CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Extreme Hardship
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Mission, SD
Our client immigrated from the Philippines to the United States as a J-1 exchange visitor teacher. However, her J-1 status subjected her to the two-year foreign residence requirement. While our client wishes to file her adjustment of status application concurrently with her U.S. citizen spouse’s Form I-130 petition, she was first required to obtain a waiver of the two-year rule.
Unlike some J-1 exchange visitors, our client was unable to pursue a waiver through a No Objection Statement or an Interested Government Agency (IGA), as those routes were unavailable for her case. Instead, she sought a J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship, as her U.S. citizen spouse is experiencing severe medical hardships.
According to 8 C.F.R. Section 212.7(c)(5), “an alien who is subject to the foreign residence requirement and who believes that compliance therewith would impose exceptional hardship upon her spouse or child who is a citizen of the United States… may apply for a waiver on Form I-612.”
Factors considered in analyzing extreme hardship include the age of the subject, family ties in the U.S. and abroad, length of residence in the U.S., health and medical conditions, economic and political conditions in the country of removal, financial status (business and occupation), and position in or ties to the community (Matter of Anderson, 16 I&N Dec. 596 (BIA 1978)).
Following her retention of our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request based on exceptional hardship. On October 14, 2024, the J-1 waiver application (Form DS-3035) was submitted to the Department of State. Subsequently, our office prepared an affidavit from our client, an extensive legal brief in support of the application, and various supporting documents. Our client provided comprehensive medical records and physician reports detailing her U.S. citizen spouse’s medical conditions. On October 17, 2024, our office filed Form I-612 with USCIS, requesting a favorable recommendation based on the exceptional hardship her spouse would suffer if she were required to return to the Philippines for two years.
On February 24, 2026, USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) seeking additional hardship documentation concerning her husband. Our office prepared and timely filed the RFE response on April 23, 2026. Ultimately, USCIS approved her Form I-612 waiver on July 30, 2026.