The Conrad State 30 J-1 Physician Program is set to expire on September 30, 2009. Through the efforts of Jan Pederson and other members of the immigration bar, working with members of Congress, Senator Kent Conrad (D. North Dakota), introduced a bill in the Senate (S. 628) [Click here for bill status] [Click here for bill text] on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, which would permanently reauthorize the program. In addition, there are other exciting provisions in the bill for both H-1B and J-1 physicians. The most important provisions are:

• H-1B physicians who agree to work in medically underserved areas for three years would be exempt from the six year limit on H-1B status, said exemption to be granted by the state department of health in state of exempt employment
• Enables H-1B physicians to complete residency and fellowship training without fear of running out of H-1B time
• Both J-1 and H-1B exempt physicians who work in a medically underserved area for at least three years would be exempt from the employment-based immigrant visa caps
• Benefit physicians born in India and China, who currently have a seven to ten year wait for a green card in the employment-based second preference immigrant visa category
• H-1B physicians who obtain the exemptions from the H-1B six year limit and the EB2 category would be processed through the State Departments of Health much as the J-1 waivers are now processed
• H-1B physicians who are granted "exemptions" would be counted against the annual limit of 30 waiver slots per state, thereby reducing the number of J-1 waivers available by the number of "H-1B exemptions" granted

Note: This provision is controversial as there will be fewer J-1 waiver jobs available in states which have high usage of J-1 waiver slots, such as New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Illinois and others. States which use few waiver slots would benefit by the ability to recruit H-1B physicians by offering H-1B limitation exemptions and EB2 immigrant visa exemptions. We would propose that the solution is not to count H-1B exemptions against the 30 per state annual J-1 waiver allotment, but to simply provide an exemption.

Given that by some estimates, there will be a shortage of approximately 200,000 physicians by the year 2020, this legislation makes a dent in projected shortage by providing an avenue to recruit and retain physicians where they are most needed.

We urge all our readers to write their Senators and Congressperson and urge the Senators to support and cosponsor the bill in the Senate and urge your Congressperson to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives. They need to hear from health care providers, physicians and community leaders to reaffirm the need for this legislation. You can locate the names and contact information of your Senators and Congressperson by going to: www.congress.org and entering your zip code. Please email, call and fax letters of support, detailing the benefits to your community in having the J-1 Physician Waiver program continue and expanded.

There are currently four cosponsors in the Senate; Senator Sam Brownback (Kansas), Senator Susan Collins (Maine), Senator Tim Johnson (South Dakota) and Senator Patty Murray (Washington).

Jan Pederson visited several Senators and Congressman last week to urge support of this bill. She met with staff members of Senator Tom Harkin (Iowa), Senator Charles Grassley (Iowa), Senator Pat Roberts (Kansas), Representative Jerry Moran (Kansas), Representative Luis Gutierrez (Chicago) and others. There seemed to be strong support for the legislation.

Updates will be posted as they become available.