CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Malaysian
LOCATION: Michigan
Our Malaysian client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in August 2008. He came to the United States to pursue his Bachelor’s program, and his J-1 visa made him subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. He later changed his status from J-1 to F-1 when he started this Master’s program. His research and higher education enhanced his interest in the field, and he would like to further his studies in the field.
However, since most of the research projects that interest him will take a longer time, and since some of the projects he had inquired on have resulted in the employers/institutions inquiring whether he is eligible to work beyond the OPT, he anticipated that most employers will eventually wish to petition him for an alternate form of visa such as an H-1B.
However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first before he could change his current status in the United States.
After he retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Malaysian Embassy in the United States. Our office contacted the Malaysian Embassy in New York and Washington D.C. to make sure we got all the requirements needed for their office to issue a no objection statement. The Embassy requested different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver.
On October 24, 2013 the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Malaysian Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client would have been eligible to file a change of status application but for the waiver.
The Malaysian Embassy eventually issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. The Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. The CIS then issued a receipt and an I-612 approval notice on September 18, 2014. Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, he can be a beneficiary of other non-immigrant visa in the United States without going back to Malaysia for 2 years.