J visa to H-1B conversion
Oct 23rd 2002, 10:05 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
J visa to H-1B conversion
let me describe my situation.
My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail. We have sent
a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
process.
I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
proceed in this case.
I would greatly appreciate your advice.
My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail. We have sent
a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
process.
I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
proceed in this case.
I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Oct 23rd 2002, 2:48 pm
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: J visa to H-1B conversion
It is an unwritten rule that INS will accept a change of status or
adjustment of status from someone who has a J-1 waiver recommended by
DOS, even if it hasn't been approved by INS yet.
Michael E. Piston
Attorney at Law
4000 Livernois Ste 110
Troy, MI 48098
248/680-0600
Fax: 248/680-0627
Responses have not been confirmed by research, are not intended as
legal advice, and do not create an attorney client relationship. Feel
free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you desire further
information
[email protected] (Andre) wrote in message news:...
> let me describe my situation.
> My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
> residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
> work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
> and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
> requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
> positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
> INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
> sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
> my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
> INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
> wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
> usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
> could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
> address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail. We have sent
> a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
> new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
> very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
> prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
> process.
> I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
> proceed in this case.
> I would greatly appreciate your advice.
adjustment of status from someone who has a J-1 waiver recommended by
DOS, even if it hasn't been approved by INS yet.
Michael E. Piston
Attorney at Law
4000 Livernois Ste 110
Troy, MI 48098
248/680-0600
Fax: 248/680-0627
Responses have not been confirmed by research, are not intended as
legal advice, and do not create an attorney client relationship. Feel
free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you desire further
information
[email protected] (Andre) wrote in message news:...
> let me describe my situation.
> My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
> residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
> work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
> and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
> requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
> positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
> INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
> sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
> my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
> INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
> wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
> usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
> could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
> address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail. We have sent
> a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
> new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
> very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
> prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
> process.
> I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
> proceed in this case.
> I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Oct 24th 2002, 5:44 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: J visa to H-1B conversion
"Andre" wrote in message
news:1f7cb6a8.0210231405-
[email protected]...
> let me describe my situation.
> My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
> residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
> work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
> and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
> requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
> positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
> INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
> sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
> my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
> INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
> wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
> usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
> could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
> address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail.
Could be either one. INS probably opened an I-612, the formal application
for the waiver, but may not have gotten around to adjudicating it yet,
because processing times are sometimes very long for I-612s. If you
persevere, you can call the INS Service Center where the waiver
recommendation went, and ask the Immigration Information Officer to check in
the database under your wife's name. You may be able to get a Receipt
Number in that way, and you can also find out whether the I-612 has been
approved, and if so, whether the approval notice sent to the wrong address.
We have sent
> a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
> new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
> very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
> prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
> process.
> I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
> proceed in this case.
Your employer should file the H-1B petition, and request that your status be
changed from J-2 to H-1B, and include with the petition an explanation of
your wife's waiver application, and include a copy of the State Department
waiver recommendation letter. INS will then retrieve your wife's I-612
case, and adjudicate it, and then adjudicate your H-1B petition. If the
employer pays $1000 for premium processing, sometimes the INS will expedite
the I-612 as well as the I-129, but not always, because INS is not obligated
to adjudicate an application other than the I-129 under the terms of premium
processing. If INS delays adjudicating the I-612, then you should get your
Congressperson involved.
news:1f7cb6a8.0210231405-
[email protected]...
> let me describe my situation.
> My wife is a graduate student on J-1 visa with 2-year foreign
> residence requirement. I have J-2 visa which is spouse of J-1. I have
> work authorization, and my employer is willing to sponsor me for H1B
> and then GC. My wife applied to State Department for a waiver of the
> requirement. After about 3 years if deliberation State D reached a
> positive decision and recommended (it only gives a recommendation to
> INS) for the waiver to be granted. Notification of this decision was
> sent (around 4 month ago) to the office of international students of
> my wife's university(I have a copy) and to the INS.
> INS is supposed to grant the waiver (or not to grant) and notify my
> wife by mail, from what I hear this step is more of a formality and
> usually takes 2 weeks or so. She has not received any notification. It
> could be because INS has not acted yet or because my wife's mailing
> address has changed and the letter was lost in the mail.
Could be either one. INS probably opened an I-612, the formal application
for the waiver, but may not have gotten around to adjudicating it yet,
because processing times are sometimes very long for I-612s. If you
persevere, you can call the INS Service Center where the waiver
recommendation went, and ask the Immigration Information Officer to check in
the database under your wife's name. You may be able to get a Receipt
Number in that way, and you can also find out whether the I-612 has been
approved, and if so, whether the approval notice sent to the wrong address.
We have sent
> a letter to the INS inquiring on the waiver status and notifying of
> new mailing address but have not gotten any response. It appears to be
> very difficult to find out if the INS has made any decision, or to
> prompt them to respond to a letter, or to put any time frame on the
> process.
> I'd like to change my visa status to H-1B but not sure on how to
> proceed in this case.
Your employer should file the H-1B petition, and request that your status be
changed from J-2 to H-1B, and include with the petition an explanation of
your wife's waiver application, and include a copy of the State Department
waiver recommendation letter. INS will then retrieve your wife's I-612
case, and adjudicate it, and then adjudicate your H-1B petition. If the
employer pays $1000 for premium processing, sometimes the INS will expedite
the I-612 as well as the I-129, but not always, because INS is not obligated
to adjudicate an application other than the I-129 under the terms of premium
processing. If INS delays adjudicating the I-612, then you should get your
Congressperson involved.
