J2 212 (e) requirement waiver before CR1

[purplestoic 0]

Hello all,

I am in a little bit of a confusing situation and although we are currently in the process of searching for a lawyer that best fits our needs, i thought maybe seeing if anyone here has had any recent experience with this.

I am subjected to the 212 (e) 2-year home residency requirement. I came to the US in 01 as a J2 dependent with my mom. we left the US in 08 but never went to our home country. Ended up in Canada and eventually became Canadian citizens and relinquished our citizenship to our "original" home country. 

I never thought i would move back to the States or there never was a reason to apply for the waiver so never did it. Now i am engaged to be married to a USC. we wanted to get the CR1 process started (was thinking of doing court marriage done) but came to realize i needed my waiver (which is harder to get and they are a little stricter now according to one of the lawyers i spoke to). 

My question now is if i was to file for the waiver based on marriage to my USC and bc i aged out (no longer a dependent on the primary J1 holder) from Canada, would i be questioned or kept from visiting the US while the process is underway? what is the timeline for J2-related waivers? if anyone knows that would be great!!! I was told 4-9 months by one lawyer but he sounded a little lost at some of my questions so i don't know how reliable his info is. 

Thanks in advance. I just wanted to see if anyone has had a similar experience. I do want to go through the CR1 process so my visit to the US would be just to visit. 

 

 

[SalishSea 17,970]

2 hours ago, pasta1227 said:

Hello all,

I am in a little bit of a confusing situation and although we are currently in the process of searching for a lawyer that best fits our needs, i thought maybe seeing if anyone here has had any recent experience with this.

I am subjected to the 212 (e) 2-year home residency requirement. I came to the US in 01 as a J2 dependent with my mom. we left the US in 08 but never went to our home country. Ended up in Canada and eventually became Canadian citizens and relinquished our citizenship to our "original" home country. 

I never thought i would move back to the States or there never was a reason to apply for the waiver so never did it. Now i am engaged to be married to a USC. we wanted to get the CR1 process started (was thinking of doing court marriage done) but came to realize i needed my waiver (which is harder to get and they are a little stricter now according to one of the lawyers i spoke to). 

My question now is if i was to file for the waiver based on marriage to my USC and bc i aged out (no longer a dependent on the primary J1 holder) from Canada, would i be questioned or kept from visiting the US while the process is underway? what is the timeline for J2-related waivers? if anyone knows that would be great!!! I was told 4-9 months by one lawyer but he sounded a little lost at some of my questions so i don't know how reliable his info is. 

Thanks in advance. I just wanted to see if anyone has had a similar experience. I do want to go through the CR1 process so my visit to the US would be just to visit. 

 

 

I’m confused-   Why would you need a waiver if you spent > two years outside of the U.S. after leaving on the J status?     

[jan22 3,056]

16 hours ago, SalishSea said:

I’m confused-   Why would you need a waiver if you spent > two years outside of the U.S. after leaving on the J status?     

Because they never returned to the “home country” (or last legal residency) from which the J1/J2 was issued.

[SalishSea 17,970]

30 minutes ago, jan22 said:

Because they never returned to the “home country” (or last legal residency) from which the J1/J2 was issued.

Didn’t realize the U.S. would bother to confirm what specific country the J holder resided in, as long as it was not the U.S.

[purplestoic 0]

Yeah, one of the documents i need to submit would be the DS 2019, which would list all the info for the J1's program and funding (in this case Fulbright) and where the J1 visa was issued. life would've been a lot easier if they didn't do this.

also would have been great if J2 dependents who aged out of it would not need a waiver. 

[jan22 3,056]

OP:  FYI, when the J1 is sponsored by a Fulbright — i.e., is US government funded — a waiver is very difficult to get approved.  Perhaps they’ll be a little more flexible with the J2 dependent…you can only apply and find out.

 

I don’t want to sound harsh, but you didn’t “age out” from the J2.  You benefited from it for the full duration of the J1 program, if I understood your post correctly.  After that, a choice was made to not comply with the requirements for which the J1 was granted for 20 or so years, which  is only now an issue that must be addressed for immigration to the US.  I would urge you not to approach the waiver application with the primary reason being aging out of being a dependent of the J1 — if that was a reason for a waiver, every dependent would just wait until they turned 21 to avoid the requirement.

 

On 7/4/2024 at 9:11 AM, SalishSea said:

Didn’t realize the U.S. would bother to confirm what specific country the J holder resided in,

as long as it was not the U.S.

The “J” visa is designed to be an “exchange” visa.  The visa holder comes to the US to experience US culture, education, environment, the people and attitudes, etc. There are specific targeted programs for some countries to facilitate interactions between the countries in certain areas.  The goal is for that person to then take what they have learned about/from the US back to their home country and share it, resulting in a better understanding between the people of both countries.  Lofty goal that may or may not work — but has no chance if the visa holder and family never return to the home country to share their experiences.

[purplestoic 0]

Oh no @jan22! Please that is not harsh. That is the reality of these J1 Fulbright programs.

I used "aged out" bc that is what one of the lawyers used to describe the criteria for when J2 can apply for their waiver, i probably should have said "reaches the age of 21" instead of just  "no longer dependent on the primary J1". I understand that this 2 year home residency applies to all parties involved with the J1 and can only be waived off. It doesn't just go away. 

 

And ya the Fulbright-related waivers are hard to get. It was a little easier 1.5 years ago at least for J2s. Someone from the same program that my mom knew got their J2 condition waived in a couple of months in 2018.

I did get the benefit of staying with my mom in the States but what choice did i have as an under-10 kid with no family back home to take care of me if she wanted to leave me behind?  lol. (not trying to be passive-aggressive about it haha)

the irony here is that after getting her Canadian citizenship my mom moved back, fulfilled her requirements and has been back in the States for the last 5 years. But it doesn't exempt me from mine. I have to apply for my waiver. 

I didn't move back because I was busy with Uni --> grad school ---> work. 

 

Since my mom fulfilled her requirement and is not applying for the waiver, I as the J2 need to meet one of the three criteria they have listed to be able to apply on my own.

One of the lawyers suggested IGA route coupled with marriage to the USC as a reason for consideration. I guess we will know when we apply and I shall def. update here so maybe other J2s like me will have some insight. 

I just wanted to know when we do apply for it does it pose an issue for me to travel to the States? We know the entire process of me getting the GC will be anywhere from 2-3 years depending on how quickly the waiver gets granted. We thought of living near a border town so the separation would be a little more manageable. and wanted to see if anyone had any experience/knowledge. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jan22 3,056]

6 hours ago, pasta1227 said:

Oh no @jan22! Please that is not harsh. That is the reality of these J1 Fulbright programs.

I used "aged out" bc that is what one of the lawyers used to describe the criteria for when J2 can apply for their waiver, i probably should have said "reaches the age of 21" instead of just  "no longer dependent on the primary J1". I understand that this 2 year home residency applies to all parties involved with the J1 and can only be waived off. It doesn't just go away. 

 

And ya the Fulbright-related waivers are hard to get. It was a little easier 1.5 years ago at least for J2s. Someone from the same program that my mom knew got their J2 condition waived in a couple of months in 2018.

I did get the benefit of staying with my mom in the States but what choice did i have as an under-10 kid with no family back home to take care of me if she wanted to leave me behind?  lol. (not trying to be passive-aggressive about it haha)

the irony here is that after getting her Canadian citizenship my mom moved back, fulfilled her requirements and has been back in the States for the last 5 years. But it doesn't exempt me from mine. I have to apply for my waiver. 

I didn't move back because I was busy with Uni --> grad school ---> work. 

 

Since my mom fulfilled her requirement and is not applying for the waiver, I as the J2 need to meet one of the three criteria they have listed to be able to apply on my own.

One of the lawyers suggested IGA route coupled with marriage to the USC as a reason for consideration. I guess we will know when we apply and I shall def. update here so maybe other J2s like me will have some insight. 

I just wanted to know when we do apply for it does it pose an issue for me to travel to the States? We know the entire process of me getting the GC will be anywhere from 2-3 years depending on how quickly the waiver gets granted. We thought of living near a border town so the separation would be a little more manageable. and wanted to see if anyone had any experience/knowledge. 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I could be wrong, I think it will be very helpful for your waiver application that your mother actually did complete her 2 year requirement.  
 

Applying for the waiver should not cause any issues with you entering the US for visits.  In a warped way, it might actually help that you need the waiver — once you’re married to a US citizen, the concern might be that you would enter the US and immediately apply to adjust status.  You cannot do that without the waiver, so possibly adjusting status isn’t possible!

 

Good luck!

 

[purplestoic 0]

wanted to update anyone who might look into getting a waiver for j2 212(e) requirement. When i started i wasn't able to find much online. 

I was granted the favourable decision mid oct. still waiting for the USCIS to send the final letter. We decided to get married so my fiance ended up coming up and we applied with the proof of marriage (the marriage certificate took a while to come here in Canada) and used lawyers to file the application.

The reason stated in our statement

-been out of US for a while.

-J1 had already completed the requirement.

- reasons for why I couldn't complete the 2 years in my home country (language, education etc). 

-married to a USC. 

-needed the waiver to be able to get the final approval of the I 130 (which we applied for concurrently, this process itself will take a while here in Canada) 

 

I think we could have done it ourselves too but didn't want to risk it. 

the whole process from applying to getting DoS notification took around 30 days. Heard there is a little delay in getting the USCIS final notice but not in a rush for that now that i know it's almost done. 

 

good luck to anyone looking into this in future!