CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Persecution
NATIONALITY: Filipino
LOCATION: State College, PA
Our client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in March 2016 from the Philippines to work as a teacher. His J-1 visa made him subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Our client would like to file an adjustment of status application based on his U.S. citizen spouse’s I-130 petition. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). Moreover, our client could not pursue his J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship standards. Nonetheless, our client could pursue a J-1 waiver under the persecution waiver category since he believes that he will be persecuted based on his same-sex marital relationship with his current spouse.
Our client believed he would be persecuted if he returned to the Philippines based on his marriage in the U.S. His marriage is culturally and religiously forbidden in the Philippines. On March 7, 2022, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. Our office prepared an affidavit for our client, an extensive brief in support of our client’s J-1 waiver application, and other supporting documents to show that he will be persecuted in the Philippines if he goes back. On March 10, 2022, our office filed the I-612 application to the USCIS.
On September 21, 2022, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and asked that our client submit more evidence to support his persecution claims. Our office prepared the Response to the RFE application and submitted it on February 13, 2023. The Department of State recommended a waiver for our client on March 17, 2023. The USCIS then issued his I-612 approval notice on May 3, 2023.