CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement / Over 21-year-old dependent child
NATIONALITY: Korean
LOCATION: Pullman, WA
Our client was a citizen of South Korea who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in August 2011. She came with her father who came on a J-1 Visa as a researcher in the U.S. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, meaning they had to go back to their home country for two years before they could apply for permanent residency or a non-immigrant visa.
By getting a waiver, she would have the ability to be petitioned for H-1B status by her prospective employer. However, because of her two-year foreign residency requirement, our client couldn’t change her status in the United States without fulfilling the requirement or the waiver.
Our firm was retained to do her J-2 waiver, and on August 15, 2023, it 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 because our client reached the age of 21 and was not a dependent on a J-1 visa holder anymore.
However, on August 24, 2023, the US Department of State issued a Request for Information and requested our client submit a letter explaining why her situation merits special consideration. Our office filed the RFI including our client’s special consideration request letter on September 25, 2023. On October 31, 2023, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. Shortly after, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver request.