INQUIRIES ON DELAYED J-1 WAIVER CASES

The Department of State has initiated a cooperative program with the American Immigration Lawyer's Association intended to address certain delays and ongoing difficulties in its administration of the J-1 waiver program.  This program somewhat resembles the inquiry program which has been utilized over the years for inquires to the RSCs on problem cases.

Specifically, the J-1 Waiver Branch has agreed to interface directly with AILA's Department of State Liaison Committee in order to resolve pending waiver cases which have become unduly delayed.  Robert Aronson has been designated as the AILA representative to bring delayed cases directly to the attention of the Department of State.  Under this arrangement, individual AILA attorneys are requested not to make individual inquiries to the Department, but rather are requested to direct all inquiries on delayed cases to Robert Aronson.

Thus far, here are the two (2) instances which the Department of State will recognize as being delayed so as to trigger an immediate response:

1. Request for DOS waiver numbers which have been pending at the St. Louis office for three (3) weeks or more;
2. Interested Government Agency (IGA) requests which have been pending at the DOS Waiver Review Branch for three (3) months or more.

These processing times may very well be revised in the future, but at least for the present, the Department of State will not entertain any inquiries for cases (other than cases qualifying for expedited treatment) which have not been pending for the above cited 3-week/3-month processing period.  Conversely, any cases which have been under adjudication in excess of the stipulated processing times should be brought to Robert Aronson's attention for further inquiry. 

Please further note that this inquiry program relates solely to delayed or lost IGA waiver cases within the DOS and to all waiver cases involving delays in the issuance of the wavier numbers.  The Department of State expects to expand this program in the future to include certain other encountered situations, but at present, this inquiry program is limited to situations of delayed adjudications.

Any AILA attorney seeking to utilize this inquiry system should email (not telephone - email only) Robert Aronson with the following information:

ALIEN'S NAME

DOS CASE NUMBER (IF ANY)

EMPLOYER

WAIVER THEORY

REQUESTING IGA

DATE OF SUBMISSION TO DOS

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

REQUESTING AILA ATTORNEY

EMAIL OF REQUESTING ATTORNEY

Aronson's email address is:  raronson@ingber-aronson.com.