J1 visa home residency requirement waiver from India

[qwerty1]

Hi Tolittama,

Did you get the forms attested by an Indian consulate in the US before submitting them to the three Indian ministries? Or is notarising them in India sufficient?

Thanks for the great post!

Hi all,

I had visited Boulder, Colorado, in the US for working on a research project for about one and a half months (Aug-Oct) in 2012. I had traveled on J1 short term scholar visa. I thought that since I was visiting the US on J1 short term scholar visa the clause 212(E) wouldn't be applied in my case. However, it happened otherwise. The 212(E) was applied in my case. Well, my first step after returning to India was to apply for an advisory opinion from the US Department of State. They sent me an advisory opinion on Nov 21st, 2012 that it has been applied in my case because my field of specialization is included in the Exchange Visitor skill list (45: Social Sciences) Hmmmphh!!! Now, I took up the challenge of getting the J1 visa waiver from India. Just for your information - I live in New Delhi, India, but I am originally from Kolkata, West Bengal. My passport was also made in Kolkata, West Bengal. I would like to share the timeline and some important addresses so that it could be of some help to anyone applying from India for a J1 visa waiver. Here are the details -

I downloaded the NORI form from the San Francisco Consulate website

I got them attested from a lawyer in Bikaji Cama Place in New Delhi.

27th Nov, 2012 – Submitted the No Objection certificate request for NORI to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Education. They said that they would take a month.
The address where you have to go to -

Ministry of Human Resource Development
West Block 1 Building, 2nd Floor, Wing-6,
R.K.Puram, New Delhi -110066


11th Dec, 2012 – Collected the No Objection certificate request for NORI in person from the NRI department, Writer’s building. This was signed by G.G. Sarkar, Joint Secretary to the Government of West Bengal. It took around 2 days. Visited the Writer’s building on the 10th and 11th of December.

The contact address of this department in Writer’s Building is –
The Joint Secretary
Home (F & NRI Department)
Government of West Bengal
Writer’s building
Kolkata – 700 001


27th Dec, 2012 – Got the NOC letter from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Education.

The third place where I had to get the NOC from was from the passport office in Kolkata (4 Brabourne Road, Kolkata - 700 001). Visiting the Kolkata passport office was a very bad experience. My father and I went there separately, but it was of no use. They refused to give me the NOC. Well, at least they showed me the way. They asked me to get a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) from the Passport Seva Kendra. I had to arrange for another visit to Kolkata.
I got my PCC on the 28th of March. I think if I was living in Kolkata the whole process would have been faster.

6th April, 2013 – Got the check of $215 done to send to US Dept of State.I got this done from my ICICI branch in Connaught Place, New Delhi.

I was required to send self-addressed stamped envelopes to the US Department of State so that they could send their decision to that address. Since I was in India, I wrote to them on [email protected] and asked them whether I could give them the address of my aunt who lives in Seattle. They were pretty flexible about that. So, I asked my aunt to send me two self-addressed (with their Seattle address on it) stamped envelopes that are sent within the U.S. so that I could that in the package along with all the other documents that I was required to send to the US Department of State.

16th April, 2013 – Filled out the DS-3035 form and sent everything to the US Department of State using DTDC's courier service.

17th April, 2013 – submitted all the documents to MEA. They required me to send an email to the US Consulate in San Francisco. The email addresses are - [email protected], [email protected]. Basically this needs to be done because I was applying from India, so the MEA requires a letter from the San Francisco US Consulate stating that since I am applying from India they cannot do anything and the MEA will take care of my issues. The US Consul in San Francisco did respond but they actually didn’t know what needs to be done if you are applying from India. However, sending the letter is important.

MEA contact address -


Undersecretary
Ministry of External Affairs,
CPV Division, Patiala House Annexe,
Tilak Marg, New Delhi - 110001.

23rd April, 2013 – the DS-3035 form reached the US Dept of State via DTDC

29th April, 2013 – got the duplicate copy of the letter that MEA would send to the US Embassy in New Delhi, India.

10th May, 2013 – In the U.S. Department of State’s website it started showing that they have received my fees and forms. Contact of US Department of State is [email protected].

11th June, 2013 – The No objection Statement was shown as received on US Department of State’s website. This was after I sent an email to the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India on [email protected]

24th June, 2013 – Favorable recommendation provided by the U.S. Department of State was sent to the USCIS. Then contacted USCIS Vermont Service center - [email protected]

1st July, 2013 – Got the letter from the USCIS on my New Delhi address that my case is under consideration.Got a receipt number to track my case.

10th July, 2013 – USCIS mailed their favorable waiver approval decision

16th July, 2013 – the approval notice reached me at my New Delhi address

Hope all this information is of some help to anyone applying for a waiver from India. Please email me if you have any questions.

Thanks and Good luck!

Tilottama

[jgalt]

J1 residency waiver

Dear Tilottama,

Thanks for posting this great article. I visited US for 4 months last year on J1 visa and I was using my old passport issued from Chennai. Now I will be applying for student visa for my graduate studies this June/July. But now my new passport has been issued from New Delhi. So should I get NORC from Chennai passport office or I can get it from New Delhi passport office itself?

Thanks.

[Veeresha]

How to Apply for J1 waiver from India

Hi,
Your info was useful. Thank you. Here is another useful site on how to apply for J1 waiver from Karnataka, India with froms.

https://sites.google.com/site/applyingj1waverfromindia/

[Kitty Ming]

Guys please please help

Default Anyone please help!
Anyone please help!
Hi guys, I would just like to ask with this very important matter, basically what happened is... My Parents is in the US right now for 5 years, during their 1st year they applied for f2a visa for me since i was still minor. Something just happened and none of my parents was able to process te petition but then it was approved its just that they dont continue it, and nooow, after 5 years they called NBC and ask if its still active, and it is... However... My concern is.. I applied for j1 visa. The question is, would that cause me any trouble? Will embassy grant my j1 visa or would that interfere since i have a pending visa?? Please help, THANK YOU..

[Anarita]

J1 visa waiver

Dear Tilottama,

Thank you for sharing your timeline and experience for J1 visa waiver.
I started my waiver process in Oct 2014 but came back to India in April 2015 . Till the time I was there I had received 2 out of 3 NOC's and the last one I received in May 2015. I then sent the form DS-3035 , copies of NOC and fees to Consulate of India ,New york from where i received a reply that they cannot process the application as I do not have a valid visa and address proof.

Could you please advise on below:
1. Can I use the same case number , will it be still valid
2. My passport has been changed since then , will that make any difference
3. What all documents are needed by MEA.

It would be really helpful if you can guide me through this.

Thank you

[Waiver2016]

J1 waiver case number has been changed by DOS.

Hello all, I need some help/suggestion regarding my J1 waiver application. I have applied for J1 waiver on No objection basis. I sent my document to DOS and today I have received email from DOS mentioning my case number has been changed and given a new case number. When I have checked online, I found one case from June 2002 and which is not my case. I came to the USA in 2012 and before that I have never visited to the USA. Could you please tell me why I have been assigned a older case number? My home country embassy has already sent NOC based on my case number I have provided. If you suggest me what to do that will be really helpful.

[Abhi17]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I have a query. How did you started the application from Singapore? I am residing in Denmark and embassy has no clue regarding NORI and noc from the passport office, and other places. Any help on starting application will be great.

Thanks,

hi all,

First I would like to thank the member on this forum very much who have taken the time to guide others and thankfully I also received my J1 Waiver.

I live in singapore immediately after I went to US for my masters degree under J1 VISA. So I was not in India to fulfill my 2 year residency. I applied for waiver under the no objection statement category residing in Singapore. I will brief my timeline and the procedure as it happened.

The toughest part is to get the recommendation letters (NORIs) from the three authorities in India to submit to Embassy of India in Washington for them to provide their recommendation to US department of state.
1. Ministry of Human Resource development - MHRD New Delhi
2. Home Department of your State of Domicile
3. Passport office where your passport was issued which u used for travel to US.

I advise you to not to apply online on the US J1 waiver website until you get these three required NORI letters first because that is what I did. Once you get the three letters you are good to go for an online application.

In my case passport office comes under the home department for AP and therefore I got one letter for both of it. So overall I had to submit two recommendation letters to the Embasy of India in Washington DC.

May 2013 - All the three departments require you to submit a No Objection to Return to India (NORI) request in order for them to to issue the letter to you. I applied for NORIs from the three departments using their addresses.Note the application documents need to be notarized by a notary and also need to be stamped by the local hihg commission or embassy of the country you reside in. In this case it was singapore for me and I did have to spend time and money to do it luckily the Indian high commission
is very organised than I could imagine.
Ministry of Human Resource Development
West Block 1 Building, 2nd Floor, Wing-6,
R.K.Puram, New Delhi -110066

The Joint Secretary
Home Department
Government of Andhra Pradesh
AP Secretariat
Hyderabad

Please be patient with the applications it will take at least 2 to 3 months to get you NORIs from them. If any mistake or any changes they will contact you by post. So make sure you give the right address for contact. Nobody will entertain you on phone. But just remember that any letter sent to them requires a response from them and they are bound by duty to do it. I got a reply by post by MHRD saying that one of the document was not notarized (dunno how the hell i missed it) and asked me the send back by 15 days which I did.

August 2013 - Got my NORIs from both MHRD and Home department.

September 2013 - Applied online on the https://j1visawaiverrecommendation.state.gov/ and got the case number. prepared the bank draft of 200 USD to be sent to the mentioned address in US. Note very interesting thing in the application is that they want you to send 2 self stamped US mailing envelopes for them to send back your waiver recommendation. So better have US postage stamps ready as it took me almost 3 weeks to get some!!!! Make sure you have the case number with you after application.

Using the case number sheet got after the online application and along with the NORIs, applied for the recommendation letter to the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. they also require you to give two US self stamped envelopes!!!! they send back my application in one week by post saying I cannot apply directly to Indian embassy in Us and had to go to Indian High commission in singapore to apply!!!!!! The worst feeling after so much effort! At least they send me back the NORIs and the case number page.

October 2013 - I went to Indian High commission in Singapore to apply for the recommendation letter along with my case number sheet and NORIs. They were very fast and organized and told me that I have to apply with them and they in turn will write a recommendation letter internally to the Indian embassy in US with a copy sent to me!!! This they did in 1 week.
Meanwhile, all this time the US online J1 VISA webpage showed status change with all documents received and the fee received. They were waiting for the recommendation letter from Indian embassy in US. The application is considered complete only after they receive the recommendation letter from Indian Embassy in US.

November 2013
After 3 weeks of my application to Indian high commission to Singapore, the online status showed a change saying that recommendation received from Indian embassy in US.
I would only assume that Indian embassy acted quickly based on the recommendation provided by Indian high commission in Singapore.

January 2014 : Status cahnges showing favorable recommendation stating Waiver granted.

February 2014 : Got my letter in hand

Hope this helps.

[Abhi17]

Applying waiver from 3rd Country

Hi, I am in similar situation. Trying to get waiver while residing in Denmark. Can you please share your experience. Thanks and best regards.

I am currently residing in London and applying for a H1B Visa to work in the United States. I have to obtain a waiver for the 2-year residency requirement -- No Obligation to Return to India.

The Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. very clearly provides all the information regarding the steps an applicant residing in the USA must take to obtain a waiver (https://www.indianembassy.org/pages.php?id=71)

The Ministry of HRD website in India provides information regarding the steps an applicant residing in India must take to obtain a waiver (http://mhrd.gov.in/Scholarship_nori)

However, there is very little clarity as to the process for someone currently residing in a third country (England, in my case). I went to the High Commission in London and they were not able to help.

I would be most grateful if you can please issue some guidance in this matter.

[arnabrkmv]

How did you get waiver then?

Can you please tell us the whole process of getting waiver from India, that will be great help.
Thank you.

Hi everybody I was in USA as a post doctoral fellow from 2012 October to 2014 August on J1 visa. Currently I am residing in India. Now I got another post doc position in US in another university. Can you please give me the information regarding the steps an applicant residing in India must take to obtain a J1 waiver. I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.
Divya

[nandini1]

J1 waiver question

hello -- i would really appreciate anyone's help or suggestions on the following. i need to apply for the 2-year home country waiver to change my status from a J1 to an H1B. i sent all the necessary paperwork to the state dept a month ago and recently received an e-mail from them saying that they have no record of having received my documents. but when i tracked my documents, it shows that they arrived 2 days after i mailed them and my cashier's check for the fees was cashed the week of their receiving my application. i'm not sure how to proceed. should i contact a lawyer to re-file for me or should i re-file myself, even though i know that someone at their facility has received my documents or has knowledge of it. should i send them proof of receipt? the cashier's checks can be tracked.

if anyone has experience filling for these waivers and knows how long it takes, i would love to hear from them. it could just be that they haven't updated their system.

thanks much!
nandini

[Sampada Bodkhe]

Information for applying for NORI from a third country

Hello Mr. Sures Kumar,

I would like to know if you were successful in applying for the NORI from London and if yes, what was the procedure you had to follow and how long did it take you?

Thanks,
Sampada

Hello everyone,

I went to New York in J-1 for an internship in 2011 (Feb-July). After returning to India, I immediately joined a masters program in London. I am currently working in London and would like to move to US as I have got a good job offer. I am not able to figure out where to get the NORI certificates. Should I get it from New York Indian Consulate? In that case, will they issue it outside US? Also I wont be able to send my original Passport (from what I understand, you cant send your original passport outside a country when you are staying in that country). As anyone tried to get a J-1 waiver from London before? Any help would be super useful. Many many thanks in advance.

Sures Kumar

[rajeshgokuls]

J1 VISA Extension and two year Home Residency waiver while studying in the USA itself

Hi,

I'll be travelling to the United States next month (Aug 05-2018) to pursue One-Year MBA and the date that I should vacate is 20 Aug-2019. My sponsor is a Ministry in the Indian Government and the Government is willing to give me NOC, so whom and when I should request to waive the two year home residency? I will be studying in the US for only one year, I cannot wait and If the two year home residency is waived, can I extend my stay using OPT? Can I start the request process in the first quarter itself? I want some clarity! Please help me!