CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
LOCATION: Fife, WA
Our client is from Kenya and came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in April 2023 to work as an intern. In March 2024, our client married her current husband. However, she wasn’t able to adjust her status unless she got a waiver for the 2-year foreign residency program.
She retained our office on April 12, 204. Thereafter, our office promptly prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement from the Kenyan Embassy in the United States. Our office contacted the Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. They requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, a clearance letter from a J-1 program sponsor, a clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining a J-1 waiver.
On May 16, 2024, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Kenyan Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver since our client was eligible to adjust based on her marriage.
Eventually, the Kenyan Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On October 16, 2024, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the statement. On November 7, 2024, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement. Now, our client can file an I-485 application along with her husband’s I-130 petition.