CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card / 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 the 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 application 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.
After he obtained the waiver of his 2 year foreign residency requirement, he retained our office again for his adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 30, 2014. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference calls. On May 5, 2015, our client was interviewed at the Fairfax, Virginia USCIS office. Eventually, on September 8, 2015, his green card was approved.