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Persecution Waiver Granted for Syrian National that cannot Return to Syria due to Violence and Religious Persecution

January 16, 2014 - This Syrian national was originally on a J-1 non-immigrant visa in order to complete his residency in Internal Medicine in Buffalo, New York. Once his J-1 visa was expire, we were retained by a hospital in Michigan that needed the physician’s services and wanted to sponsor him for a J-1 visa persecution waiver to waive the 2-year foreign residence requirement as well as an H-1B visa.

Once retained, we filed a J-1 visa persecution waiver in which we stated that the physician would experience great hardship if he were to return to Syria. We stated that if the 2-year foreign residence requirement was not granted, this physician would be sent to a war-torn country in which he would be faced with religious persecution as he is a practicing Greek Orthodox Christian. In addition, we demonstrated that the Department of State has indicated that the violence in Syria is prevalent and constant in Syria due to terrorism and the ongoing civil war. Moreover, we also demonstrated that granting this J-1 persecution waiver would be in the public interest as the physician would be treating an underserved and underprivileged community in Michigan. After a request for evidence, USCIS granted this physician’s J-1 visa waiver on January 16, 2014.

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