Propper and Impropper J-2 waiver method and missing IAP-66 forms
Hello Everyone-
I wanted to provide some info as it might help those in need. My situation is as follows.
My wife is from China. She came in on a J-2 Visa, later switched to F-1 to go to grad school (that’s how we met). She then divorced and we got married. She went on to get a job (OPT initially) then applied and received an H1-B Visa (which I understand she should NOT have been able to get).
We went down the path of green card and had to deal with the J issue as it was subject to two year rule.
First problem is that she did not have the IAP-66 forms. I contacted my local congressman, whom contacted the J waiver board and I was informed that a letter from the program sponsor (look for the responsible officer at the company) stating that her husband attended, including the dates of the program and the program number. These took forever to get from the companies and required a great deal of tactful persistence.
Next we started down the waiver process with a lawyer. The first approach was the no-objection route. We filed everything and went after the no objection letter. We discovered later that China does not provide a no-objection letter to J-2 holders.
From there our lawyer decided to go the ‘hardship’ approach. Based on everything I read this was not winnable for us. I then started emailing every lawyer out there. I was referred to a lawyer whom is a J-1 hardship expert (he only does J-1 hardship cases), therefore an expert on the law.
In my discussion with him I learned a few things. A no-objection approach or hardship approach to a J-2 waiver is a futile effort as this is not the way to handle this. It used to be that the J-2 was not subject to the two year rule, but somehow a 2 year HRR became the practice throughout the murky history of J-2 cases and now is accepted as the standard.
The bottom line is the proper way to apply for this waiver is through the ‘interested government agency’ route. This is applied directly to the state department. He expects that this will take 2 to 4 weeks for approval after the submission of the paperwork, but then you all are aware of bureaucracy if you are on this board.
I am not sure if it is appropriate to mention lawyers on this message board, but I must say this guy knows the J-1 law inside and out.
I hope this helps some of you out there and I will let you know how our approach turns out.
Best of luck!
Hello Everyone-
I wanted to provide some info as it might help those in need. My situation is as follows.
My wife is from China. She came in on a J-2 Visa, later switched to F-1 to go to grad school (that’s how we met). She then divorced and we got married. She went on to get a job (OPT initially) then applied and received an H1-B Visa (which I understand she should NOT have been able to get).
We went down the path of green card and had to deal with the J issue as it was subject to two year rule.
First problem is that she did not have the IAP-66 forms. I contacted my local congressman, whom contacted the J waiver board and I was informed that a letter from the program sponsor (look for the responsible officer at the company) stating that her husband attended, including the dates of the program and the program number. These took forever to get from the companies and required a great deal of tactful persistence.
Next we started down the waiver process with a lawyer. The first approach was the no-objection route. We filed everything and went after the no objection letter. We discovered later that China does not provide a no-objection letter to J-2 holders.
From there our lawyer decided to go the ‘hardship’ approach. Based on everything I read this was not winnable for us. I then started emailing every lawyer out there. I was referred to a lawyer whom is a J-1 hardship expert (he only does J-1 hardship cases), therefore an expert on the law.
In my discussion with him I learned a few things. A no-objection approach or hardship approach to a J-2 waiver is a futile effort as this is not the way to handle this. It used to be that the J-2 was not subject to the two year rule, but somehow a 2 year HRR became the practice throughout the murky history of J-2 cases and now is accepted as the standard.
The bottom line is the proper way to apply for this waiver is through the ‘interested government agency’ route. This is applied directly to the state department. He expects that this will take 2 to 4 weeks for approval after the submission of the paperwork, but then you all are aware of bureaucracy if you are on this board.
I am not sure if it is appropriate to mention lawyers on this message board, but I must say this guy knows the J-1 law inside and out.
I hope this helps some of you out there and I will let you know how our approach turns out.
Best of luck!
Last edited by a moderator: