Short visit outside of US with granted J1 waiver - is it OK?

P

Peti

New Member
Hello,
I have a granted J1 waiver in my hand and my J1 status and visa is OK for more than one more year. I have applied for the waiver because I'm planning to apply for GC in the future. On the other hand I need to leave to US for a short visit. I got some rumor that if I leave the US my waiver expires and I have to apply again. I could not confirm this information from any official source. Does anybody know about this rule? Does this rule still exist? Please help me gurus. Thanks.
 
That rumor is NOT true. A waiver does not expire because you traveled outside the US.

What IS true is that you may not be readmitted to the US at the airport because you have a waiver. Being admitted or not in this case is the luck of the draw. When you present a J-1 visa at the point of entry, you are applying to enter the US based on J-1 status. Having a waiver means you do not intend to abide by the terms of your visa status (i.e. return home) and is also evidence of intent to immigrate. My former institution where I was a J-1 (a government agency) advised that people not travel if they intend to return on a J visa after obtaining (or even having applied for) a waiver. This does not mean you will be denied entry, but it means there is a reasonable risk that you will be denied entry.
 
Thanks a lot jk0274! This sounds pretty scary!
It looks I have been applied for the waiver too early. I understand the risk but it would be great to know what the practice is. Are most waiver holder denied to enter? What parameters influence the decision? Does anybody have experience with this issue? Thanks a lot again jk0274, you probably saved me a big surprise (and a European trip).
 
I have no statistics, only warnings from my institution that some J-1 holders with a waiver have been denied entry, while others have not had problems. It depends on the immigration officer.... The people denied may be a small minority for all I know, but we were told to travel out our own risk... I never traveled myself since getting the waiver..
 
Thank you for the information jk0274!

Is there anybody out there who has first-hand experience on this issue? I mean do you guys know somebody who had granted J-1 waiver, left the States and tried to come back with J-1 visa? I'm interested in both positive and negative examples. Thanks for the share in advance!
 
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