CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
LOCATION: Atlanta, GA
Our client is from Kenya who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in August 1998 to pursue his master’s degree. After he finished his J-1 program, he remained in the United States.
In October 2013, our client married his current U.S. citizen wife. He could not adjust his status at that time unless he got a waiver of his 2-year foreign residency requirement. When he came to the United States in 1998, his program made him subject to the 2-year foreign residency requirement.
Thereafter, our office filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Kenyan Embassy in the United States. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures and policies with regard to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver. Our office contacted the Kenyan Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, a clearance letter from the J-1 program sponsor, clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining J-1 waiver.
On March 13, 2015, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Kenyan Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust based on his marriage to U.S. citizen spouse.
Eventually, the Kenyan Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On May 13, 2015, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On June 4, 2015, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement.
Once his J-1 waiver was approved, our client retained our office again for his green card application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on September 17, 2015. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients through conference calls. On January 28, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Atlanta USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client as well. On the same day, his green card application was approved.