Exchange visitors who are
subject to, but do not wish to
comply with, the two-year home
country residence requirement,
may apply for a waiver of that
requirement under any one of
the five applicable grounds
provided by the United States
immigration law.
1. "No Objection" statement
from the home government
Note: The law precludes use of
this option by medical doctors
listed in "c" above.
The exchange visitor's
government must state that it
has no objection to the
exchange visitor not returning
to the home country to satisfy
the two-year foreign residence
requirement of Section 212(e)
of the Immigration and
Nationality Act, as amended,
and remaining in the U.S. if he
or she chooses to do so.
2. Request by an interested
(U.S.) Government agency, or
IGA
If an exchange visitor is
working on a project for or of
interest to a U.S. Federal
Government agency, and that
agency has determined that the
visitor's continued stay in the
United States is vital to one
of its programs, a waiver may
be granted if the exchange
visitor's continued stay in the
United States is in the public
interest.
Note: For applications on
behalf of foreign physicians
who agree to serve in medically
underserved areas, please refer
to Federal Register Volume 62,
No. 102 of May 28, 1997.
3. Persecution
If the exchange visitor
believes that he or she will be
persecuted upon return to the
home country due to race,
religion, or political opinion,
he or she can apply for a
waiver.
4. Exceptional hardship to
a United States citizen (or
permanent resident) spouse or
child of an exchange visitor
If the exchange visitor can
demonstrate that his or her
departure from the United
States would cause extreme
hardship to his or her United
States citizen or lawful
permanent resident spouse or
child, he or she may apply for
a waiver. (Please note that
mere separation from family is
not considered to be sufficient
to establish exceptional
hardship.)
5. Request by a designated
State Department of Health,
or its equivalent
Note: The law permits only
medical doctors to apply for a
waiver on this basis.
Pursuant to the requirements of
Public Law 103-416, of October
25, 1994 and Public Law
107-273, of November 2, 2002,
foreign medical graduates who
have an offer of full-time
employment at a health care
facility in a designated health
care professional shortage
area, and who agree to begin
employment at the facility
within 90 days of receiving
such waiver, and who sign a
contract to continue to work at
the health care facility for a
total of 40 hours per week and
not less than three years, may
apply for a waiver.
PROCEDURES FOR WAIVER
APPLICATIONS
There are four steps to
processing a waiver review
application.
STEP 1. To apply for a
recommendation for a waiver of
the two-year home residence
requirement under any of the
above bases, applicants must
complete and send a Data Sheet
application, and two
self-addressed, stamped,
legal-size envelopes (S.A.S.E)
and a cashier's check or money
order for $230 U.S. dollars per
application, payable to the
U.S. Department of State to:
Postal Service
US Department of State
Waiver Review Division
P. O. Box 952137
St. Louis, MO 63195-2137
Courier Service
US Department of State
Waiver Review Division
(Box 952137)
1005 Convention Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63101-1200
STEP 2. Once the Waiver
Review Division has received
your Data Sheet application,
they will use your
self-addressed, stamped,
legal-size envelopes, to send
you a case number and
instruction sheet on how to
proceed with your application
under the basis you designated
on your Data Sheet application.
This information will include a
list of documents that you must
submit to complete your waiver
review application. After you
have received your case number,
you must write the full case
number on any documentation you
submit as well as on the
outside envelope of all future
correspondence with this
office. If you do not write the
case number on all
correspondence and on the
outside of the envelope, the
documents you submit will be
returned to you.
STEP 3. It is your
responsibility to submit all
requested documents and
required letters sent on your
behalf. Once US Dept of State
has sent you the check list of
items necessary to complete the
review of your application
(Step 2 above), the Waiver
Review Office will NOT follow
up on documents that have not
been received. Rather, it will
be your responsibility to
ensure that your file is
complete. You may check on the
status of your application ONLY
by calling (202) 663-1600. You
must have your full case number
in order to obtain the status
of your case through this
telephone number.
It is recommended that you
submit all the requested
documents at the same time.
Some letters (such as a "No
Objection" statement from your
government) must be submitted
directly to the Waiver Review
Division by the Embassy. In
that case, you, as the
applicant, must request that
the Embassy write your full
case number on the "No
Objection" statement and also
on the outside of the envelope
to be sent to the Waiver Review
Division. You may, if the third
party agrees, have all of your
documents forwarded to the
Waiver Review Division through
the third party. Please note,
however, that ALL documents
sent to the Waiver Review
Division must have your file
number clearly visible on it,
and on the outside of the
envelope or they will be
returned to you.
STEP 4: At the
conclusion of the review
process, the Waiver Review
Division will forward its
recommendation directly to the
US Citizenship and
Immigration Services in the
Department of Homeland Security
and you will receive a copy of
that recommendation at the
address listed on your data
sheet. If your application is
denied, you will be notified
directly.
