CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Exceptional Hardship
NATIONALITY: Iraqi
LOCATION: Plymouth, NM
Our client came from Iraq as a J-1 visitor in August 2017. He was subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. To be eligible for adjustment of status or other forms of visas such as the H-1B, he had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue his waiver under No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). Our client also received government funding for his research programs which made his case tougher for the No Objection Statement or IGA waiver route. Our client would like to pursue his J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship. Our client’s U.S. citizen daughter was experiencing exceptional medical hardships.
According to 8 C.F.R. Section 212.7(c)(5), “an alien who is subject to the foreign residence requirement and who believes that compliance therewith would impose exceptional hardship upon her spouse or child who is a citizen of the United States… may apply for a waiver on Form I-612.”
Some of the factors in analyzing exceptional hardship are as follows: age of the subject, family ties in the U.S. and abroad, length and residency in the U.S., health / medical conditions, conditions in the country of removal – economic and political, financial status – business and occupation, position in / ties to the community. Matter of Anderson, 16 I&N Dec. 596 (BIA 1978).
After he retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through the exceptional hardship basis. On March 18, 2020, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit for our client, an extensive brief in support for our client’s J-1 waiver application, and other supporting documents. Our client provided us with extensive medical documents and doctor’s reports for his U.S. citizen daughter’s medical condition. On March 20, 2020, our office filed the I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to issue and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client’s daughter would experience exceptional hardship if our client needs to go back to Iraq for two years.
Eventually, the USCIS approved his I-612 waiver on December 29, 2021.