Requirements for NORI

[neil-s]

I'm an Indian citizen studying in the UK (Undergrad Computer Science). I've received an offer for a software-related internship at big US firm, which would require me to go under J1. I am not funded by any government (US or India), and am currently not under any obligation to return to India.

So what are the requirements for getting a NORI from the Indian government? Does anyone (non-medical) who applies and follows through with the various agencies and departments get it? Have any of you been denied a NORI?

[jairichi]

If your J1 internship in US has a 2 year obligation to return to India then you would have to get a NORI. When you get to US you could ask for an advisory opinion from Dept. of State to check whether you are subjected to the 2 year rule to return to home country after completion of your internship. If yes, then you would have to get NORI form downloaded from the respective Indian consulate website, fill and get it attested by them and send it to concerned authorities in India. In the mean time or once you get them back you would have to fill a DS3035 form from Dept. of State website and submit with required documents. Filling of DS3035 form would generate a barcode number. Send this along with the three NORI documents from agencies from India to your Indian consulate. They would forward their own NORI letter to Indian Embassy at Washington DC which in turn will forward it to Dept. of State. If everything stands good, Dept. of State will forward a favorable recommendation to USCIS and you would end up getting the J1 waiver.

The final decision rests with USCIS and not just by following up. I would say that getting a J1 waiver is on a case to case basis. Mostly they get it.