@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?

@J Rogers

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.

@KatM

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.

@KatM oh wow that’s quite a wait. Why do you think they’d reject you and was it for an overstay?

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.

@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.

@JohnB2 I did receive it on the 26 of august after 96 days of waiting... I wish everyone good luck and be patient !

The waivers going out all end up in the queue after everyone here. But waivers not coming in is concerning. It seems they are processing around may 25 and not into June yet. I’m thinking within 2 weeks early June should be processing

Update

Tons of waivers still going out, but not a single waiver granted Monday or Tuesday.

My volume of waivers done has not decreased. The waivers coming in granted have absolutely slowed to a trickle. We are taking Friday off, but before I leave on Thursday I will absolutely post any waivers, or if there are no waivers.

Experience tells me September will get better. I have a LOT of waivers pending.

Day 94 for me. I applied on may 30th at lewiston bridge. But to be fair, it was on the news last week that they are behind for immigration applications.
Also i remember that they did mention that whoever had a visa and applied to renew BEFORE it expired are automatically extended for 5years i beleive its due to the backlog hope it helps.

@Flyer Sierra Did you get your waiver? What date did you submit it to ARO?

@SouthernBBQ @Social1njustice

It think its reasonable to look at the dates when others made their application, and how long their waiver took, and then to apply that to your situation to get a rough idea. I mean, its the only thing there is to go on to get some idea. Otherwise you're literally in the dark and you don't know if it will take 3 weeks or a year. And everyone can thank J Rogers for the information he shares. Out of all the lawyers and others in the Countries that are doing waivers, J Rogers is the only one here helping. That says a lot about his thoughtfulness, because this is about people's lives truly and it's very stressful. For example, I fell in love with a woman from Canada who 10 years ago got caught with some cannabis at the border and not allowed into the United States. I want her to come live me here in the U.S. and if fortune smiles on me she will hopefully marry me. It looks like she will. I'm 60 years old and have been unhappily married for 40 years. I thought my life was over. That there was nothing for me in the future. Then I met her. She is 50, beautiful and loves me. We are both getting our divorces as soon as they go through.

So in my case. my entire future and my life is on hold waiting on this waiver. I can't express how much the info J Rogers shares, means to me me. I wish he had a Patreon page or some way to donate a little something to say thank you to him.

Back to your question. We can apply patterns based on what we see. But so many variables can disrupt that pattern. One month with double the normal number of waiver applications could mess things up, for example. I did see there were over 20 open positions in July for adjudicators, if those got filled then the timeframe could become shorter, for example. Lots of factors. But given we only know what we know, I think it's reasonable to think if a pattern holds true you can start watching for your waiver around a certain date.

@J Rogers reading the recent posts I understand that 80% of your first time visa applications are granted 5 years term. Is that correct?
If I applied end of July, it's fair to assume it'll be end of October before I receive mine? Though given border staff maybe returning from summer holidays it could be quicker?

Gosh the whole time I was thinking since before the pandemic it would take a year to process, so I never bothered. Had I found you or this website I'd have applied long time ago. 90 days is pretty great.

I did my prints July 4th. So I’m guessing around the second week of October I should have an answer (according to what I’ve read here) first time applicant.

@candra1

Canadian Citizens do not require a visa to visit.

@J Rogers Hi do you know if I will need to apply for an ESTA if you are a canadian citizen with the waiver approval?

@GB ok. Congratulations!

@Magnus I waited about a year. I spoke to a few lawyers and some said to wait 6 months and some said to wait like 2 years

@GB
How long did you wait to apply for your first waiver after you were deemed inadmissible?
Just curious.

@Tiffany I did it through a lawyer both times. And I was inadmissible because misrepensation when I went to get a visa after my post opt period in the USA after university. They deemed me a Supply Chain specialist instead of a Management consultant