combo9

I recently completed a 2 year J-1 Research Scholar stint in the USA then returned to the UK.

I have been applying for jobs back in the USA to be with my fiancee (we have been apart 3 months now) but I just learned I am not eligible for another J-1 visa for 2 years. We are pretty devastated and not sure why we didn't know about this before.

What are our options?

Thanks

PS - She is on an F1 visa until December and will begin working after that.

Bob

It's not a ban, it's a 2 year home residency requirement.

There's a waiver, but it's not easy to get, usually given if married to a US citizen and you can show hardship to the USC.

Your options are, you spend 2 years in the UK and your OH either lives with you in the UK, or she stays in the US on her F1 and continues in OPT afterwards and you spend the time apart.

combo9

Let me clarify, my J-1 visa stated I am not subject to the 2 year home residency requirement. The 24-month bar is separate and "affects only scholars who have had the J-1 visa status in the Professor/ Research Scholar category, and who wish to use the same category again."

ian-mstm

Well then... the solution seems simple, doesn't it? Apply for a J-1 in a different category; or consider a completely different visa.

Ian

Noorah101

Where did you learn this? What was your source?

Perhaps you could get married and be in the USA on an F-2 visa.

Rene

combo9

Source: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/immigrati...12-24monthbar/

None of the other J-1 categories apply. There is a H1-B visa but I have been told it is unheard of (in my field) for a new employer to go through that effort and expense for a new and unfamiliar employee -- it's usually reserved for upgrading J-1's after a couple of years of good performance.

Getting married in the near future is not an option.

This is really really hard for us please help.

Bob

That is the 2 year HRR.

Sure it's hard, but you've been told the options.

combo9

Different to HRR: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/immigrati...onthbar/chart/

Noorah101

I can't think of any way to help. If you are reading things correctly, then it seems you are unable to return on a J-1 visa in the same category for the next 2 years. If there is no other visa you qualify for, and you don't want to get married, then it seems you won't be coming to the USA as anything but a visitor for the next 2 years.

I know your girlfriend is on an F-1 in the USA, perhaps she can return to the UK and study there instead, if it's too difficult to be apart?

Rene

combo9

Is there any way I can go there on the basis of our long-term relationship?

She expects to start a job at Harvard in December, and her colleagues/friends say that working there she can then apply for a green card and that it will be approved within 6 months. I am not sure how credible that claim is but apparently there are many examples suggesting that is true. Assuming she obtained a green card next summer, would that allow her to sponsor me somehow?

Noorah101

If you were cohabitating in the UK, you can try applying for a B-2 cohabitating partner visitor visa. You will need to be able to prove that you've been cohabitating. This allows you to get a B-2 visa and a possible 1-year stay in the USA at a time (instead of the usual 6 months on a regular B-2 visa). You cannot work while in the USA on the B-2 visa (not even for a UK company).

If you have not been cohabitating, then you can only visit on the VWP for 90 days at a time. Do not make back-to-back VWP visits. General rule of thumb is 90 days in, 90+ days out. If anyone suggests applying for a regular B-2 visa, don't listen to them....if you are eligible to use the VWP, your B-2 will most likely be denied, and it will affect your ability to use the VWP for the next 6 - 12 months after B-2 denial.

If you get married before she files the green card application (called Adjustment of Status or AOS), you can be included in the application and will also receive a green card.

If you don't get married, and she gets her green card, she can petition for you at a later date, whenever you DO get married, but there is a backlog in the category of "spouse of LPR", so you still wouldn't be able to immigrate to the USA anytime soon.

If you remain unmarried, she can do nothing for you.

Rene

combo9

Thanks for the help Noorah.

I really made a big mistake by confusing HRR and the two-year ban. Very sad.

Bob

You would be right.

It would be exceedingly unlikely she would be able to self sponsor herself for a greencard and very unlikely that even if she had a work sponsor do it that it would be granted within 6 months.

If you aren't married by the time she does get it though, you'd definitely not be heading to the US as a LPR for a very long time.

Also, your J1 ban and the 2HRR is semantics, it's essentially the same thing, you're still barred from the US for 2 years from using the same visa.

combo9

Bob, I notice you're from MA. All I can say is that there are people of different nationalities saying the same thing, namely that international students who get a research job at Harvard can apply for a green card and typically receive one after 6 months.

I was very skeptical also but these are all young-ish PhD graduates from different countries (Portugal, Iran, etc.) and they are all saying the same thing.

RICH

Young PhD Grads should be able to research, and provide substance to their claims, right?