CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Indonesian
LOCATION: Jacksonville, FL
Our client is from Indonesia and came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in February 2016. He came to the U.S. for work training, but his J-1 program was subject to a two-year foreign resident requirement. After his J-1 program was completed, he remained in the United States. In March 2022, our client married his U.S. Citizen wife. He was eligible to get a green card through his marriage to a U.S. citizen; however, before we filed his I-130/I-485 application simultaneously, he had to get a waiver for his two-year foreign residency requirement. To get a waiver of his two-year foreign residency requirement, he consulted with our office and later decided to retain our office on August 5, 2022.
Once retained, our office prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Indonesian Embassy in the United States. Our office and our client promptly contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Washington D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. The Embassy requested nine different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the applicant’s resume, a copy of a valid Indonesian passport, and a copy of the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) application.
On August 12, 2022, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Indonesian Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver since our client is eligible to file a marriage-based adjustment of status.
The Indonesian Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On June 22, 2023, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. The CIS received the fee and issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver of a two-year foreign residency program on July 28, 2023. Now, our client can file his adjustment of status application along with the I-130 petition.