CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Kenyan
LOCATION: Colorado
Our client is from Kenya who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in February 2016 to work at a non-profit organization in the U.S. His program sponsor was willing to sponsor our client longer if he can change his non-immigrant status. However, he will not be able to change his status unless he gets a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency requirement. When he came to the United States in 2016, his program made him subject to the 2-year foreign residency program.
Thereafter, our office promptly prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Kenyan Embassy in the United States. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures and policies with regard to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver. Our office promptly contacted the Kenyan Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client. The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the clearance letter from J-1 program sponsor, Clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining J-1 waiver.
On March 16, 2017, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Kenyan Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to change his status if he gets the waiver.
Eventually, the Kenyan Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On April 14, 2017, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On April 24, 2017, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement. Now, our client can change his status.