CASE: I-130/I-485
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
LOCATION: Centennial, Colorado
Our client is from Kenya who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in February 2016 to work at a non-profit organization in the U.S. His program sponsor was willing to sponsor him if he can change his non-immigrant status. However, he will not be able to change his status unless he gets a waiver for the 2-year foreign residency requirement. When he came to the United States in 2016, his program was clearly subject to the 2-year foreign residency program.
Thereafter, our office promptly prepared for filing 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 promptly 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, the clearance letter from J-1 program sponsor, Clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining J-1 waiver.
On March 16, 2017, 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 change his status if he gets the waiver.
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 April 14, 2017, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On April 24, 2017, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement.
Our client married U.S. citizen in January 2019 and retained our office r again for his adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on April 1, 2019. 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 November 14, 2019, our client was interviewed at the Centennial, CO USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our clients. The interview went well, and eventually, on the same day of the interview, his green card application was approved.