CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce
NATIONALITY: Egypt
LOCATION: North Carolina
Our client is a citizen of Egypt who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in February 2010. He came with his wife who held a J-1 Visa as a researcher. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement.
Unfortunately, while they were residing in the United States, his marriage did not work out well. Eventually, he got divorced from his ex-wife. Before he divorced with his ex-wife, he changed his status from J-2 to F-1. However, he was still subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Our client pursued his Ph.D. degree in the United States, and intends to file the I-140 NIW Self-Petition with adjustment of status application. Nevertheless, he could not file adjustment of status in the U.S. and changed his status to other non-immigrant visa in the United States because of the 2 year foreign residency requirement.
In August of this year, our client contacted our office. He retained our firm to do his J-2 waiver. On August 11, 2016 the J-2 Waiver (DS-3035) 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 August 29, 2016, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. Finally, the USCIS issued I-612 waiver approval notice on October 17, 2016. Now, our client can file an adjustment of status application (I-485) along with his NIW I-140 self-petition for his green card with a waiver.