@appliedjanuary I didn't say waiver are not going through. I posted a waiver YESTERDAY. On top of that, Trump doesn't take office until Jan.

I did say I thought it was more likely that "Homeland Security officers might be shorthanded due to other factors" (like being sick etc) but that was at the beginning of the slowdown. Ana had speculated that they were sending more support to the border (because of the election) and then I teased her about "the deep state".

The truth is "sending more people to the border" doesn't affect waiver processing, which is done by office workers who live and work in Virginia. I had also seen YouTubes clearly done by conspiracy nuts who had talked about this. The truth is all we can do is speculate. But clients of mine who cross at Buffalo and process waivers there said the guys in the office simply said they heard it was volume. But, it is POSSIBLE that Ana was completely right, we just don;t have proof either way.

What I can SEE is that something has changed since the fee went up. The lineup is all over the place. I used to be able to predict roughly (which you can clearly see if you look on this forum) the month a waiver would come in, with a few exceptions. Now I get a December, and a July on the same day. Then a November and a February. I look for patterns but there are none that I can see.

Just for the record, Trump is a corrupt person. He is clever and is good at exploiting the "dumb" in people. And the rise of social media has made it easy to pretend "we are all the same", when in fact, that is far from true. Republicans all took turns calling him everything from Hitler to a bozo including his VP, then they all saw he had a cult following and suddenly would literally support him to the gates of hell. Now Ukrainians are going to have to fight, mostly alone. I get upset when I see women and children dying just because Russia decided to invade. So yes, Republicans are pretty awful people and I won;t take that opinion back, but I am happy to listen to alternative opinions.

If you think Trump is "good" for waivers, then you know nothing about waivers. Homeland Security had FAR fewer waivers to deal with then. Trump defunded Homeland Security to the point where BEFORE covid Pearson Airport, the busiest airport for waivers in Canada, had to stop doing them. I used to go every Tuesday morning and sit with the people applying. The Supervisor TOLD me the Administration could not care less, and his officers were upset and refused to work the extra hours so he closed it. Waivers were faster, yes, but during covid I also got many waivers in LESS THAN A WEEK. Did Trump do that? Or covid?

@Loisgh based on what J Rogers just said it seems like our waivers aren’t going to go through now???

@J Rogers lol literally a few weeks ago you said that the slow down was because of “cold and flu” season and that we’re conspiracy theorists for thinking otherwise and then went on some weird anti Republican rant. Now you’re admitting we were right???

@J Rogers so where does this leave the folks waiting to hear back based on GOP and folks like Elon musk / trump

5 year waiver

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
11/4/2024, 02:48 PM EST : Status changed to Completed
7/17/2024, 02:00 PM EDT : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
6/7/2024, 12:12 PM EDT : Status changed to Paid
6/7/2024, 12:10 PM EDT : Status changed to Signed
5/30/2024, 11:04 AM EDT : Application Created

@appliedjanuary That isn't because of BIDEN-HARRIS. And Trump made this process harder on certain clients. The speed at which it is processed is all about Homeland Security. What have the GOP bitched about constantly? The Border. You think Trump is a good thing for waivers? NO.

Trump simply had less volume of waivers and before the recent problems they were coming in just as fast. Unfortunately this slowdown seems to coincide with the GOP complaining about the border and stopping legislation.

Trump doesn't make things move better. He simply appoints stooges like Elon Musk because they PAID him to. Then he washes his hands.

@Ana1 I wouldn’t speculate on that. My last application in 2019, during the Trump administration, got processed in 7 weeks, and landed me a 5-year waiver in my first try. In the Biden-Harris administration I’ve been waiting almost 10 months for a renewal. Despite the scary “Hitler” rhetoric that gets said from the Left, it was much much easier to get a waiver from Trump.

Thanks for sharing @Joey. I lost my initial login credentials though this is @Ana
I wish you better luck next time, friend.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what will happen with these apps come Jan 20th?

5 YEAR WAIVER. As you can see, they asked for further documentation on May 2, he responded on July 22. 5 year waiver.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (9)
11/6/2024, 09:00 AM EST : Status changed to Completed
7/22/2024, 02:40 PM EDT : Status changed to Request for More Information Response
5/2/2024, 12:31 PM EDT : Status changed to Request for More Information
3/11/2024, 04:30 PM EDT : Status changed to Request for More Information Response
2/5/2024, 02:04 PM EST : Status changed to Request for More Information
6/22/2023, 06:30 PM EDT : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
6/13/2023, 02:26 PM EDT : Status changed to Paid
6/13/2023, 02:13 PM EDT : Status changed to Signed
5/31/2023, 04:21 PM EDT : Application Created

@Oct2023 Thank you and congrats!

@The CHI

misrepresentation - Denied in June 2023 and applied July 2023(within a month) as per the Border officer. So they said it was too early and re applied in Oct 2023. It was a 5 Yr BAR

@Oct2023 If you don't mind me asking, why were you refused the first time? I was refused October 2023 because I didn't wait long enough to rehabilitate. Wondering when I should reapply- I was advised to wait until January 2026 to reapply.

@Abhi

yes it is, denied 2022 June and applied 2023 oct. approved for 1 Year and will have to send the renewal this month.

@Oct2023 congratulations 🎉 is this your first waiver?

applied Oct 5th 2023 and approved today 11/05/2024--13 Months --Long wait

5 year waiver - reapplication

Don't be panicked over the fact that this client was from July. Yesterday I got a December and I have lots of applications still pending way before July.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
11/4/2024, 02:48 PM EST : Status changed to Completed
7/18/2024, 11:02 AM EDT : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
7/12/2024, 03:28 PM EDT : Status changed to Paid
7/12/2024, 03:27 PM EDT : Status changed to Signed
7/11/2024, 11:11 AM EDT : Application Created

@CruelSummer Have emailed to inquire regarding the status of your application?

5 YEAR WAIVER

ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
11/4/2024, 02:50 PM EST : Status changed to Completed
12/27/2023, 05:07 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/28/2023, 02:46 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/28/2023, 02:44 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
11/24/2023, 04:39 PM EST : Application Created

@J Rogers You mentioned that submitting the same waiver package will get you the same results. How much of a revision do you suggest on each new application?

I was granted two consecutive 1 year waivers in 2022 and 2023. My current application, which is largely the same as the previous two (with updated dates on reference/employment letters and a slightly updated explanation letter) is now approaching 11 months under review. I submitted to the border on Dec 8th 2023.

Have you experienced a situation like this? I have a full pardon and 2 waivers for a serious offence that happened in 2002. My letters are all well written and thorough. I am puzzled as to why this waiver is taking so long when my other two waivers were approved in 2 and 4 months respectively.

Should I have drastically changed my application this time around? Or is this just a product of the ARO's randomness? Was there changes to the top brass at the ARO that would now cause them to look more thoroughly at applications?

I assumed that because of the previous granted pardons and consistency in my application that it would be a similarly efficient turnaround. This time around the process has been extremely frustrating. I'm happy that people are getting waivers but to see someone who applied in July and August get approved when I applied 8 month before that is very perplexing.

@cal123 A few months back, when we travelled with our son, the CBP officer asked when we were arrested. We were never arrested, just that I considered not wise arguing about it, so we let it be. This could have been a very embarrassing moment in the presence of others...