u/silly_goose131

I came to the U.S. in 2019 on a J-1 for one semester through the Global UGRAD program. After that, I returned to my home country and spent about 18 months there before coming back to the U.S. in August 2021 on an F-1 visa. Since then, I’ve gone back twice and spent about another two months there, so I currently have roughly four months left to satisfy the two-year home residency requirement.
I now have an approved I-140 and I’m considering applying for a J-1 waiver based on a No Objection Statement from my home country. My concern is that my original J-1 program was DOS-funded, which I understand can make an NOS waiver much harder to get.
Has anyone been in a similar situation where the J-1 was government-funded but most of the two-year requirement had already been completed? Does having only about four months remaining make any meaningful difference to the chances of getting a favorable recommendation?
I’m also curious about current timelines. How long are NOS waiver cases taking these days from submission to a DOS recommendation?
Lastly, would it make sense to file the I-485 now while the waiver is pending, or is it better to wait until the waiver is approved first? I should still have up to three years of F-1 OPT status available, so I’m trying to figure out the safest timing.

I recently received an NIW RFE that challenges all three prongs. In the RFE notice, USCIS specifically mentions the lack of expert opinion letters and asks for more detail regarding my future research plan, including funding information.

My attorney (EP) is recommending a relatively narrow response: submit an updated personal statement, updated publication/citation metrics, and no additional supporting evidence. Their position is that RFEs are often template-based, that recommendation/expert letters generally carry little weight compared to objective evidence, and that adding them could distract from the stronger evidence.

However, I’m not fully convinced. If USCIS specifically identified expert letters and a research plan with funding details as deficiencies, my instinct is to address those points directly rather than assume they’re boilerplate language.

Has anyone here received a similar NIW RFE? If USCIS specifically mentioned expert letters or a research plan, did you submit them? Did they help?
I’m trying to decide whether I should push my attorney to include additional expert letters and a more detailed research plan, or trust their strategy and keep the response focused on objective evidence.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through a similar situation.