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.
