My ARO submission was on July 26, and I'm still waiting. Let's see. My mistake was to submit only a few months before the expiry of the current waiver. I fell victim to the border officer telling me, 'The new approvals are coming within the month' so I waited until the last minute to submit my application, thinking a new one would come through before expiring. Thus, I got stuck with no waiver. I regret relying on the ill advice.

@Amelia Rogers I understand what you're saying it makes sense. My other thought was to submit the application with those letters and then get updated letters and drug test and bring it with me to the border appointment or mail it in to the ARO to add to my file. I think I've seen John say to do that if you are waiting for court docs etc.

Not many timelines have been posted lately so I feel in the dark too.. What is your submitted to ARO date? Mine is Aug 2... anxiously waiting....

No worries... I am of the opinion that you should ensure your documents are up to date with the current date. If the documents are dated 2-3 months in the past, it's acceptable, but if not, then I will not use them. You do not want to take a chance of having your application returned or denied due to improper documents. On the other hand, I understand the concern about fee increases, but I would rather submit my application correctly and not rush to meet the deadline, which may trigger another long, endless wait.

@Amelia Rogers oh okay I understand now, sorry if I came off rude. Just wanted to make sure you knew what you were talking about. Thanks so much for your help as yes I do believe John is busy doing a bunch of renewals prior to the fee increase.

In your opinion or anybody can comment, do the character reference letters need to be signed? We have the signed reference letters from the current application but we are madly rushing to get the renewal in so some of them might not be signed, or we could use the old signed letters that are dated June 2023. Same thing with the employment letter it is dated June 2023 but we don't have time to get a new one.

Just for clarity, I am not related in any way to J. Rogers. I am one of you, trying to navigate through murky waters, and this site has been a lifeline of hope for me. My query about not knowing when or how we receive decisions because e-safe is new to me since my last I-192 approval, further affirms that I am one of you. Indeed, my (now 4th Waiver) has passed the 8th-month waiting line according to J. Rogers' data, and now I feel that I am waiting alone in the VOID. I have completed all of my previous waiver submissions myself but do not have the data that J. Rogers has on the timeline. Yes, I am new to this site as we all are due to this new e-Safe rollout. Anyway, I see that J. Rogers does not reply to questions as frequently; he may be busy with time-sensitive work, so I thought if I could help, thus I replied to ease someone's anxiety, not meaning to take away from J. Rogers's business, he feels that way.
Respectively, @Surreygirl, the answer to Q28 is the date of your I-192 submission to ARO, i.e., 8/2/2023. Again this is my take and I hope this helps.

You will receive an email indicating there is an update in your esafe account hopefully you will be getting it tomorrow or next week.@Surreygirl

@casper This question right here is what makes me think she doesn't have much experience with this... If you are knowledgeable with waivers you wouldn't be asking this question...

1 day ago she asked "Question: Will we receive an email regarding the decision, or should we continue checking the inbox for a status update indicating that it has been changed to 'complete'? It has been 8 months as of today, but I haven't received anything yet."

@Surreygirl
I agree with everything she had to see.
She is very knowledgeable

@Amelia Rogers Thank you for your response. I was hoping @J Rogers would respond since I know he is very knowledgable and I can trust his answers but then I thought oh maybe you guys are related since same last name? But then I see you asked a question a few days ago which makes you sound like you are new to this so I'm not sure if I should be taking your advice...

Does anyone know if they are working tomorrow? Hoping to get approval any day now... Looks like Good Friday isnt a holiday in the state of VA which is where ARO is located.

I am a bit confused where we find our application date though? Would it be the same as Date Signed? This is what esafe shows me:

8/2/2023, 04:00 PM PDT : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
7/30/2023, 01:14 PM PDT : Status changed to Paid
7/30/2023, 01:11 PM PDT : Status changed to Signed
5/28/2023, 09:59 PM PDT : Application Created

Q4. Do we enter the current waiver number as the “Alien registration number” ? >>>> YES<<<<

Q23. When do you plan to enter USA? Should this date be sometime in 2025 since his current waiver is valid until March 2025? >>>> Pick any Date after March 2025<<<<

Q28. Date application filed. Should this be the date on the previous application form or the submitted to ARO date or the date that his current waiver got approved? >>>>>>>>>>>> Your Previous waiver Application Date of filing<<<<<<<<<<

Q29.e. Receipt Number. Where do we find this info? All we have is a payment transaction ID number that ESAFE gave us after paying but it’s not 13 digits long.

>>>>>>>>>>>> leave it blank... <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

@J Rogers so my friend is just going to do the renewal himself but we have a few questions about the application form now that it’s a renewal. Could you please help with a few questions? It’s greatly appreciated!

Q4. Do we enter the current waiver number as the “Alien registration number” ?

Q23. When do you plan to enter USA? Should this date be sometime in 2025 since his current waiver is valid until March 2025?

Q28. Date application filed. Should this be the date on the previous application form or the submitted to ARO date or the date that his current waiver got approved?

Q29.e. Receipt Number. Where do we find this info? All we have is a payment transaction ID number that ESAFE gave us after paying but it’s not 13 digits long.

Question: Will we receive an email regarding the decision, or should we continue checking the inbox for a status update indicating that it has been changed to 'complete'? It has been 8 months as of today, but I haven't received anything yet.

@J Rogers yep it’s ridiculous very bad service. Do you know if waivers are going to be approved on Friday and Monday or is that a holiday in the US as well? I should be getting approval right around Friday, but I’m thinking I’m going to get screwed over because they’re going to be closed for the holiday.

@Surreygirl Not only are they costing this guy money potentially, but its an EASY re-application if the fingerprints are valid. And when the next waivers comes, it will be close to 10 months (just a prediction, I don't know this for certain) so he will barely lose any time off the current waiver.

Sounds to me that they are only wanting to focus on new traffic because those clients pay more, and if you tell him to wait they think they will get him "later" anyways. Terrible. I was here until 3am working on waivers last night, and I will probably do the same tonight. No one who wants to finish the waiver gets left behind.

@J Rogers Ya I assumed it was bullshit too. It was National Pardon Centre.

Can u do a new waiver before April one even though u still have one pending with cbp?

@Surreygirl
that's ridiculous . I can't following that reasoning
tell your friend to do it before April 1.
either by him/her self or change waiver companies

@Surreygirl He is being BULLSHITTED. They just want him to wait they are probably unwilling to work late and finish it. All my 1 year clients are applying IMMEDIATELY and its not going to take 8 months anyways. All these application mean the Rainbow Bridge is PACKED. So this will start to take longer eventually, he won't even get a new waiver until october at best but I would speculate much later because of increased volume. Tell him to call me 905-459-9669. He is going to pay 88% more for the same thing. And please out the company because other clients might be in the same boat.

@J Rogers so I’m hoping to get a 1yr waiver this Friday and then want to do my renewal this Friday right before the fee increase and I told my friend he should do the same thing. However, he used a waiver company and they are telling him they can’t do it, he needs to wait until the renewal is 8 months away because they want him to get the most use out of the waiver. This sounds like bullshit to me and mathematically makes no sense considering the huge fee increase. Why would they tell him that? I don’t see anywhere that says you’re not allowed to apply for a waiver renewal if it’s more than 8 months away.

[ Surreygirl appended this reply on March 25, 2024 @ 1:21 pm ]

Note - his is also only a 1 year waiver so it makes sense to renew right away.

Thank god ! I’m really happy for you ! Me I’m waiting Since 7 months now . On April 17th next month it’s will make 8 months that I’m waiting for , hopefully I will receive my waiver like you.