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Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 22:59:24 +0200 (IST)
Mai 1997
Hi everybody!
As you know, most swiss coming to the US with a J-1 visa are subject to a
2 year home residency requirement. There is a possibility to obtain a
waiver of this requirement. Being in process of doing so, I have some
practical informations for those who want to do the same.
Before all, remember two important points. According to my informations:
A) You need to obtain the waiver EVEN IF you received a green card
(through the lottery for example).
B) The swiss embassy and USIA (United States Information Agency) needed
about 2 months to send their recommendation to the INS (Immigration and
Naturalization service). The latter needs 90 DAYS to give its final answer!
So YOU NEED ABOUT 5 MONTHS TO OBTAIN THE WAIVER!!
Given that, here is how it works:
1) You need a "no objection statement" from the Swiss embassy in
Washington. For this you have to contact the embassy
2900 Cathedrale Av. N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008-3499
Tel (202) 745-7900
Fax (202) 387-2564
(business hours: Mo-Fr 9am-12pm ...)
They will send you a data sheet to be completed and returned to the
embassy. In addition, you need to enclose:
- Letter in which you state that you are not required to
return to CH. (my experience is that one sentence is enough)
- Photocopies of the first five pages, the J-1 page and the
stamped page (from the US embassy were you obtained the J-1)
of your passport.
The only information on the data sheet that is not easy to find is,
under point 4, the name of the Immigration Service Center to which
the recommendation should be sent. For California it is:
Western Service Center
Immigration and Naturalization Service
Post Office Box 30111
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677-8111
2) The Swiss Embassy will send to the USIA a "no objection statement"
and send you a copy of it.
You have to pay (via a check payable to the Embassy of Switzerland)
$90.- "for their efforts done on your behalf"...
3) You will receive a letter from USIA stating that they are working on
your case. Then you will get a copy of their recommendation for the
INS. I was told that if the recommendation is positive, there should
be no reason not to obtain the waiver from INS (we'll see...).
4) The INS will send you a letter stating that they received your
application via USIA and that they need " 89 to 90 days..." to answer.
5) You call and wait and call and wait and...
If you need it for this year, you should immediately begin!
Need anything? Do you have more information? Write to the Swiss-list...
Good luck and my best regards,
Andreas Bill
-------------------------------
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
1 cyclotron road, MS 62-203
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Tel : +1-510-486-6991
FAX : +1-510-486-5401
e-mail: abill_at_lbl.gov
-------------------------------
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Received on Tue Mar 11 1997 - 12:07:51 PST
