CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Turkish
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH
Our Turkish client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in February 2023 to work as a researcher. He decided that he wanted to apply for an adjustment of status based on an I-140 self-petition. However, he couldn’t adjust his status unless he got a waiver for the 2-year foreign residency program.
He retained our office on December 20, 2023. Thereafter, our office prepared a waiver request through a No Objection Statement from the Turkish Embassy. We contacted the Turkish Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. They requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver and Turkish National ID.
On January 11, 2024, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Turkish Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver since our client is eligible to adjust based on his I-140 NIW.
The Turkish Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On June 20, 2024, the Review Division issued a recommendation based on the No Objection Statement. On August 1, 2024, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval for the waiver of our client’s residency requirement. Now, our client can file I-485 application along with his I-140 Self-Petition.