CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Extreme Hardship
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Bloomfield, NM
Our client came from the Philippines and came to the U.S. as a J-1 teacher. However, her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Our client wanted to file her adjustment of status along with her spouse’s I-130 petition; however, due to the requirements, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency. Her case is not possible for both waiver routes. We decided to pursue her J-1 waiver based on her spouse’s exceptional hardship standards.
After retention, we filed a waiver request on an exceptional hardship basis. On March 20, 2023, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. Our office prepared an affidavit of our client and other supporting documents. Our client also provided us with medical documents and doctor’s reports for her spouse’s medical conditions. On March 30, 2023, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to issue this waiver since our client’s spouse would experience hardship if our client needed to go back to the Philippines for two years.
The USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on September 5, 2024.