CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce
NATIONALITY: Chinese
LOCATION: Hingham, MA
Our client is a citizen of China who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in January 2015. She came with her husband (now, her ex-husband) who held a J-1 Visa as an exchange visitor. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement.
Unfortunately, while they are residing in the United States, her marriage did not work out well. Eventually, she got divorced from her ex-husband in January 2016 in China. In September 2019, she married her U.S. citizen spouse. She wanted to file the waiver so that she can file adjustment of status along with her U.S. citizen spouse’s I-130 petition.
Our client contacted our office and retained our firm to do her J-2 waiver on October 16, 2019. On October 21, 2019, the J-2 Waiver (DS-3035) was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the DOS to be an interested government agency and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client was divorced from the J-1 visa holder. Eventually, on December 2, 2019, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. Finally, the USCIS issued I-612 waiver approval notice on December 18, 2019.