CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce
NATIONALITY: Russian
LOCATION: Virginia
Our client is a citizen of Russia who initially came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in February 1995. He came with his ex-wife who held a J-1 Visa as a visiting researcher. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Later, both of them started to work at International Governmental Organizations in the United States under G-4 visas. However, they were still subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement.
Unfortunately, their marriage did not work out and he eventually got divorced from his ex-wife. He remained in the United States and has continuously worked for his employer under a G-4 visa.
In September 2011, our client married his U.S. citizen wife. She wanted to file an I-130 petition for him, but he could not file for adjustment of status because of the two-year foreign residency requirement.
He contacted our office, and our firm was retained to do his J-2 waiver on February 12, 2014.
On February 19, 2014 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.
On March 17, 2014, the DOS sent a recommendation to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) for our client be granted a waiver. On April 1, 2014, the USCIS issued the I-612 waiver approval.