250 days and counting...

I'm next so not good signs for me! Hopefully yours will come this week. Please keep us posted.

I was quoted 6, and we're now 8 months and 6 days...

Hi all! It has been around 10 years since I last posted in this thread back when my husband applied for his first visa. I have been lurking lately as my husband is awaiting the outcome of his second waiver. We are from Australia but I assume the waiver queue is a worldwide one so it has been handy to see what the average wait times are like at the moment though if I'm being honest, it's a bit of a downer! His last waiver took 163 days from interview to approval. We started planning for the interview in July last year as he had to travel for it but the wait time for an appointment was nearly seven months (last time we were able to schedule within 6-8 weeks).

He was told six months for the waiver but that is looking unlikely now. Unfortunately this is for a family trip to celebrate my mother's 60th in October so if he is looking at 250 day+ wait, I might be heading off without him! Totally appreciate that the US can do whatever they like but so frustrating considering we started this process 15 months before we planned to travel. It is such a delicate balance as we weren't sure how long his visa would be for (it was one year previously) so we didn't want to have the interview too early.

Fingers crossed he gets the approval early September to allow enough time for the passport to be sent off and received back. Good luck to those waiting.

what was the date he was recommended for a waiver from the embassy? Was it the embassy in Australia?
I’m not sure if each country has a specific route to the DHS… probably not do he will be in a queue with the rest of us.. hope he gets his in time.

He had his interview on 1 February so I imagine the recommendation was the same day or the following. Yes, embassy in Melbourne.
With the current wait times he won't get approval until October which will be too late as we depart on 30 September. I am keeping my fingers crossed though.

There is an Admissibility Review Office within CBP in Washington. The consul communicates with ARO via Admissibility Review Information System. ARIS is entirely electronic. A description of the process can be found in the Foreign Affairs Manual here.

Unfortunately the process is quite opaque to the visa applicant. The application is treated entirely as a Consular matter which is immune to judicial review. Just last week, the principle of consular nonreviewability was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Dept of State v Munoz. Accordingly, the only published review involves Canadians inasmuch as they are visa exempt. If you want Google the term Hranka.

I would not assume that the recommendation goes out the same day.

thanks for sharing, when I checked this previously the ARS response time was 60/90 days, it was updated this month to 180/240 days. So there is a huge backlog along with many applications.
this is probably the new reality now. 6 to 8 months wait for a response. In my case, I might hear back in September or November…..

Is anyone aware as to whether you can apply for a WoI after one has been granted but the before subsequent visa has not expired?

I.e. To reduce the time unavailable to travel to the US due to limitation in entry period.

I applied before the expiry of a waiver(to reduce "dead" period) everything proceeded as normal and when I had my passport back the old(but still valid) waiver was stamped "Cancelled without prejudice "

Thanks, what validity period did you have?

Best start thinking about reapplying, i'm expecting only 1 year.

Same as existing waiver 5 years

263 days and counting.

Far out. Definitely looking like my husband won't be getting his visa in time for our family holiday. Frustrating considering we started this process 12 months ago (couldn't get an interview until February).

sorry to hear that! I hope he gets it in time. I was also Feb/ March I’m thinking it will be nov/dec now.