Overlapping Two Year Residency Requirements

enfinity

Registered Users (C)
Hi there:

Assuming that a student was involved in TWO different J-1 programs with different program sponsors (and the two year rule applied to both stays in the US):

1) The first program is over and the student departs the US and resides 1 year and 6 month in his home country
2) The student starts the second J1 program and again returns to his home country after completion of the program

Option A) Now, the question is whether this student has to spend 6 month from the first program PLUS 2 years from the second program in his home country for a total of 2 years and 6 month

-OR-

Option B) 2 years in total?

I tend to believe the second option is correct. From the 202(e) legal text: "such person has resided and been physically present in the country of his nationality or his last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following departure from the United States". The law does not say anything about sequential order of being present in the home country.

If anyone has experience with this issue, please share your thoughts on this.

Thanks much!
 
Thanks easteuropean for your reply! Are you speaking from personal experience or do you refer to some other source. Nice to hear back from you. Thanks
 
Sorry, not from personal experience - this is just how I read INA 212(e). Essentially each program has its own two-year residency requirement. Likewise, if you were to obtain a waiver, you'd need two waivers.
 
Thanks again for your thoughts! I may call a lawyer about this... in the meantime, I stick to the relevant section 202(e), which states that the J-1 residency requirement is fulfilled if "such person has resided and been physically present in the country of his nationality or his last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following departure from the United States".

The law basically has two parts (1) departure from the U.S. and (2) two years in his home country (as I see it).

Now, carrying the example further, we assume that the student in the original example stayed in his home country for two years after his SECOND J-1 stay: The case would look as follows:

FIRST J-1:
Test 1: Did the student depart the U.S. after his J-1 stay is over? yes
Test 2: Did the student spent an aggregated of two years in his home country? yes

SECOND J-1:
Test 1: Did the student depart the U.S. after his J-1 stay is over? yes
Test 2: Did the student spent an aggregated of two years in his home country? yes

So both conditions would be satisfied.

Also, I agree totally with you that this student would have to apply for two J-1 waivers.

Yet, I would be quite interested if someone else has experienced the situation with the overlapping J-1 residency requirements and can shed some light on this issue :)
 
Thanks again for your thoughts! I may call a lawyer about this... in the meantime, I stick to the relevant section 202(e), which states that the J-1 residency requirement is fulfilled if "such person has resided and been physically present in the country of his nationality or his last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following departure from the United States".

The law basically has two parts (1) departure from the U.S. and (2) two years in his home country (as I see it).

Now, carrying the example further, we assume that the student in the original example stayed in his home country for two years after his SECOND J-1 stay: The case would look as follows:

FIRST J-1:
Test 1: Did the student depart the U.S. after his J-1 stay is over? yes
Test 2: Did the student spent an aggregated of two years in his home country? yes

SECOND J-1:
Test 1: Did the student depart the U.S. after his J-1 stay is over? yes
Test 2: Did the student spent an aggregated of two years in his home country? yes

So both conditions would be satisfied.

Also, I agree totally with you that this student would have to apply for two J-1 waivers.

Yet, I would be quite interested if someone else has experienced the situation with the overlapping J-1 residency requirements and can shed some light on this issue :)

Let us know what you find out!
 
I talked to a lawyer but he was not sure... so this seems to be a pretty unique situation. However, I found this information on the U of Chicago website. This indicates that the J-1 2YHRR is indeed overlapping:

"It is important to know that people can be subjected to the two-year home residency requirement multiple times. For example, a student from China who comes to the US as a J-1 Student and then returns as a J-1 Scholar will be subjected to this requirement twice. Even though one can be subjected on multiple occasions, one can serve out the multiple requirements concurrently. The Chinese Student/Scholar only needs to spend two years in China after the J-1 last program to meet the requirements. If he or she elected to apply for a waiver, however, a waiver for each individual program will be needed."

Hope this helps. Also, if someone has additional info, please share :)
 
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