interview experience, ref J1 waiver based on "no objection letter"

[chaseriver]

Correction of my title : I can't revise the title, the name of the letter is not "no objection letter",it is "not subject to two year advisory opinion" from the Department of State

I have been reading the threads here for years !
Thanks for all your help and blessings !
Here is my time line , please share your opinion and advise your suggestions at your earliest convenient time!
I am still struggling with the next step !

PD 9/8/2015 (h1b eb2)
140 approval 11/22/2016
485 submited 2/5/2019
BIO 3/8/2019
EAD 8/7/2019
Interview notice 9/30/2019
Interview date 11/8/2019 @7:15 am newark
final update
3/3 /2020 case was transferred to another office
3/17/2020 case was transferred to another office
5/6/2020 case was approved, card is being produced

Good luck to all


We arrived at a nearby shoprite parking lot at 6am, walked to the building at around 6:20am, waited in line outside of the building until 7am, went through security by 7:10am.
At 7:14am, we submitted interview notice at window 4 then waited for our turn for exactly 2 hours.

Interview started at 9:15am, to my surprise, officer speaks my mother language , she was nice and polite, she made us feel relaxed but she asked all important questions about job , relationship in light tone.
She raised questions when she found any issue during our conversation, such as work location, and relationship.

In the end, when we felt all went well, she said she could not adjust my status yet because I was once a J1 vistor (from 11/2007 to 12/2009 ) and I did not have J1 waiver.

I was surprised because I had “ not subject to two year rule advisory opinion" from the department of state issued in June 2009 in which it clearly stated that my program did not use any government fund therefore I was not subject to the two year of foreign residency and didn't need to apply for a waiver.


While she asked us to wait for her RFE paper , I quickly googled the 612 form that she asked me to apply , I was even more confused.

The 612 form is called “ waiver for 2 year of foreign residence” , in the form , part 2 requests applicant to select reasons for foreign residence requirement, none of the 4 reasons applies to my case (to my understanding, I have no reason to fulfill the 2 year foreign residence requirement) , part 3 of the form requests applicant to select 1 of the 2 reasons to waive the 2 year residence requirement ( reason 1 , hardship to return ; reason 2, my home country will hurt me if I returned), neither of the 2 reason applies to my case.

In my RFE letter, it requires me to submit before Feb 20, 2010 the I- 612 approved waiving and the “no objection letter". Partial submission will cause a denial.
I have no idea how to further proceed.
Can someone advise how to do the I 612 form ? is it ok to submit it without selecting a reason of 2 year foreign residence requirement and without a reason of waiving the 2 year foreign residence requirement ? ??

The only reason to apply for waiver is because USCIS requested me to do so , but there is no such option on the paper.
11/11 update : two law firms advised there was no need to file 612 form .
11/15 update : will respond to RFE with legal advice on Monday 11/18
11/18 update : my attorney mailed out legal advice as to why I can not file a 612 waiver
reasons are as below 1) advisory opinion from department of State is the last to final determination office ( the final is USCIS) on which it has clearly stated I am not subject to the two year rule and I do not need to file a waiver
2) I followed the instruction steps from USCIS as to how to determine whether I am subject to the two year rule and how to file a waiver , it guided me to get advisory opinion which I already received , if there is no advisory opinion, I then would have to apply for no objection statement from my embassy ( as a matter of fact, i had it in 2009, and already sent it to DOS , i didn't keep a copy since i received the final determination from DOS) and file for a 612 waiver
3) I even followed the 612 instruction trying to file a waiver, however, there was no check box i can select from to subject to, and no filing location for me to send the waiver application to as i have no reason to file the waiver based on the instruction and the 4 reasons listed on the 612 form. I am not eligible to file 612 waiver since i am not subject to .
11/20 update : my attorney's mail arrived at USCIS filed office today , waiting for further update from USCIS



Any suggestion is appreciated!

[notpatientanymore]

were you J1 exchange visitor ? what does your DS 2019 say at the back ? does it say you are subject to 212(e) (2 year HRR?) - if so you will have to get a waiver of that requirement. you can still convert from J-1 to H-1B "Without a waiver" but you'll need it for immigration if your DS 2019 says so

[chaseriver]

thanks for your reply! my ds-2019 says " not subject to 2 year rule"

[chaseriver]

were you J1 exchange visitor ? what does your DS 2019 say at the back ? does it say you are subject to 212(e) (2 year HRR?) - if so you will have to get a waiver of that requirement. you can still convert from J-1 to H-1B "Without a waiver" but you'll need it for immigration if your DS 2019 says so

thanks for your reply! my ds-2019 says " not subject to 2 year rule"

[garfex]

actually if you got the "no objection letter" , department of states will send favorite recommendation letter to USCIS. Then USCIS will issue a 797 approval notice of I612 for you. This is what the IO asking for.

you can file I824 to make a duplicate copy if you can find the receipt number. I'm pretty sure they have it in USCIS system. (yours maybe lost in mail or return to uscis).

[chaseriver]

actually if you got the "no objection letter" , department of states will send favorite recommendation letter to USCIS. Then USCIS will issue a 797 approval notice of I612 for you. This is what the IO asking for.

you can file I824 to make a duplicate copy if you can find the receipt number. I'm pretty sure they have it in USCIS system. (yours maybe lost in mail or return to uscis).

Thanks for your reply. I learnt that my Letter is not called no objection letter from my home country, I already got it in 2009 ,and I already have the not subject to two year rule advisory from the department of state.

More than one law firm advised that I do not need to file 612, do you know what else I can do ? If file 612 regardless, where to file ? I saw on the instructions that certain reasons of filing decide the filing address, since no reason applies to me, I have no place to send .

Thanks!

[garfex]

do you still have the copy of the visa? it should had something like this "bearer is not subject to 212(e)..."

[chaseriver]

do you still have the copy of the visa? it should had something like this "bearer is not subject to 212(e)..."

My visa stamp says subject to, my ds2019 says not subject to, I consulted several lawyers, they all confirmed that I already had the advisory opinion from the department of state in which they confirmed I was not subject to the two year rule therefore should not apply for a waiver.

I will need to submit the letter again with legal advice.
Thanks for your reply!

[Hotaru-Grace]

Correction of my title : I can't revise the title, the name of the letter is not "no objection letter",it is "not subject to two year advisory opinion"

I have been reading the threads here for years !
Thanks for all your help and blessings !
Here is my time line , please share your opinion and advise your suggestions at your earliest convenient time!
I am still struggling with the next step !

PD 9/8/2015 (h1b eb2)
140 approval 11/22/2016
485 submited 2/5/2019
BIO 3/8/2019
EAD 8/7/2019
Interview notice 9/30/2019
Interview date 11/8/2019 @7:15 am newark

We arrived at a nearby shoprite parking lot at 6am, walked to the building at around 6:20am, waited in line outside of the building until 7am, went through security by 7:10am.
At 7:14am, we submitted interview notice at window 4 then waited for our turn for exactly 2 hours.

Interview started at 9:15am, to my surprise, officer speaks my mother language , she was nice and polite, she made us feel relaxed but she asked all important questions about job , relationship in light tone.
She raised questions when she found any issue during our conversation, such as work location, and relationship.

In the end, when we felt all went well, she said she could not adjust my status yet because I was once a J1 vistor (from 11/2007 to 12/2009 ) and I did not have J1 waiver.

I was surprised because I had “ not subject to two year rule advisory opinion" from the department of state issued in June 2009 in which it clearly stated that my program did not use any government fund therefore I was not subject to the two year of foreign residency and didn't need to apply for a waiver.


While she asked us to wait for her RFE paper , I quickly googled the 612 form that she asked me to apply , I was even more confused.

The 612 form is called “ waiver for 2 year of foreign residence” , in the form , part 2 requests applicant to select reasons for foreign residence requirement, none of the 4 reasons applies to my case (to my understanding, I have no reason to fulfill the 2 year foreign residence requirement) , part 3 of the form requests applicant to select 1 of the 2 reasons to waive the 2 year residence requirement ( reason 1 , hardship to return ; reason 2, my home country will hurt me if I returned), neither of the 2 reason applies to my case.

In my RFE letter, it requires me to submit before Feb 20, 2010 the I- 612 approved waiving and the “no objection letter". Partial submission will cause a denial.
I have no idea how to further proceed.
Can someone advise how to do the I 612 form ? is it ok to submit it without selecting a reason of 2 year foreign residence requirement and without a reason of waiving the 2 year foreign residence requirement ? ??

The only reason to apply for waiver is because USCIS requested me to do so , but there is no such option on the paper.
11/11 update : two law firms advised there was no need to file 612 form .
11/15 update : will respond to RFE with legal advice on Monday 11/18

Any suggestion is appreciated!

I am sorry you reached this milestone and yet will have to revert to doing what was initially required of all or MOST immigration processes. Yes as with any application for a visa waiver of the foreign residence requirement there is no objection letter from your home country sent to the USCIS that is required. You will apply to your home country's US based embassy and the respective USCIS lockbox. Indicating that you have no two-year residency on the US application will not be sufficient; there is a USCIS I797 form that will legally show that you are not required to return to your country.

Now the process of submitting the documents I-612 can be tedious. When I submitted my J1 application for waiver I had to prepare duplicated copies of a letter the USCIS form, my resume, copies of Birth certificate, I94, copies of passport page etc to both my home country embassy-US based and the relevant USCIS office. Then my home country embassy in the US sent their form to the actual country where I grew up which began the process of investigation at various ministries such as Education (where I worked), finance and student loan bureau to ascertain whether I was free from any obligation and deserve to get 'clearance' of any financial, political or otherwise ties in my home country. The entire process took 4 months, for others it took over a year. This can be held up also if you acted as a guarantor on a student loan or any other and the main loaner did not pay it off, typically what your home government may deem as plausible reasons to keep you attached to them may prevent you from getting the waiver. However, after the home country 'okays' you they send that information to the USCIS department where you sent the second half of the documents to and then that US department begins to process the fee you paid and send the receipts and then the official I797 through the mail to you.

The J1 waiver was needed for my AOS through marriage application, also a friend of mine needed hers to use for AOS from J1-H1B. It might not be needed for a few visa filing purposes, but in general it is better to have.

[xidanliang]

Hello there:
I am a Chinese student and married to a USC last year. I had a J-1 visa in 2010 and switched to F-1 in 2011. I did not stay in China for 2 years after my J-1 was expired. I had the same case as yours: DS2019 said not subject to the 2 years but Visa page said yes. My Chinese lawyer and multiple U.S school officials (I studied in three different universities) all told me to follow my Visa so I filed my first waiver in 2013. For Chinese, in order to obtain my waiver I need to file with both USCIS and Chinese embassy in New York where they will issue an no objection letter to USCIS if I have reasonable reasons (marriage excluded). I failed the first time because I did not have an sufficient reason for my embassy to issues the no objection letter. I filed again in January 2019 and was approved by my embassy because my department issued a employment letter for hiring me as a part-time non classified staff member, which provided sufficient evidence to my embassy for issuing me a letter. It took them two months to issue that letter and the USCIS received it in early April. After the letter was received, I got a NOA letter that my case was started. My approval letter came in mail on May 15th of 2019 which was five months. I applied my I-485 in August and is now waiting for my interview.
My experience with J-1 was as long as your Visa said you are subject to the rule, you need to apply for a waiver and you need to work with your home country embassy for them to issues you the no objection letter. It will take a while till you receive the waiver and I suggest you to work on it ASAP.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

[chaseriver]

Hello there:
I am a Chinese student and married to a USC last year. I had a J-1 visa in 2010 and switched to F-1 in 2011. I did not stay in China for 2 years after my J-1 was expired. I had the same case as yours: DS2019 said not subject to the 2 years but Visa page said yes. My Chinese lawyer and multiple U.S school officials (I studied in three different universities) all told me to follow my Visa so I filed my first waiver in 2013. For Chinese, in order to obtain my waiver I need to file with both USCIS and Chinese embassy in New York where they will issue an no objection letter to USCIS if I have reasonable reasons (marriage excluded). I failed the first time because I did not have an sufficient reason for my embassy to issues the no objection letter. I filed again in January 2019 and was approved by my embassy because my department issued a employment letter for hiring me as a part-time non classified staff member, which provided sufficient evidence to my embassy for issuing me a letter. It took them two months to issue that letter and the USCIS received it in early April. After the letter was received, I got a NOA letter that my case was started. My approval letter came in mail on May 15th of 2019 which was five months. I applied my I-485 in August and is now waiting for my interview.
My experience with J-1 was as long as your Visa said you are subject to the rule, you need to apply for a waiver and you need to work with your home country embassy for them to issues you the no objection letter. It will take a while till you receive the waiver and I suggest you to work on it ASAP.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks for your detailed reply , I got my no objection letter from my embassy in 2009 which was ten years ago and sent to department of States same year then received the final determination from DOS called advisory opinion stating that I am not subject to the two year rule and I do not need to request for waiver, as a matter of fact on the 612 form I can not check mark any box ( four reasons that you are subject to the two year rule +. Two reasons to apply for a waiver ) , I also found out I had no place to send the waiver application as each specific reason requires a specific filing location, I did not find a location for my situation . I had no choice but to find an attorney to provide legal advice that argue instead of filing a waiver.

Again the letter I have is called advisory opinion from department of States.

Good luck with your interview!

Thanks to all

[chaseriver]

I am sorry you reached this milestone and yet will have to revert to doing what was initially required of all or MOST immigration processes. Yes as with any application for a visa waiver of the foreign residence requirement there is no objection letter from your home country sent to the USCIS that is required. You will apply to your home country's US based embassy and the respective USCIS lockbox. Indicating that you have no two-year residency on the US application will not be sufficient; there is a USCIS I797 form that will legally show that you are not required to return to your country.

Now the process of submitting the documents I-612 can be tedious. When I submitted my J1 application for waiver I had to prepare duplicated copies of a letter the USCIS form, my resume, copies of Birth certificate, I94, copies of passport page etc to both my home country embassy-US based and the relevant USCIS office. Then my home country embassy in the US sent their form to the actual country where I grew up which began the process of investigation at various ministries such as Education (where I worked), finance and student loan bureau to ascertain whether I was free from any obligation and deserve to get 'clearance' of any financial, political or otherwise ties in my home country. The entire process took 4 months, for others it took over a year. This can be held up also if you acted as a guarantor on a student loan or any other and the main loaner did not pay it off, typically what your home government may deem as plausible reasons to keep you attached to them may prevent you from getting the waiver. However, after the home country 'okays' you they send that information to the USCIS department where you sent the second half of the documents to and then that US department begins to process the fee you paid and send the receipts and then the official I797 through the mail to you.

The J1 waiver was needed for my AOS through marriage application, also a friend of mine needed hers to use for AOS from J1-H1B. It might not be needed for a few visa filing purposes, but in general it is better to have.

Thanks for your detailed reply. I had no objection letter from my embassy ten years ago and already sent it to department of states same year then I received advisory opinion from department of states in which it stated that I am not subject to and I do not need a waiver.

I left the Us after my j 1 program and I used the sender letter to apply for f1 when entering US again in 2010,. I used the same letter to change my student visa to h1b in 2011. I explained in my below reply that I found no reason to file 612based on instructions , found no place to file 612waiver based on instructions.

Thanks to all