The U.S. Department of State's Waiver Review Division has changed procedures for requesting waivers of the two-year foreign residence requirement [Section 212(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act] for J-1 exchange visitors. All requests for waiver review, regardless of the basis upon which the waiver is requested, should be initiated by submitting a completed data sheet (available at http://travel.state.gov/); the $136 user fee payment; and two self-addressed, stamped envelopes. Depending on whether the correspondence is sent via postal or courier service, the addresses to which these items must be sent are:

Postal Service:

U.S. Department of State/Waiver

Review Division

P.O. Box 952137

St. Louis, MO 63195-2137

Courier Service:

U.S. Department of State/Waiver

Review Division (Box 952137)

1005 Convention Plaza

St. Louis, MO 63101-1200

Upon receiving the data sheet, user fee, and self-addressed and stamped envelopes, the Waiver Review Division will then assign a case number and will forward instructions to the exchange visitor for further processing.

To view an excerpt from recent State Department correspondence outlining the changes, access http://www.nafsa.org/jvisa/waiver.procedures.html

 

To view the complete correspondence, access

http://www.nafsa.org/jvisa/waiver.letter.html