Instructions for making application for the visa waiver recommendation from Kansas and a description of the program requirements are available.

The counting period for the year begins October 1.  Applications must be submitted by health care facilities or employers on behalf of the physician with a J-1 visa, not directly by the physician him or herself. KDHE action is limited to recommending to the U. S. State Department that a waiver be granted where it is in the public interest.  This KDHE action is discretionary and is not the equivalent of granting the waiver.

NOTE:  Not all international medical graduates are eligible; only those currently in the US as "exchange visitors" engaged in postgraduate medical education.  Physicians are admitted into the United States with J-1 visas for residency training or fellowships to advance their medical education.  At the completion of their training program, immigration law requires that they return to their home country for at least two years.  A State government department of public health (KDHE) may request that this requirement be set aside if it is in the "public interest."  Practicing medicine in a community with a shortage of primary care physicians is one example of "public interest."

*The Conrad 30 (or "State-30") program exists because state health agencies are permitted to recommend visa waivers for a physician recruited to practice sites in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas of the state.  The Kansas Program, authorized in Section 214-(1) of the Immigration and Nationalization Act [8USC-Section1184(l)],  allows KDHE to submit waiver recommendations to the Waiver Review Section of the US Department of State.

Description of Waiver Review Process

The Governor of the state of Kansas has designated the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) as the agency to review applications and make recommendations to the Waiver Review Division of the U.S. Department of State. The Waiver Review Division then makes recommendations to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service, the agency authorized to issue the waiver.

KDHE action is limited to recommending that a waiver be granted where it furthers an agency policy.  This action is discretionary and is not the equivalent of granting the waiver.

Application processing may involve direct contact with immigration attorneys and/or the candidate if the applicant agrees.  Complete instructions and application materials are available by clicking here:  J-1Visa Waiver Program Guidelines & Applications Forms 

An eligible practice site must be located in a medically underserved community designated by the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as a primary care or mental health care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA),  or a Medically Underserved Area (MUA), or the practice site  must serve a Medically Underserved Population (MUP). The MUA/MUP designations must have occurred or been updated in the past three years.

Requirements

·         Complete and submit a Data Sheet that may only be obtained through the U.S. Department of State. 

·         Kansas participation in the waiver program is intended to assist local communities to assure that their residents have access to physician services.  Specialists as well as primary care providers are eligible to apply.  Primary care will be given priority.

·         Waiver requests must be submitted to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment by the legal entity making the contract offer (the employer) or the employer's representative on behalf of the physician.  Employers may include facilities, institutions, rural health clinics, community health centers, primary care clinics, medical centers, hospitals or private practices with clinical services located in Kansas.

·         Applications will only be accepted when there is a signed and physician contract.

·         The employer must show evidence of open recruitment and that hiring a J-1 physician is a last resort.  A physician not encumbered by the J-1 home
residence requirement, who applies for and is qualified for the job advertised, must be offered the position. 

·         The J-1 physician must have or be eligible for a medical license from the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.  

·         The J-1 physician is responsible for negotiating a contract for a minimum of 3 years to provide care at least 40 hours per week, at least 4 days per week,
  in the appropriate specialty.

·         By federal regulation, the J-1 physician must commence practice within 90 days of receiving a waiver.  The  U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be notified if a J-1 physician is found not to have reported or not to be practicing  medicine at least 40 hours per week in the location for which the recommendation was made. 

Kansas Employment Opportunities:  Kansas medical facilities and physician clinics must prove that other avenues, regionally and nationally, to secure a physician not bound by the 2- year home residence requirement have been undertaken over a period of at least the six months prior to preparing/signing a contract.

An example, we encourage all facilities and employers with vacancies to list positions with the Kansas Recruitment Center.  The Center serves as a comprehensive source of information on specific Kansas practice opportunities. The Kansas Recruitment Center is operated as a service of Kansas University Medical Center's Rural Health Education and Services funded in part through the Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation (KHERF) through a grant provided by the Kansas Rural Health Options Project whose sponsors are the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Bureau of Local and Rural Health; the Kansas Hospital Association; the Kansas Board Emergency Medical Services; and the Kansas Medical Society.

The Kansas Recruitment Center requests that employers with vacancies contact them directly for information on obtaining recruitment services. Physicians seeking employment opportunities in Kansas should also contact the Center directly for details about listings.
 

Rural Health Education and Services

University of Kansas Medical Center

1010 N. Kansas

Wichita, KS 67214-3199

Toll free: 1(888) 503-4221

Phone:    (316) 293-2649

Fax:       (316) 293-2671

Email:  jtibbals@kumc.edu or tdoyle@kumc.edu
Website:  http://ruralhealth.kumc.edu/

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Click here to contact the BLRH staff member responsible for this program.