J-1 Waiver

Our client was under Voluntary Departure status since January, 1993 when she retained our office. Married to a United States Citizen so we filed I-130 on January 24, 1994 and it was approved by LN on February 28, 1994. She must have left the country and re-entered US on April 7, 1993 with visitor’s visa. She could not adjust because she must have been under J-1 status at some point in time. No objection J-1 waiver denial recommendation was issued on 12/3/01. Between 12/01 to 8/03, our office must have either filed MTR on the no objection denial or J-1 waiver based on hardship. On 7/6/04, J-1 waiver was approved. We filed I-485/765 in 6/05 and PR approved on 3/6/06.

Our office was retained to assist our client in continuing his fellowship program. His permission to remain in the US ended on June 30, 2005. He was not being permitted to continue his program because he had previously been granted a waiver of the two year home residency requirement that is applicable to J-1 physicians. Although he never complied with the waiver since he did not start with the contracting employer, he was ineligible to receive a new DS-2019 to continue his fellowship due to the grant of his waiver. Before he retained our office, he had tried unsuccessfully to have the waiver revoked for almost one year. Despite his repeated requests, he was not permitted to withdraw his previously granted waiver. As June 30, 2005 approached, our office determined that the only possibility that our client had to continue his fellowship would be to file a writ of mandamus in the United States District Court asking the Court to compel CIS to allow our client to withdraw his waiver. Our client would be forced to depart the United States on July 31, 2005 if his waiver was not revoked (there is a 30 day grace period for those who are on J-1 visas once their authorized stay in their program expires. We filed a Writ of Mandamus and a Motion for an Emergency Hearing with the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The Court granted the request for an emergency hearing. Approximately ten minutes after the hearing was supposed to begin, the parties received a fax from US CIS stating that our client would be permitted to withdraw his previously granted waiver. This allowed him to begin his fellowship. Scott Bratton handled the federal court litigation. Lori Pinjuh and Susan Saliba also provided assistance in this matter.

The client retained our office for filing a J-1 Hardship Waiver based on his U.S. citizen children. As a physician specializing in dermatopathology, the client worked for a private medical practice. We quickly prepared and sent out the J-1 application by March 11, 2005. Because the process usually takes over a year to review such applications, we were pleased to receive a notice of approval from the State Department on May 23, 2005. The review process had taken barely more than two months.

Our client filed a naturalization application with US CIS, The application was denied because CIS believed that our client had not fulfilled his 2 year foreign residency requirement as he came to the US on a J-1. CIS also contended that he lacked good moral character, We filed an appeal of the decision (N-336) which was also denied. We then filed a petition for review of the naturalization denial with the United States District Court. After filing the petition with the District Court, CIS reconsidered its decision and granted our client's application for naturalization. Lori Pinjuh and Scott Bratton handled this case for our firm.