CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Nigerian
LOCATION: Lithonia, GA
Our client is from Nigeria who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in October 2018 to pursue his student internship in New Mexico. After he finished his J-1 program, he remained in the United States. In April 2018, our client married his current U.S. citizen wife. However, he will not be able to adjust his status unless he gets a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency program. When he came to the United States in 2018, his program was subject to the 2-year foreign residency program.
Thereafter, our office promptly prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Nigerian Embassy in the United States. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures and policies with regard to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver. Our office promptly contacted the Nigerian Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the clearance letter from J-1 program sponsor, and a letter of reason for obtaining J-1 waiver.
On April 18, 2019, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Nigerian Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust based on his marriage to U.S. citizen spouse.
Eventually, the Nigerian Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On June 28, 2019, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On July 30, 2019, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement.
Once his J-1 waiver was approved, he retained our office on July 31, 2019 for his adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on September 19, 2019. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, the fingerprint appointment, and the work permit all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference calls. On January 21, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Atlanta, Georgia USCIS Field Office. Eventually, on January 24, 2020, his green card application was approved.