MYN

I hold a J1 visa as I am working here in an exchange program. My visa
is for three years and this is my last one, it expires on July 2005. I
am getting married this year to an american citizen. I know that I
have to waive the two year country residence requierement in order to
stay here with my husband and not go back to my country for all that
time. My problem is that my embassy requieres a letter from my company
in order to give me the "no objection" letter and my company is not willing to help. I just want to know how can I waive the requierement? I know there are other four ways
to apply for a waiver but I don't think I fall into any of those
categories. I hope there is something I could do. Can my company
refuse to help? are they aloud to refuse helping someone that is
marrying and american citizen?
What would happen if I get married and my waiver is in progress by the
time that my visa expires? Would I have to go back to my country and
wait for the waiver of could I stay here as a 'non-status'? Would
immigration aloud me to stay? I need to know what to do, I'm very
frustrated as I never thought that this would be as hard as it is.
Can anyone recommend a VERY good immigration lawyer with knowledge in J1 visas?
Thanks a lot for your help

ian-mstm

Sure they can!


Why exactly should your company even care about your marriage, let alone a marriage to a US citizen?


Hey, there are lots of illegal aliens in the US. I don't suppose one more would hurt - unless, of course, you're trying not to do something illegal.


Finally, a reasonable question. Contact a good immigration attorney. Start here: www.aila.org.

Ian

MYN

I am sorry if I did not sound reasonable for you. I was just asking for help and advice.

andrea874

#1 thing to do is to take everything Ian says with a grain of salt

However, hes right - after youve got that #1 under control, #2 should be talking to a good lawyer

Rete

Ian was correct in his answers to you. The company does not have to write a letter for you nor does your marriage to a US citizen mean anything to anyone but you, him and the USCIS. That marriage will give him the privilege of filing for an immediate relative visa for you which has no preference date. Other than that there is no advantages to your marriage to a US citizen.

As for your J visa, your best approach is again as Ian suggested. Find an immigration attorney familiar with J visas and how to obtain a waiver of the HRR. You can do that by going to the URL he gave you. The American Immigration Lawyers Association has an area where you can request a referral for the problem you have.

There is also another attorney who frequents this board by the name of Matthew Udall. You can do a search for his website. I don't know if he can be of assistance but perhaps you can get a paid consultation with him or if he can't do that, perhaps he has a referral name to give you.

You might also try cross posting this to the alt.visa site as well. Their regulars might be more informed about the J visa and might be able to help you.

Rete

Hypertweeky

Get a good immigration lawyer and GOOD LUCK!!!
Keep us updated!!

no-spam

Sorry that others aren't being very helpful to you.
My wife and I know a lot about this subject. You can also look for posts by LucyMO on this board for help.

If you have the Home Residency Requirement, on your J-1 visa then to waive the requirement about the only sure fire way is through the no-objection statement waiver. The other 4 or so waivers are practically impossible to get.

If you have any government funding on your J-1 visa then you will almost certainly NOT receive the waiver. Government funding can come from your home country or the US. It doesn't matter.

So, first of all, look on your paperwork and see if you have any government funding.

If you do not have government funding then you can do this yourself without help from a lawyer. But pay attention here... DO NOT OVERSTAY YOUR VISA if you have the 2Year HRR on you. The only time you can overstay in this situation is if you have the help of a good immigration lawyer that will tell you that your waiver is a done deal. Otherwise I wouldn't risk it.

Concerning your embassy saying you must get a letter from your employer for them to give you the no-objection, that is something I am not familiar with. But if this is true, you may need to come up with a plan to get them to sign. Don't make a bunch of calls just yet to them begging for them to sign. Perhaps a lawyer can help you in this situation.

Okay, before I go and write more here, get back to me about whether you have government funding or not.

d.

note: most immigration lawyers do not have expertise in J-1 212(e) law.

MYN

Thanks a lot!!!!! Well, I do not have any kind of fundings by either my country's goverment or the US. I was actually thinking about doing what you are saying, just try to get the letter from my company. I spoke to a lawyer not long ago and she told me that I could overstay only if my waiver is in process, she says that immigration will "forgive" the extra days you stayed if you are already married and your paper work in process. Do you know anything about it?
Thanks so much for replying, I'm very frustrated with this situation and it really helps knowing from other people's experiences.
MYN

MYN

Hi Rete!
Thanks for replying!!! I'll try to contact Mr. Udall, maybe he'll have some other options or any kind of advice!
MYN

no-spam

I sent you a private message on britishexpats.com be sure and read it.

Concerning what that lawyer told you about overstaying being okay when in process to get the waiver. To my knowledge that might be wrong.

As I said before, I would not overstay if you do not have the waiver in hand unless a knowledgeable Immigration attorney that knows all about the J-1 212(e) tells you otherwise. That attorney will likely only tell you that you can overstay, only if ALL of the following conditions are true:

1. You are not a Fulbright scholar (forgot to mention that to you before)
2. You have no government funding from any government for your J-1 visa.
3. You have performed all steps of your no-objection waiver process.
4. All paperwork is sent to your embassy and you have satisfied the requirements for them to send the no-objection statement to the US State Department.
5. You have called your embassy and the embassy staff tells you when they sent the no-objection statement to your Case # at the State Department.
6. The State Department website states that they have received everything and have finished deliberation on your case. They have given you a favorable recommendation to receive the waiver and have forwarded your case to the USCIS for the final decision and processing. "DEPARTMENT OF STATE DECISION: FAVORABLE RECOMMENDATION" will be what you are looking for on the website lookup of your case file.
7. You have a "D/S" on your I-94 card and you have not lost the card.
   "Duration of Status"
8. You are married or going to marry a US Citizen or will file to receive
   another visa, such as a student visa BEFORE your visa ends.

I really don't think you understand enough about this yet and are getting led by some bad advice. It will be a real asset to you for you and your husband to spend hours researching this subject on the web.

My advice, start reading posts on British Expats.com concerning J-1 visa's with 212(e) 2 year home residency requirement.


DISCLAIMER : I AM NOT A LAWYER.
What I post is NOT legal advice and is based only on my experience and research. Any use of information provided by me is at your own risk

MYN

Thanks!!!!
I know I have to research and believe me...I had! but sometimes you hear things from different people (even lawyers) and I do not know what to believe anymore.
Mu guess is that I might be able to overstay as all the conditions that you've mentioned are tru (or will be when I get my letter from the company).
Yesterday, a friend that has gone through the same process, recommended a good lawyer and I contated him, now I'm waiting for him to call back and see what my options are.
You have no idea how much I appreciate your help. Thanks for all your advice.
MYN

LucyMO

Department of State requires proof that you are in the country legally without overstay before they even look at your docs in the waiver department. If you overstay - they won't give you a waiver.

MYN

Hi! Thanks a lot fo replying.
I have a question (if you don't mind)...my visa expires on July, I'll try to apply for the waiver before that which means that I'll be here legally ... I know that Department of State takes about six months to approve (or not) the waiver, so what would happen if my visa expires and my waiver has not been approved yet? Do I have to go back to my country and wait for the waiver's approval there? or could I stay here?
Thanks again!
MYN

phk0220

Hi,

I'm just walking through the J1 waiver process so I might be able to provide some insight or outside view.

I don't know whether this is 100% correct (the part about any government), although you can read this sight on the web at numerous places. Who of you knows this from a first hand experience ?

Let me tell you from my experience and the insight I gained from this side quest (we are working on a CR1):
(I have no idea whether this is transferable to other countries):

1. The web-site for the local science foundation (who paid me while I was a J1) has specific instructions on how to obtain a waiver and the no objection statement from the embassy.
2. Annually the embassy issues 200-300 no objection statements. My country has a small or non-existing skills list so I figure almost all of them are related to government funding.

Why would those institutions go through the pain of this paperwork and from my (limited) experience it really is a pain for them, if waivers are almost never issued ?

The problem is that there is not much information available on the net concerning specific details of the J1 waiver. You can find hundreds of pages outlining the basic process, but it is hard to find answers to specific questions (for instance: what is expected in the statement of reasons you are supposed to provide, I asked that a couple of weeks ago).

I still don't understand why you need a letter from your company, MYN.

phk

PS: Let me provoke you by my smartass remarks to post your experience to make it available on the web.


--
J1 HRR Waiver Timeline:

2004/10/12 Mailed J1 Visa Waiver application.
2004/11/02 Received instructions and case number from DOS.
2004/11/04 Mailed request for no objection statement to embassy.
2004/11/10 Embassy sent statement to DOS
2004/12/07 Sent personal statement of reasons to DOS
2004/12/30 DOS has still not received statement from embassy.
Multiple faxes, emails and phone calls to track statement and asking to send statement again.
2005/1/26 No objection statement received at waiver review board
2005/1/28 DOS: Favorable Recommendation

MYN

Hi PHK!!!
Thanks for your reply, it is great knowing that your visa process is going well!!!
My problem is that my company is refusing to make a letter saying that they have no objection about me staying in this country. I need that letter because it is one of my Embassy's requierements in order to issue the No Objection letter to DOS. So I just don't know what to do. I have tried everything but talking to the people in my company is just a waist of time (appart that they are extremely rude). So I'm trying to work it out through the Embassy but they refuse to do it without that letter...so as you can see I cannot start anything, can't do anything!!
Thanks for your advice and please let me know how your waiver is going etc., it is good to hear from someone that is going through the same thing and that has been successful so far.
If you tell me how to do it, I'll post my experience (i'm just not very good with this things )