CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Exceptional Hardship
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Albuquerque, NM
Our Filipino client 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 be petitioned for the H-1B by her employer; however, due to the residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency. Her case was impossible for both waiver routes. Our client, though, wanted to pursue her J-1 waiver since her U.S. citizen child is experiencing exceptional medical hardships
After she retained our firm, we filed a waiver request on an exceptional hardship basis. On May 27, 2022, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared all supporting documents. Our client provided extensive medical documents for her child’s medical conditions. On May 31, 2022, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to recommend this waiver since our client’s child would experience exceptional hardship if our client needed to go back to the Philippines for two years.
On March 7, 2023, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence and requested our client to submit more documents to show the hardship to her child. Our office filed the Response to RFE on May 18, 2023. The USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on February 27, 2024.