J-1 Physician Waiver Extension Expected Posted Nov 26, 2004 There has been progress in legislation that would extend the Conrad 30 waiver program for J-1 physicians. As of November 17, 2004, the legislation had passed both the House and the Senate. The Bill must now go to the President for his signature, which he is expected to sign into law. This proposed legislation was reported in our October 15, 2004 article, Favorable Changes to Physician J-1 Waiver Anticipated, available on MurthyDotCom. The legislation would extend the Conrad 30 program for two fiscal years, as well as generally make some positive modifications to the physician waiver options. ©MurthyDotCom Background on Waiver Programs ©MurthyDotCom The waiver programs are very important to foreign-trained physicians who are present in the U.S. on J-1 visas for their residencies and fellowship training programs. All of these physicians are subject to the two-year home return requirement. In order to eliminate this requirement, a physician must obtain a waiver. These waivers may be based on the support of a state program, known as the Conrad 30 program, for three years of work in certain designated areas. ©MurthyDotCom Physician waivers are also available through the Veteran's Administration (VA), the Delta Regional Commission (DRC), and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). ©MurthyDotCom Summary of Proposed Bill ©MurthyDotCom The positive modifications to the current program include H1B cap exemption for the physicians sponsored under any of the state or federal waiver programs. This is very important, as the required three-year waiver service time must be performed in H1B status, under legacy INS memos. Without a cap exemption, this is highly problematic for those physicians seeking waivers under the VA, DRC, and ARC programs. (There is some controversy in this area regarding the need for an H1B. The VA is not currently taking this stance.) The legislation would eliminate this problem since only the Conrad 30 physicians were cap-exempt previously. ©MurthyDotCom The legislation would also allow 5 out of the 30 spaces per state to be used by physicians practicing outside of the underserved areas. The physicians would have to show that these practices served patients living in underserved areas, but the practices themselves would not have to be physically located in underserved areas. ©MurthyDotCom Highly significant is that the legislation includes changes to enhance the ability to sponsor specialists. This would open many opportunities that are now closed to physicians with specialty training. ©MurthyDotCom We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. will continue to follow this legislation. We recognize that it is not only important to our work with our physician-clients and to many MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers, but to the serious matter of dwindling healthcare professionals in the United States, as well. © The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C.
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