J1 fulfill 2 yrs HHR, J2 still need to fulfill?

[yli_ca]

Hello, everyone,

I have a question about J1 & J2's 2 yrs HRR. My husband will be finishing his 2 yrs HRR in our home country by the end of the year, I had J2 visa and subject to 2 yrs HHR too (I'm staying in US, working as H1 visa), but when he fulfill his at the end of the year, I'll be automatically exempt for the 2 yrs HRR? I know that if he gets his J waived, I'll be automatically waived.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jk0274]

If he were to get a waiver, then you get one too, correct.

But absent a waiver, you each are subject to HRR on your own. Just because he fulfilled his HRR doesn't mean you are off the hook, because you are subject as well.

However, I don't know personally how well this situation is enforced. It's usually more often the case that both spouses remain together, so I don't know if your situation will be overlooked or not.

Most importantly, you say you are on an H1 visa (H-1B?) You would legally not have been able to obtain your H visa if you were subject to HRR. It seems that the USCIS already made a mistake and overlooked your non-compliance with the HRR. This happens sometimes (including to others on this forum).

So to answer your questions: 1- You are still legally subject to HRR even if your spouse fulfills his, 2- It appears that USCIS has overlooked your HRR requirement in approving your H absent compliance with HRR, and 3- It is uncertain whether the mistake USCIS made will be discovered during a future application process, in which case you may have to pay the consequences (i.e. you should never have been given an H visa).

#2 and #3 above do not apply if your message above is a typo and you meant to say F1 not H1.

 

[yli_ca]

Thank you very much for your reply.
Yes, USCIS already made a mistake 6 years ago when I applied my H1 visa, since we are Canadian citizen ( we were Chinese when we came to US), we applied for Consolar Processing and went to interview in the consolar office in Montreal, but didn't get the immigration visa because of the J waive issue, the officer gave us one year to get our J1 waived and will grant the visa as soon as they get our J1 waive paper work, he didn't mentioned J2 at all, he said once they receive our J waive paper work, we even don't need to come to Montreal, all these can be done by mail. My husband current works in China as foreign service sent by his company in US (will finish his 2 years HRR by the end of this year), I'm still in US working because if I leave the company, my application will be terminated, it's very hard time for the family even though we fly back and forth frequenty.

We are kind of stuck here because it's impossible for us to get the J waived since we are no longer Chinese, don't know what our next step is, looking forward to opinions and suggestions.

Thank you ver much!