I submitted my application on May 12th and just received an email to say it was completed.
This is now my second 5yr waiver.
E-Safe Processing Times
Page 9 of 28 · Back to the first post
I am only speculating. But it would make logical sense that first time applications would take a little longer. I’d assume from shortest timeline to longest:
1. Renewal (with no new derogatory info)
2. First time approval
3. September Letter
4. Rejection
I’m in the same boat as you. I’ll likely miss some important life events and it hurts and is humiliating. All we can do is hope for the best.
@J Rogers I finally received my waiver 93 day
8/9/2022, status changed to completed
5/8/2022, status changed to submitted to ARO
5/6/2022, status changed to paid 5/6/2022, status changed to signed
3/27/2022, application created
@candra1 great. Congrats. Is it your first waiver. I submitted on May 5th. First time applicant.
@Beu yes my first time applying for it... they gave me 2 years.. I'm pretty sure yoy will receive yours this week
@Magnus In the past 5 years I have only had 1, and I actually took the name out and keep it in my book to show clients because it is so rare.
It was given on May 3 2022.
I do a LOT of waivers. If candra1 would have asked me yesterday "do you think I might get a 2 year waiver?" I would have said the odds are tiny. But here we are.
If the pattern holds, in about 3 weeks they will be working on June. That could change depending on if they had an excessive amount of waiver requests in May or it could be less than 3 weeks if May had fewer requests. Its a crapshoot for sure. However, those 27 adjudicator positions they were hiring for in July are no longer posted. So if they got a bunch more adjudicators hired and if it doesn't take months to train them, then that should help with the backlog.
@candra1 thanks for the encouraging words 🙏
Regarding 2-year waiver - I was granted one, back in 2010.
Prior to that, I was granted 1-year waivers three times. Followed by three 5-year waivers.
@Magnus yeah I'm surprised too about the Two years I thought it's usually 1 or five years for first time waivers right?? I was hoping to receive 5 years.. my ban end in 2026 so I guess I have to renew it again after 2 years
@Beu yeah you are welcome
@J Rogers
What would you think factors into them granting a 2 year waiver as opposed to a 1 or 5?
Seems arbitrary on the face of it since it’s not something one commonly sees.
@Magnus do they usually give 5 years for first time waivers?? Or it's always 1 year
A 2 year waiver could be an internal policy change and it may be all first waivers that are not 5 years will now be 2 year. Think about it, you have a department that is taking 3 months to do a waiver. They give out a 1 year, and a year later they will be processing a waiver for that same person. Whereas if they give out a 2 year waiver and process waivers less frequently they solve a problem of resolving these long delays. One can only hope.
-80% of 1st time waivers I do are 5 year waivers.
-20% or 1, or denied, or September Letter
-2 year waivers are rare. Its impossible to know "why" but I can tell its not a trend, or I would have a few as well instead of just 1.
Waivers will get faster again, it is just a traffic jam, holidays and a perfect storm of conditions. Remember, before the pandemic it was 60-90 days. 90 was ALWAYS the standard. It just got FAST because barely any were being processed because of the pandemic. From May 2021 to November 2021 I was processing waivers, and a company in Vaughan saw we were doing it, were polite enough to call and ask for info, and they started processing them as well. Very few others even KNEW you could do them, never mind how.
Look at the past posts. I told everyone they could do them in May 2021. But also few people WANTED waivers back then either.
Have an application in process and just had a family member death. Is there any way to have it fast tracked.
You can go to your Port of Entry and ask the Port Director for a Port Parole. You would need a letter from a doctor/death certificate or something official.
Also, they would want to see your waiver application, specifically your criminal record (if applicable)