December 23, 2002

Health and Human Services To Become An Interested Government Agency for J-1 Waivers

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published interim final regulations that will "permit institutions and health care facilities to submit to HHS requests for waivers of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement for physician Exchange Visitors to deliver health care services in underserved areas." Normally foreign medical graduates who complete their medical residencies and fellowships in the US are required to return to their country of nationality or last residence for two years before they can return to work in the US as permanent residents or as H-1B employees. Waivers of the two year foreign residencey requirement are currently available at the request of several federal agencies and 30 waivers are available per year through the Health Departments in many of the 50 states. This new rule will be a great benefit for those foreign medical graduates who choose to work in medically underserved areas, both rural and urban.The regulations are broadly written and GT will provide updates as we learn more details on the exact requirements for the waiver applications.

  Federal Register: Request for Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residence Requirement (PDF/59 kb, 6 pages)