CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Persecution
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Albuquerque, NM
Our Filipina client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in January 2020 to work as a teacher. Her J-1 visa made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Our client wanted to file an adjustment of status based on her employer’s I-140 petition. However, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency. Moreover, she could not pursue her J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship standard. We were able to pursue the J-1 waiver under persecution category since she believed that she would be persecuted based on her same sex marital relationship with her spouse.
Our client believed that she would be persecuted if she went back to the Philippines. Her marriage is religiously forbidden in the Philippines. After retaining our firm, we filed a waiver through a persecution basis. On February 6, 2023, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared affidavit and other supporting documents to show that she would be persecuted in the Philippines if she goes back. On February 13, 2023, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to issue this waiver on a persecution requests.
The Department of State recommended a waiver for our client on June 20, 2024. Subsequently, the USCIS issued her I-612 approval notice on July 12, 2024.