CASE: I-130/I-485 – Marriage Based Adjustment of Status
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Bloomfield, NM
Our client, a J-1 teacher from the Philippines, came to the U.S. and became subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. This requirement posed a challenge to her desire to file an adjustment of status application alongside her U.S. citizen spouse’s I-130 petition, as she first needed to obtain a waiver.
Unlike many of our other J-1 clients, she couldn’t pursue a waiver through a No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA) due to the specifics of her case. Instead, our client sought a J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship, specifically highlighting the significant medical hardships faced by her U.S. citizen spouse.
Legal Basis for Exceptional Hardship Waivers
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.”
Key factors considered when analyzing extreme hardship include:
Age of the applicant
Family ties in the U.S. and abroad
Length of U.S. residency
Health and medical conditions
Economic and political conditions in the country of removal
Financial status, business, and occupation
Community ties and position
These factors are guided by precedents such as Matter of Anderson, 16 I&N Dec. 596 (BIA 1978).
Successful Waiver and Green Card Approval
After retaining our firm, we prepared and filed an exceptional hardship waiver request. The J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was submitted to the Department of State on March 20, 2023. Subsequently, our office meticulously prepared an affidavit from our client, an extensive brief supporting her J-1 waiver application, and various other supporting documents. Our client provided comprehensive medical records and doctor’s reports detailing her U.S. citizen spouse’s medical conditions.
On March 30, 2023, we filed the I-612 application with USCIS, arguing that her spouse would experience exceptional hardship if our client were required to return to the Philippines for two years. USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on September 5, 2024, without issuing any Request for Evidence (RFE).
Following the J-1 waiver approval, our client re-engaged our office for her adjustment of status application. We prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on October 31, 2024. The process proceeded smoothly, with timely receipt notices, fingerprint appointments, and work permits. We thoroughly prepared our clients for their interview through conference calls. On July 14, 2025, our client was interviewed at the Albuquerque, NM USCIS office. The interview was successful, and her green card application was approved the very next day, on July 15, 2025.