Last summer, we reported on a case where a Chinese-born person who entered the US on a J-1 visa with a home residency requirement successfully avoided having to serve the two years abroad because the person became a citizen of Canada and automatically lost his citizenship. The United States Information Agency made its decision based on the theory that if a person loses his home country nationality his home residency requirement is void due to impossible ability to perform.

Recently, a client of Siskind, Susser, Haas & Chang successfully tested this approach and has received an advisory opinion indicating that the applicant is not subject to the home residency requirement. The client also entered the US as a citizen of China and acquired Canadian citizenship status. The main documentation presented was proof of the new citizenship status and proof of Chinese law on the subject of dual nationality. The USIA initially turned down the request, but after being pressed to explain why they were backtracking on the earlier opinion, the USIA came around and issued the affirmative decision. We are currently processing two more cases with similar theories. In one case, the applicant received government financing from a country other than the applicant's country of citizenship or permanent residence. The approach in that case is that the applicant has no legal right to reside in the country that financed the stay in the US.