CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card
NATIONALITY: Thai
LOCATION: Park City, Utah
Our Thai client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in November 2021. She came to the U.S. for her internship, and her J-1 visa made her subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. In August 2022, our client married her husband and wanted to apply for permanent residency. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.
After she retained our firm, we filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement from the Thai Embassy in the United States. Our office contacted the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. to ensure we understood all the requirements needed for their office to issue a no objection statement. They requested several documents, including a statement of reason for the waiver, a copy of the marriage certificate, her husband’s US passport Biographic Page, her valid Thai passport, and Form DS-3035.
On November 3, 2022, the J-1 Waiver was filed with the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Thai Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver, as our client would have been eligible to file a marriage-based adjustment of status but for the waiver.
The Thai Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On March 14, 2023, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the statement. The USCIS then issued a receipt and an I-612 approval notice on April 12, 2023.
Once her J-1 waiver was approved, our client retained our office again for her adjustment of status. We prepared the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status application on May 31, 2024. Before the interview, we prepared our clients via conference calls. On January 22, 2025, our client was interviewed at the Salt Lake City, UT USCIS office.
On January 22, 2025, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence for our client to submit more marital evidence. Our office filed the response on April 15, 2025. On April 22, 2025, her green card was approved.