Historically, J-2 waivers were easy to win in cases where the J-1/J-2 spouses divorced (for the J-2 spouse); the J-1 died (for the J-2 spouse); or the J-2 children reached the age of 21. About a year-and-a-half ago, the U.S. Department of State Waiver Review Division (DOSWRD) started requiring a showing of humanitarian reasons for why the waiver should be granted to the J-2 derivative. Following this dramatic change in adjudication, an example of a humanitarian consideration that won was a pending asylum application, as anything short of that would result in a refusal to recommend the waiver. As a result of this, Hake & Schmitt sued the government in two cases where the J-2 derivatives came to the United States as children and were now adults. The focal point of the litigation was to invalidate the DOS/DHS (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) regulations that make J-2s subject. Rather than face the risk of invalidating their regulations, the agencies spontaneously acquiesced to the grant of the waiver in both cases. As a result of this litigation, J-2 requests have now returned to being relatively simple to win. However, if DOS reverts to this change in course, this kind of litigation should work well to resolve the issue quickly.