CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement / Over 21-year-old dependent child
NATIONALITY: Chinese
LOCATION: Durham, NC
Our client is a citizen of China who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in August 2016. He came with his mother who entered on a J-1 Visa as a researcher in the U.S. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, meaning they had to go back to their home country for two years before they could apply for permanent residency or a non-immigrant visa such as the H, L, and O visas.
He turned 21 in August 2021. By getting a waiver, he would have the ability to be petitioned for H-1B status by his current employer. However, because of his two-year foreign residency requirement, our client cannot change his status in the United States without the fulfillment of the requirement or the waiver.
Our firm was retained to do her J-2 waiver, and on March 20, 2023, the J-2 Waiver application 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 since our client reached the age of 21 and was not dependent on a J-1 visa holder.
However, on May 15, 2023, the US Department of State issued a Request for Information and requested our client to submit a letter to explain why his situation merits special consideration. Our office prepared the Response to RFI including our client’s special consideration request letter. On August 29, 2023, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. On September 10, 2023, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver request.