CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
NATIONALITY: Lebanese
LOCATION: Dakota Dunes, SD
Our client came from Lebanon in June 2016 with a valid J-1 visa. He got his J-1 status as a research scholar and was receiving government funding for his research. His J-1 status made him subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Once his J-1 program was completed, he remained in the United States. Later, he married his current U.S. citizen wife and became a father of a U.S. citizen child. Our client wanted to file his adjustment of status application along with his wife’s I-130 petition; however, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue his waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). As mentioned above, our client also received government funding for his research programs, making his case tougher for the No Objection Statement or IGA waiver. Our client though wanted to pursue his J-1 waiver knowing the fact that his U.S. citizen wife was experiencing exceptional medical hardships.
After he retained our firm, we filed a waiver request on an exceptional hardship basis. On May 7, 2019, the J-1 Waiver Application was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit for our client and other supporting documents. Our client also provided us with medical documents and doctor’s reports for his wife’s medical condition. On May 8, 2019, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked them to issue and recommend this waiver because our client’s wife would experience exceptional hardship if our client needs to return to Lebanon for two years.
However, on February 5, 2020, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s I-612 case. Our office filed the Response to USCIS along with additional documents to support the claim of financial and medical hardship including income and expenses, plus more recent medical documents of his U.S. citizen wife evidencing the hardship. Eventually, the USCIS approved his I-612 waiver on May 25, 2021.
Once his I-612 was approved, he retained our office again on June 13, 2021 for his green card application. Our firm filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 9, 2021. All went well and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. Prior to the interview, we prepared our clients via conference calls. On April 12, 2022, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office accompanied our client. Though the interview went well, his case remained pending. Our client moved from Ohio to South Dakota in late 2022. In April 2023, the USCIS rescheduled the interview for our client and his wife. Our client and his wife were interviewed at the Omaha, Nebraska USCIS office. Eventually, on July 8, 2023, our client’s green card application was approved.