More U.S. jobs for IMGs as J-1 visa waivers increase

The new Conrad 30 program lets states sponsor up to 30 international medical graduates who agree to serve in underserved areas.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Dec. 2, 2002.

Finding a doctor close by may get a little bit easier for patients in rural areas, now that President Bush has signed into law an expansion of a federal program that allows international medical graduates to practice in underserved areas after they've finished their U.S. residencies.

States that weren't able to recruit physicians to help offset rural shortages after the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture stopped sponsoring J-1 visa waivers earlier this year could bring in 10 additional doctors each through the program.

"In our little world, it's a big deal that states' have a 50% increase," said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration attorney who helped draft the bill.

In theory, the expanded program would mean that 1,500 IMGs could stay in the United States each year to practice in underserved areas.

Once titled the Conrad 20 program, because states could sponsor 20 applicants for J-1 visa waivers yearly, it's now called the Conrad 30, with states allowed to seek up to 30 waivers.

In reality, it's more likely that 1,000 waivers will be sponsored through the newly expanded program, since not all states will use their 30 slots. Even so, Shusterman said this would be a sizable jump compared with the 500 to 600 waivers states were seeking in past years.

While the federal government has raised the cap on the Conrad program, some states have their own restrictions.

Texas, for example, allows J-1 visa waivers only for faculty members of the Regional Academic Health Center in the Rio Grande Valley. This has kept visa waivers in the single digits for Texas. [...]