@Sophia I saw that too but I'm not sure if that has any bearing on our waivers. First immigration visas are done by USCIS while esafe goes to CBP so they are different offices. Second, our waivers aren't for immigration purposes (if anything we are trying to convince them that we aren't trying to immigrate) and it's also not a visa, so I'm trying to be realistic but I hope I'm wrong.
E-Safe Processing Times
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I'm still waiting... Submitted on Mar 1st, for I-212. Been 180 days. Kind of just wish they'd rejected me (if that's their plan) already so I can re-apply after hitting the 1 year mark in a few months.
@KatM oh wow that’s quite a wait. Why do you think they’d reject you and was it for an overstay?
Be careful. If they reject you for "not enough time has elapsed", then be aware when they think you have done something wrong, the following timelines are significant:
Under 3 years - virtually no chance. How can you argue "I have changed" if less than 3 years have passed? In my experience, you would only be successful if you really did nothing wrong anyways.
3 years. Only successful for very minor things, and you MUST bolster it with rehabilitation. For example, I had one of my best clients ever find me on this forum for prostitution in the US, (flying down to meet a sugar daddy kind of thing) no criminal record at all, and she even admitted to using marijuana. She immediately applied through a lawyer, and was rejected. I told her to wait 3 years and go HARD on the rehabilitation. Well this woman had letters and programs and it was very impressive. 5 year waiver on the first try. NOT TYPICAL.
5 years - better. Should get a 1 year at least if done properly.
10 years. Now serious offences would be considered as well. Minor stuff should easily be 5 year waivers
20 years should be a slam dunk. Almost anything BUT the waiver for sexually based offences will not be a long one and also keep in mind the letters for serious stuff should be VERY good.
Remember the difference between what I do, and what many companies and ALL lawyers do. My expectation is that if I tell you to pay, you WILL be successful and I will predict the outcome. We aren't here to "just try". I tell many people "wait longer" or "this isn't going to be granted". Some still insist on trying. And it can help to fail because we have exactly what Homeland Security doesn't like, and we can re-but that in another application.
Also, I ALWAYS redo the waiver for free if it fails. Its only fair. You paid for a waiver, you did not get what you paid for.
Lawyers will ALWAYS use the excuse "you paid for my time" or "you paid me to try". NO. You are the expert, or else you should not take money to do this. I have NEVER met a lawyer who knew half as much about waivers as me, but I IMMERSE myself in waivers. That is all I do. I used to go to the airport every week so I could see 50 waivers I DID NOT DO to see what other people did. If they were rejected, they would bring the rejection letter to me.
I track every waiver, and I even have a ton of people that now do their own waivers who stay in touch with me and are nice enough to let me know what they see and hear. Plus, all of the people on here, most of whom have never met me. I give advice, because I get more knowledge which can help my clients.
Can you elaborate on what "rehabilitation" means in cases where there was no criminal/illicit activity? For example, I was marked inadmissible in late 2019 because my employer was late in submitting premium processing for a TN visa and I overstayed the 60 day grace period. Obviously I should have done my own due diligence but I was told that I could just stay up to 90 days on a B1/B2 visa.
Anyways I did my waiver in summer 2021 and was rejected because of lack of reformation and time passed. My company hired a lawyer for me earlier this year and she went hard on my initial rejection 's lack of precise legal analysis on my circumstances (non-criminal, time shouldn't be a deciding factor as per hranka case law, me being employed by a reputable U.S company, etc). She also questioned the "reformation/rehab" clause as non-actionable for overstaying, especially if the applicant has stellar character references and no criminal BG.
We ended up getting a one year waiver (around 18 months since incident) and we expect a five year waiver the next time around.
All this really just tells me that many ARO officers don't do their own due diligence and use a boilerplate decision tree without actually applying the principles that the Hranka case mandates. The only way around this is to wait to appease their arbitrary requirements or hire an expensive white glove lawyer to go hard on the legalities and legalise.
@Tiffany nope the reason was literally that they think I'm going for employment/not coming back but they also noted that phone search was negative and they questioned me thoroughly and verified on the internet (so they had no evidence but just going based on feeling). I'm just going based on what J Rogers said here that if you don't hear back within a certain time like 4.5 months then you are probably on the rejection list.
@J Rogers I requested the officer's detailed notes under the Freedom of Information Act (forgot exact name but I have the email) and I didn't see anything where they said I broke any of the rules. Just the "general reason ban" under (212)(a)(7)(A) and my total ban is 5 years. I don't know how I can rehabilitate when I've done nothing wrong?
Hey guys I've been waiting since April 29th ,2022 and still haven't heard anything. I am also using J Rogers service and he is definitely a professional.
He believes i should get it since my conviction is from 2012.
wondering if anyone who has applied in April is still waiting?
@Patientlywaiting416 what was your conviction if you don’t mind me asking? I have a fraud over from 9 years ago but I’m yet to apply for my fingerprints because I’ve been told not enough time has passed especially since I have unpaid restitution.
@Patientlywaiting416 Have you logged in and checked it on e-safe rather than waiting for an email? I'm sure you have but if you haven't I would recommend you log in and check it. Email isn't all that reliable.
100 days for me today AND STILL NOTHING :(
Good point about email. But 2 things to remember about clients who watch the board carefully;
1. every time I prepare the file I have to call the client I ask them to check email to get the token so we know it works
2. They are watching the email like a hawk
3. I always try when the client calls to log in since i have them on the phone anyways
4. They also have the 10 day warning
I actually find its the OLDER clients, the ones who are so used to getting waivers through regular mail that might miss it. Anyone here is pretty into technology (they found this place!) So I don't think any of these diligent people will miss it.
This won't be a busy week for waivers. Its too soon. Next week I think we should see some progress.
(this is a guess, YOU are the one with the security clearance, not me!!!)
Wonderful day to everyone,
My first waiver was approved last year for year. Now I recently applied for another waiver last month. What I would like to know are
1. Anyone with timelines can post so that we can have visibility
Mine: 2nd waiver (B1/B2/E2)
Month: August 5th 2022
ARO Decision: Pending
2. If this is a second time around for anyone, do you know if it is usually faster or they treat it the same as everyone?
So this is a common misconception. The first waiver takes longer, etc. No. If you waiver is going to be approved, how busy Homeland Security is is the bigger factor. For example.
3/9/2022 submitted
4/4/2022 Granted.
See how fast that was? They were ALL fast then. The client I posted in the "Waiver timelines thread" was 94 days. Yet he was an easy re-application. Its just that applications have slowed because of the sheer amount of waivers. First time, 4rth time, no difference. Maybe it take the adjudicator an hour, maybe it take 5 hours. The relevant question is "how long is the line in front of your application?"
Its no different than me. I have 4 files on my desk. I don't know if the 4rth one is easy, or hard. But its still 4rth. The other 3 will be done first.
Also, if you want to have a clearer picture of timelines, then keep them in one spot here. I post many of them, and I post them all in the same category. "Waiver Timelines - Post here." This WILL make it easier than having to check every single thread.
Thank you for the update!
@Patientlywaiting416 Have you heard back from them.
I believe that you can now directly contact them and will get a non-automated response as you cross 120 days since your fingerprints.
Please let us know about it.
Cases such as these make the rest of us waiting nervous as that means there is a possibility of not getting a waiver result after 4 months.
Yes I logged in. My conviction is a robbery with a fake BB gun from 2012. Haven't been in trouble since.
I am just hoping I get my waiver before december.
submitted everything APRIL 29, 2022 and still nothing yet.
@Patientlywaiting416 is this your first waiver application?