CASE: I-130/I-485 – Marriage Based Adjustment of Status
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: Grants, NM
Our client from the Philippines came to the U.S. as a J-1 teacher. However, 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 residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under a No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency. Her case is not possible for both waiver routes. We pursued her J-1 waiver based on the fact that her spouse is experiencing exceptional medical hardships.
After retaining our firm, we filed a waiver request through an exceptional hardship basis. On March 15, 2022, the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit of our client, extensive brief, and other supporting documents. Our client provided us with extensive medical documents and doctor’s reports for her spouse’s medical conditions. On March 17, 2022, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked 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.
However, on October 4, 2022, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence for our client to submit more hardship documents for her husband’s health. On December 22, 2022, we filed the RFE with extensive medical documents of our client’s husband. The USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on January 25, 2024.
Once her J-1 waiver was approved, she retained our office for her green card application. Her US citizen spouse already filed the I-130 petition and it was already approved. Our firm prepared the I-485 Application on October 7, 2024. Before the interview, we prepared our clients via conference calls. On May 12, 2025, our client was interviewed at the Albuquerque, NM USCIS office. A day later, our client’s green card application was approved.