CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Exceptional Hardship
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Albuquerque, NM
Our client came from the Philippines and entered the U.S. as a J-1 teacher. Her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Our client wanted to file her adjustment of status along with her US citizen spouse’s I-130 petition; however, due to the foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Our client could not pursue her waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency. Her case was impossible for both waiver routes. Our client wanted to pursue her J-1 waiver since her U.S. citizen spouse was experiencing exceptional medical hardships.
After she retained our firm, we filed a waiver request on an exceptional hardship basis. On June 10, 2022, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit of our client and other supporting documents. She also provided us with medical documents for her spouse’s medical conditions. On June 14, 2022, our office filed an I-612 to the USCIS and asked for them to issue this waiver since our client’s spouse would experience hardship if our client needed to go back to the Philippines for two years.
On May 8, 2023, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence and requested our client to submit more hardship evidence for her husband. Our office filed the RFE on July 20, 2023. The USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on March 26, 2024.