In early October 2002 Congress passed a Department of Justice authorization bill that includes several immigration provisions. One of the provisions in the bill, section 11018, reauthorizes the “Conrad State 20" program. The Conrad State 20 program was originally enacted in 1994. It allows state health departments to recommend up to 20 waivers of the two-year home residence requirement for J-1 doctors.

Under the Conrad State 20 program, a prospective employer, typically a medical facility, filed a waiver application to a state department of health. The waiver application consisted primarily of a letter from the facility and supporting proof, establishing among other things, the need for the foreign physician’s service in a medically-underserved area, the inability to attract qualified U.S. physicians for the position, and the foreign physician’s obligation to provide 3 years of primary care in the medically-underserved area. The Conrad State 20 program was a pilot program benefiting foreign medical graduates who obtained J status by June 1, 2002.

The provisions in the Department of Justice authorization bill relating to the Conrad State 20 program does four things. First, it increases the number of waivers a state can request from 20 to 30. Second, the bill extends the deadline for obtaining J status to June 1, 2004. Third, it makes a technical correction to a reference in the INA. Fourth, the bill backdates the effective date of these provisions to May 31, 2002.

What do these changes mean? Most obviously, it means that state departments of health can make more waiver recommendations each year. However, this does not necessarily mean that a J-1 physician’s chances of receiving a waiver will improve, because the number of competing waiver applications may also increase. If that happens, the chances of any J-1 physician receiving a Conrad State 30 waiver likely will not improve, depending on the quality of and the need demonstrated by the competing applications.

The changes also raise at least one question: Can state health departments recommend 30 waivers for applications received this past federal fiscal year (FY 2002, covering October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002)? Under one reading of the new bill, the number of waiver recommendations that a state health department will be able to make once the bill is signed into law will be 30 for applications received in fiscal year 2002 (October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002). This is because the maximum number of state waiver recommendations is set in the statute per federal fiscal year, and the new bill makes the effective date of the Conrad 30 provisions May 31, 2002, which is in FY 2002. Under another reading of the new bill, state health departments can only recommend 20 waivers in FY 2002, because the new law was not passed until FY 2003, i.e. after September 30, 2002. Practically speaking, however, whether or not a state health department will make 30 recommendations for applications received in fiscal year 2002 will depend on a state health department’s internal procedures and its reading of the new bill. For example, will the Missouri State Health Department recommend 30 waivers for applications received this year once the bill is passed into law? No, because the Missouri State Health Department is governed by Missouri state regulations, which are not expected to be drafted and passed until 5 or 6 months after the President signs the bill. How about the New York State Department of Health? Will it recommend 30 waivers for FY 2002? No, because it considers the FY 2002 applications outside the scope of the new law, which was passed in FY 2003.

Finally, while the deadline for obtaining J status has been extended, the program will be up for review and debate in Congress again in 2004. The original Senate version of the bill would have made the Conrad State program permanent. Look for further Congressional debate in 2004 on whether to set a deadline or “sunset” provision on when the foreign medical graduate must receive J status to qualify for the program.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law very soon.

Please contact any of our immigration attorneys for further information about this or any other immigration issue.

Date: October 9, 2002