CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Persecution
NATIONALITY: Filipino
LOCATION: Waukegan, IL
Our client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in December 2020 from the Philippines to work as a teacher. His J-1 visa made him subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Our client wanted to file an adjustment of status based on his U.S. citizen spouse’s I-130 petition. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first.
Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue his waiver under a No Objection Statement or through an Interested Government Agency. Moreover, our client could not pursue his J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship standards. Our client decided to pursue a J-1 waiver under the persecution category since he believed he would be persecuted based on his same-sex marital relationship with his spouse.
His marriage is culturally and religiously forbidden in the Philippines. After he retained our firm, we filed a waiver request based on persecution. On May 1, 2023, the J-1 Waiver was filed with the Department of State. Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit from our client, an extensive brief, and other supporting documents. On May 4, 2023, our office filed an I-612 with USCIS, requesting that they issue this waiver since our client would be persecuted if he needed to return to the Philippines for two years. USCIS issued his I-612 approval notice on June 6, 2025.