Favorable Changes to Physician J-1 Waiver Anticipated
Posted Oct 15, 2004
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There recently has been some forward movement on legislation that would make important and positive changes to the laws governing J-1 waivers for physicians. The legislation is known as the Access to Rural Physicians Improvement Act of 2004 (H.R. 4453 and S.2302). Essentially, all foreign-trained physicians who come to the United States in J-1 status to engage in required residency training are subject to a two-year home return requirement. They can, with the support of an interested government agency, eliminate the home residency requirement by committing to practice medicine for three years in a designated U.S. medical shortage area. The state program is known as the Conrad 30 program and is limited to 30 positions per participating state. The pending legislation would extend the Conrad program by two years and make the waiver program somewhat more flexible, in keeping with the real needs in underserved areas. It would include both state and federal agencies as potential waiver sponsors.
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The legislation passed the House of Representatives and also passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. The proposed legislation will not be made law until and unless it passes both the House and the Senate and is signed by the President. The chances that it will pass are good. We will report to MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers if and when this occurs.
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One of the highlights of the proposed legislation is that it clarifies definitively that a physician seeking an H1B after approval of this type of waiver is exempt from the H1B cap. It allows for more specialists to be sponsored under the Conrad program. Previously, the opportunities for specialists were quite limited. It also gives state agencies the ability to approve five such waivers per year for medical practices that are located outside of the underserved areas physically, but are serving patients who live within the underserved areas. This would be a very positive change, as practices are often located close to, but not actually within, underserved areas.
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We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will continue to follow this legislation for our clients and the readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin. Those interested in tracking the legislation themselves can do so through Thomas Legislative Information.
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