on the outside despite my emphasizing it). Thanks a lot for your replies above, they were really helpful!!
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