CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement / Over 21-year-old dependent child
NATIONALITY: Chinese
LOCATION: Tempe, AZ
Our client was a citizen of China who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in July 2012. She came with her mother who came on a J-1 Visa as a researcher in the U.S. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, so they went back to their country for two-years before they could apply for permanent residency.
She turned 21 in September 2018. By getting a waiver, she would have the ability to be petitioned for H-1B status by her employer. However, because of her requirements, our client couldn’t change her status in the United States without the fulfillment of requirement. In fact, her employer filed the I-129 H-1B petition for her and this H-1B petition was approved by the USCIS. Our client could not get her H-1B visa due to her requirement.
Our firm was retained to do her J-2 waiver, and on April 4, 2024, the J-2 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. We sent a request to the DOS to be an interested government agency and give this waiver since our client reached the age of 21 and was not dependent of a J-1 visa holder anymore.
On August 14, 2024, the DOS asked the USCIS that our client be granted a waiver. On August 28, 2024, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval for our client’s waiver request.