QUESTION
Is my wife eligible to apply for a hardship waiver?
Asked on Jun 23rd, 2016 on Immigration - Illinois
More details to this question:
I am a US citizen. My wife is a foreign medical graduate who got a J1-waiver and joined work with H1B. However, she just got terminated because she was requesting easy duty as she is 6 months pregnant. Employer didn’t want to give medical leave for her pregnancy and terminated her. What option do we have right now? We have a 3-year-old also. Can she apply for a hardship waiver now? Somebody was saying that since USCIS already gave her a J-1 waiver (H1B), it would not be possible to apply for a hardship waiver now – is this correct? We would seriously have hardship because I can’t just leave work and go to her country and also our 3-year-old can only speak English. Is my wife eligible to get a hardship waiver? (remember, she already got a J1-waiver and got terminated)?
1 ANSWER
Since your wife did not complete the required service under the Conrad 30 program she is again subject to the two-year home residency requirement. I have handled many home residency requirement waivers but not one where the applicant was previously approved. To the best of my knowledge, you may only file one waiver request at a time but are not barred from submitting a subsequent application.
Answered on Jun 23rd, 2016 at 2:24 PM