If you are a non-U.S. citizen and you completed some or all of your medical training in the U.S., chances are you are subject to the J-1 two-year home-country physical presence requirement. This means that before you can change or adjust your status (e.g. from J-1 to permanent residence status), you must return to your home country for a cumulative total period of at least two years. If you are unwilling or unable able to fulfill the requirement, you may have options for applying for a waiver of this requirement. An application for a waiver is only the first in a series of steps required for you to achieve permanent residency status. The U.S. State Department has put together a handy list showing the most common bases for applying for a waiver.
1. Request by a designated State Public Health Department or its equivalent (Conrad State 30 Program):
If you are a foreign medical graduate who obtained exchange visitor status to pursue graduate medical training or education, you may request a waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement based on the request of a designated State Public Health Department or its equivalent, if you meet all of the following criteria. This waiver category is also known as the Conrad State 30 Program. You must:
· have an offer of full-time employment at a health care facility in a designated health care professional shortage area or at a health care facility which serves patients from such a designated area;
· agree to begin employment at that facility within 90 days of receiving a waiver; and
· sign a contract to continue working at that health care facility for a total of 40 hours per week and for not less than three years.
Review the listing of State Public Health Departments. Each department is allowed to request 30 such waivers per federal fiscal year. 10 of the 30 requests may be for exchange visitor physicians who will serve at facilities which may not be located within a designated health care professional shortage area but which serve patients who live within such a designated area. The state public health department will forward the Conrad State 30 Program request directly to the Waiver Review Division, if it agrees to sponsor you for such a waiver.
2. Persecution:
If you believe that you will be persecuted based on your race, religion, or political opinion if you return to your home country, you may apply for a persecution waiver. This waiver basis requires that you submit Form I-612, Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement, directly to USCIS. USCIS will forward its decision directly to the Department of State’s Waiver Review Division. The Waiver Review Division will proceed with the waiver recommendation under this basis only if USCIS makes a finding of persecution.
3. Exceptional Hardship to a U.S. citizen (or lawful permanent resident) spouse or child of an exchange visitor:
If you can demonstrate that your departure from the United States would cause exceptional hardship to your U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) spouse or child, you may apply for an exceptional hardship waiver. Please note that mere separation from family is not considered to be sufficient to establish exceptional hardship. This waiver basis requires that you submit Form I-612, Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement, directly to USCIS. USCIS will forward its decision directly to the Department of State’s Waiver Review Division. The Waiver Review Division will proceed with the waiver recommendation under this basis only if USCIS makes a finding of exceptional hardship.
4. Request by an Interested U.S.
Federal Government Agency:
If
you are working on a project for or of interest to a U.S. federal government
agency, and that agency has determined that your departure for two years to
fulfill the two-year home-country physical presence requirement would be
detrimental to its interest, that agency may request an Interested Government
Agency Waiver on your behalf. The Interested Government Agency request must be
signed by the head of the agency or his or her designee and submitted directly
to the Waiver Review Division.
Only
the following U.S. federal government agencies may request Interested
Government Agency Waivers on behalf of foreign physicians to practice in health
professional shortage areas or medically underserved areas:
·
Appalachian
and Delta Regional Commissions, Department of Health and Human Services
·
Department
of Interior for Indian Reservations
·
Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA hospitals do not have to be in underserved areas.
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