CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Extreme Hardship
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Waterford, MI
Our client, a native of the Philippines, entered the United States in J-1 status to serve as a teacher. Because her visa was subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement, she was ineligible to file an adjustment of status application with her U.S. citizen spouse’s I-130 petition without first obtaining a waiver. While many J-1 holders seek waivers through a No Objection Statement or an Interested Government Agency, these routes were not viable options for her specific circumstances. Instead, she sought a waiver based on the exceptional hardship standard, specifically citing the significant medical challenges currently faced by her U.S. citizen spouse.
According to 8 C.F.R. Section 212.7(c)(5), an individual subject to the foreign residence requirement may apply for a waiver via Form I-612 if they believe compliance would impose exceptional hardship upon a U.S. citizen spouse or child. In analyzing such hardship, the government evaluates factors established in Matter of Anderson, including family ties, length of residency, health conditions, and the economic or political climate of the country of removal.
Upon being retained, our firm prepared and filed a comprehensive waiver request. We submitted the Form DS-3035 to the Department of State on August 29, 2024, followed by the filing of Form I-612 with USCIS on September 3, 2024. Our submission included an extensive legal brief, a personal affidavit, and a robust collection of medical documents and doctor’s reports detailing the spouse’s condition. We argued that the spouse would experience exceptional hardship if the client were forced to return to the Philippines for two years. USCIS approved the I-612 waiver on March 11, 2026 without issuing a Request for Evidence.