extended J1, 2 year rule

[mr_and_mrs_smith 0]

Hi... we (my wife and I) have another question and really hope you can answer it.

So my wife has an au pair friend, who wants to get married and file AOS after finishing her second au pair year. She called my wife and asked her to check her DS form (the one she received when she extended her au pair stay), to see if she had any remarks in it, regarding the 2 year rule.

My wife and her friend both extended but never went home to Germany, so there are no marks on it. All boxes regarding the rule are unchecked. But their expired visas and old DS forms both are marked as "Not subject".

My wife successfully changed her status from J1 to F1 last year, and we both remember reading, that you can only do so, if you are NOT subject to the rule. If you are, you can still get another non-immigrant visa, but you will have to return to your home country to apply for it. Is that true?

We recently filed for adjustment of status and now do not know if we are even eligible for it? How can we find out? Or is she just not subject to it, because her first visa said so?

We read that some au pairs were subject to it after extending... please help?

[ceadsearc 516]

If the visa says "not subject" to the 2 year rule then it isn't a problem.

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

Hi... we (my wife and I) have another question and really hope you can answer it.

So my wife has an au pair friend, who wants to get married and file AOS after finishing her second au pair year. She called my wife and asked her to check her DS form (the one she received when she extended her au pair stay), to see if she had any remarks in it, regarding the 2 year rule.

My wife and her friend both extended but never went home to Germany, so there are no marks on it. All boxes regarding the rule are unchecked. But their expired visas and old DS forms both are marked as "Not subject".

My wife successfully changed her status from J1 to F1 last year, and we both remember reading, that you can only do so, if you are NOT subject to the rule. If you are, you can still get another non-immigrant visa, but you will have to return to your home country to apply for it. Is that true?

We recently filed for adjustment of status and now do not know if we are even eligible for it? How can we find out? Or is she just not subject to it, because her first visa said so?

We read that some au pairs were subject to it after extending... please help?

I might be misunderstanding your question, but if you changed from J1 to F1 already then the two year rule does NOT apply to you guys. Otherwise, you would've not been able to change to F1 at the first place. As far as I know, it doesn't matter what visa you would change your J1 into (non-immigrant, or immigrant based) you could not do it unless you did not have the 2 year rule applying to you. Sounds to me, you did not have that as you successfully changed to that of an F1.

Ps: you can also check this by looking at your J1 visa in your passport...it should state somewhere at the bottom that "J1 bearer is subject to 2 year home residency requirement." or "J1 holder is subject to 212(e)". Or something like this...I am not exactly sure of the wording as I've never had a J1 visa...

Edited August 5, 2012 by AnotherLostSoul

[mr_and_mrs_smith 0]

I might be misunderstanding your question, but if you changed from J1 to F1 already then the two year rule does NOT apply to you guys. Otherwise, you would've not been able to change to F1 at the first place. As far as I know, it doesn't matter what visa you would change your J1 into (non-immigrant, or immigrant based) you could not do it unless you did not have the 2 year rule applying to you. Sounds to me, you did not have that as you successfully changed to that of an F1.

Ps: you can also check this by looking at your J1 visa in your passport...it should state somewhere at the bottom that "J1 bearer is subject to 2 year home residency requirement." or "J1 holder is subject to 212(e)". Or something like this...I am not exactly sure of the wording as I've never had a J1 visa...

Yes that is what we figured. On the instructions of changing status it states that you can't be subject to it or have to have a waiver in order to apply for COS within the states.

her friend just asked my wife because their second forms don't have any marks on them, other than signatures from the agency. We figured out now, that only at the embassy they will mark and write in the empty fields and since neither one of them returned, there is nothing.

So we can be sure my wife is not subject to it. But is there any chance her friend could be? Both their visas expired in 2010, but said NOT subject and so did the first DS form.

[mrs_gonzo 9]

Yes your wife is defo not subject to it, because otherwise the changr to another status os impossible and can only be obtained from outside of the country.

i believe her friend isnt either, never heard of any german au pair being subject to it even after extending!