Archive for category: J1 Visas

J-1 Visa Success Story: Egyptian national, Form I-612 Waiver Approval

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  • Date of submission: 12/19/2018
  • Date of approval: 11/06/2019

J-1 Visa Waiver Approval Notice: I-612 Application to wave foreign residence requirements




The holiday season is a time for family and togetherness. In our line of work, we are fortunate to be able to help many families remain in the United States together. We had the pleasure of working with an Egyptian national who came to the United States on a J-1 visa in order to conduct cutting-edge research on environmental problems related to water contamination and the effect of aquatic life. He was subject to the two-year residency requirement, which would have meant that his two United States-born daughters who would have had to go to Egypt with him if the waiver of the requirement were not approved. His youngest daughter has suffered from a host of health issues since birth, so her relocation to Egypt where medical standards are well below those of the United States could have disastrous long-term consequences. His daughter suffered from difficulty breathing at birth, which could lead to various health concerns in the future, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
The Ranchod Law Group was able to successfully overcome the high burden to show that client’s daughters would suffer extreme hardship if the waiver were denied and they were required to live in Egypt for two years. Through in-depth country research, intensive document collection, and our no-stone-unturned approach, we were able to demonstrate to USCIS that even two years spent in Egypt would adversely affect client’s two daughters. We covered arguments spanning from:

  • medical standards in Egypt;
  • safety of children;
  • economic conditions in the country and how they would affect the two girls’ quality of life.

After receiving a challenging Request For Evidence (RFE), we were able to secure an approval for our client’s waiver application in less than one year. Our clients will rest a bit easier this holiday season, knowing that their family can remain in the United States and maintain their quality of life.

Additional information and other success stories about I-612 Waivers:

What is Going On With J1 Waivers in 2019

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod here coming to you live from The Ranchod Law Group answering your immigration questions. Today I’m going to answer the question:

What is happening with J-1 Visa Waivers under the President Trump Administration?
Well… Things have changed with the President Trump Administration, there have been a lot more Request(s) For Evidence (RFE)s that have been issued for Request(s) For Evidence (RFE).

The other issue is that it’s taking 21 months to 25 months – are you kidding me!!??

That’s what’s happening, yes, it’s taking a long time to get J-1 Visa Waivers approved and so the most important thing is to start the process early on: if you start too late you’re going to be out of status because it takes so long to get the J-1 Visa Waiver approved.

Second, there has been one officer currently who has been issuing a lot of Request(s) For Evidence (RFE)s. With the United States CIS administration we’re hoping to see this end soon, but that’s historically what’s been happening.

There are erroneous Request(s) For Evidence (RFE)s, there are Request(s) For Evidence (RFE)s where all the information has been presented and they are asking for the same information again: they are trying to nit-pick every single issue where arguments have been made to demonstrate extreme hardship so that’s not stopping us.

We’re just taking it one level further and preparing responses to those Request(s) For Evidence (RFE)s where we’re retained by the client to demonstrate the extreme hardship one where the spouse is abroad and one where the spouse is here.

So, for instance they’re asking in many cases, they want updated documents and it’s their government’s fault that it’s taking 2 years to process the case but then they come back saying they want updated documents showing for instance financial hardship. So, then we have to go and provide that information even though we already provided it earlier.

So, these are kind of the games the government are playing we’re not letting that stop us, there’s still hope. We just have to work a little bit harder but as usual we’ll roll up our sleeves and get the job done.

If you have questions call us at (916) 613-3553 or check out our other videos on J-1 Visa hardship Waivers and other immigration issues and remember to file early, remember not to give up hope and to call us at (916) 613-3553 to see if you qualify because maybe it’s not in your best interest to qualify.

We have to evaluate your case and evaluate your situation. Keep in mind that if you did get government funding from the United States government that is going to also raise the bar on what you need to do to demonstrate extreme hardship because the department of state gets involved so not only do you have the United States CIS but you’ve also got the Department of State (DOS) – oh my gosh two agencies!

hey… don’t let that stop you! call us at (916) 613-3553 to find out if you should apply especially if you have United States government funding because if you have United States government funding it does make it more difficult to get an approval so you really need to make sure that you have a solid case.

That’s all for today, have an awesome day!

Related Information on J-1 Hardship Waivers

J-1 Hardship Waiver for Egyptian Client with Government Funding

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The facts about this case:

  • Client has two United States citizen children.
  • The older of the two children had RSV and a medical history of respiratory illness.
  • That child receives medical care multiple times each year.
  • In the United States the family has excellent health insurance coverage via client’s employer which they would lose if the family relocated to Egypt.

The Ranchod Law Group argued exceptional medical hardship because of this and because conditions in Egypt would aggravate the child’s health.

This problem is also compounded by the unavailability of medical care and medications in Egypt.

We also made additional hardship arguments due to:

  • the dangerous conditions in Egypt including terrorism and kidnapping;
  • the exceptional financial hardship which would accompany relocation to Egypt as relevant to the children;
  • the severe educational deficiencies in Egypt;
  • the language barrier;
  • emotional/mental health hardship to the children;

among other hardships.

The case was approved in a year and three months.

Additional information and other success stories about I-612 Waivers:

J1 Hardship Waiver for Brazil Approved

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from The Ranchod Law Group here, coming to you live, and today we’re going to talk about J-1 Visa hardship waivers.

We’re talking about just how we got this Waiver approved for a client from Brazil!

A word on what you have been waiting for.

First of all I want to give you an update – it’s taking 19 to 21 months to get an approval, now that’s in July 2019: crazy times but that’s what it is, so don’t wait because we get too many people who call us when it’s too late.

What you’ve been waiting for:

How did this Waiver get approved?

Well we got this J-1 Visa hardship waiver approved because they’re from Brazil – a national from Brazilmarried to a United States citizen and he has a career, long standing career, here in the United States with a very well-known company… he had to give all of that up if he went to Brazil – now who wants to give up that! You work here all your life, you work hard and then, because you marry someone with the two-year rule you have to leave?

Well USCIS agreed with us, we made a legal argument about that: you know tighten all of the facts and what not, arguing career hardship and also the financial obligations. Also, they had gone through separation before and they didn’t want to go through that again – who wants to be separated for two years of their life: that basically disrupts everything in the United States!

If you’re on a J-1 Visa, you know that if you’re here, you know I need an I-601 waiver, then you know that too, and the requirements are very similar although there are some differences with those two so bottom line is call us at (916) 613-3553 to see if you qualify because it just depends on a bunch of factors. There’s not one factor that makes or breaks a case typically – typically it’s the totality of circumstances:

  • it’s the financial hardship
  • it’s the career hardship
  • maybe it’s a health issue
  • maybe it’s the political situation that’s going on with the country at the time as well

In Brazil, you know, there is a lot of crime as well so there are issues specific to Brazil as well that also helped with the J-1 Visa waiver. So every case is different of course, that depends on what country you are from.

I invite you to ask any questions and tune in next Thursday for our next live show on immigration and your questions.

Thank you have an awesome day – bye for now.

Additional information on the subject of J-1 Visas:

Pakistan Citizen J1 Hardship Waiver Approved

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod here today from The Ranchod Law Group and what we are talking about is J-1 Visa Waivers and exceptional hardship waivers.

Recently we just got an approval for someone a Client from Pakistanand I’m going to tell you how we did it.

So when you apply for a J-1 Visa Waiver the biggest mistake that I’m still seeing is people are waiting too long. Right now it is taking anywhere from eighteen and a half to two years to get a Waiver and these times are changing all the time. But specifically:

how we got this approved

Every case is unique and in this situation the Pakistani spouse was Christian and he was Muslim. So if she would have went back to Pakistan, their lives could have been endangered because of that relationship. And so that was one factor that we talked about. So in the J-1 exceptional hardship Waiver you need to demonstrate hardship if you’re separated and hardship if you or your spouse, who is the US citizen remains in the US while you go back, or if your spouse joins you, also have to show extreme hardship.

So what’s the hardship I just talked about?

It was in the event you should both return to your home country. Another way that we demonstrated the hardship was because if the US citizen were to remain in the United States she had also a history of depression and that depression would be exacerbated. So with both of those factors we were able to get a J-1 hardship waiver approval without an RFE and in today’s day and age that is very significant because USCIS is issuing a lot RFEs for J-1 Waivers. Every case is unique so just because we’ve got this case approved doesn’t mean that your case would be approved, but contact our office at (916) 613-3553 so we can evaluate your situation and see if you qualify to apply for a J-1 exceptional hardship Waiver.

These cases require a lot of work to demonstrate the exceptional hardship: you write a legal brief explaining the hardship because it’s more than just mere separation and so it requires more than just filling out the form. We believe it needs a legal argument especially in this day and age with the Trump Administration so that’s why we prepare a legal brief.

If you have questions you can call us at (916) 613-3553 and we look forward to seeing you next week we will not be here Thursday because I is the fourth of July so we will talk to you next Friday – Thank you and have an awesome day.

Related Information on J-1 Hardship Waivers

J1 Hardship Waiver Approval for Client from Egypt

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J-1 Exceptional Hardship Waiver Approval

Filed: May 25, 2017
Request for Evidence Issued: November 9, 2017
Request for Evidence Response Filed: December 2017
Approved: May 21, 2018
J exceptional hardship Waiver Approved for Client from Egypt

The Facts

  • Client entered the United States
  • Married an American woman of Egyptian descent

In order to win these cases, we are required to prove that there would be exceptional hardship under the following circumstances:

  • In the event client’s American wife accompanied client to Egypt for two years
  • If she remained in the U.S. without client

There were numerous factors we used to successfully argue our case

Client’s wife does not wear the Muslim veil and dresses in an Americanized way which makes her an extremely obvious target in Egypt.

We included extensive evidence supporting that Egypt is extremely dangerous due to instability, terrorism, and lack of women’s rights, among other factors.

Country conditions (i.e. lack of suitable medical care, the economic crises, etc.) would also inherently result in exceptional hardship to her. Also, client’s wife is currently pursuing graduate school and is financially dependent on client.

Finally, we argued both scenarios in the event of a denial would have resulted in exceptional mental health hardship because client’s wife was diagnosed with depression and takes prescription anti-depressants. Client and his wife were alarmed and worried when they received the Request for Evidence, but issuance of these requests has become more common recently and we were able to aggressively respond on client’s behalf and get the case approved.

About Waiver of the Exchange Visitor Two-Year Home-Country Physical Presence Requirement

Research scholars, professors participating in programs for medical or business training with J1 Visas are subject to a two-year home-country physical presence requirement. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 212(e) J-1 Visa holders are required to return home for at least two years after the exchange visitor program. If you cannot return home for two years, you must apply for exceptional hardship a Waivers. The Department of Homeland Security must approve your Waiver before you can change status in the United States or receive a visa in certain categories.

Related Information: other I-612 Waivers Approved

Additional information on Requests for Evidence (RFE):