CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Persecution
NATIONALITY: Pakistani
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA
Our client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in January 2015 from Pakistan. She came to the U.S. for her undergraduate program, and her J-1 visa made her subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Our client would like to be eligible for adjustment of status or other visas in the future. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Our client believed she could pursue her J-1 waiver under the persecution category since she will be persecuted based on her culturally forbidden marriage.
A person can file a J-1 waiver under the persecution basis if the person believes that he or she will be persecuted based on his/her race, religion, or political opinion if he or she returns to his or her home country, he/she may apply for a persecution waiver. The Waiver Review Division will proceed with the waiver recommendation under this basis only if USCIS makes a finding of persecution.
Our client believed that she would be persecuted if she goes back to Pakistan based on her marriage. After she retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through the persecution basis. On June 18, 2019, 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 to show that she will be persecuted in Pakistan if she goes back. On October 8, 2019, our office filed the I-612 application to the USCIS.
On January 15, 2020, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit more evidence to support her persecution claim. Our office prepared an extensive Response to the RFE and submitted it on March 13, 2020. Eventually, the Department of State recommended the waiver for our client on May 5, 2020. Subsequently, the USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on July 14, 2020.