CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce
NATIONALITY: Ukraine
LOCATION: Ukraine
Our client is a citizen of Ukraine who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa. He came with his wife who was on a J-1 Visa. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, meaning you would have to go back to your home country for two-years before you can apply for permanent residency or some non-immigrant visas such as H, L, and O. Moreover, if you are subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, you are not allowed to change some non-immigrant status in the United States.
Once his wife’s government-sponsored program was completed in the United States, our client and his wife went back to Ukraine together. Unfortunately, his marriage did not work out well after they went back to Ukraine. Eventually, he got divorced from his ex-wife. Thereafter, our client got a job offer from a multi-national corporation which was willing to sponsor our client for his L-1 visa. However, as mentioned above, an alien who is subject to the 2-year requirement cannot get his/her L or H visa until he/she fulfills the requirement or gets a waiver.
After he read several blog articles from our website, he contacted us from Ukraine. Our firm was retained to do his J-2 waiver on December 15, 2010. On December 17, 2010 the J-2 Waiver 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 March 8, 2011 the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. Now, his employer can petition an L-1 visa on behalf of our client.
This J-2 waiver case was somewhat different from the previous J-2 cases that our office handled. First of all, the applicant of the J-2 waiver was outside the United States – specifically in Ukraine. Moreover, the J-1 program was sponsored by the government, rather than private entities. Nevertheless, our office successfully got a waiver for our client in less than 3 months.
FREE CONSULTATIONS
If you have any questions, please fill out the free consultation form below, and we will respond as soon as possible privately.