Earlier this year, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC), a federal-state partnership to alleviate economic and poverty issues, opened a J-1 waiver program, accepting applications for physicians of all medical specialties and subspecialties for positions at sites in designated underserved areas across the southeastern United States. This program significantly increases access to medical care in all of Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Selection for a waiver spot is the first step to securing work authorization for an international medical graduate (IMG) physician. After a state or federal agency recommends a candidate for a waiver slot, the State Department (DOS) must also support the waiver application, with waiver approval ultimately granted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The employer must also obtain an approved H-1B petition in order for the physician to begin employment in a waiver role. (More information about the J-1 waiver and IMGs can be found here and here.)
Though participating states also offer state/Conrad 30 J-1 waiver programs – and there is overlap in physician eligibility requirements – the SCRC waiver program has key benefits. The SCRC program includes a multi-faceted, 45-day recruitment period for all applications (rather than the six months often required by state programs). Applications for specialist positions must include specific information related to the need for the specialists and letters of community support from non-affiliated physicians/practices.
Most importantly, the SCRC waiver program accepts applications on a rolling basis and has not yet announced a cap on waiver slots. According to the National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia have filled every Conrad 30 slot afforded to them since 2018, thereby likely turning physicians away. North Carolina filled every spot in each of those years except for 2021, while South Carolina filled its slots last year. This means that there are likely employers with physicians ready, willing, and able to serve populations that lack access to health care but are unable to secure a J-1 waiver through the Conrad 30 program. With the opening of the SCRC program, physicians and employers have more options available to them.
This is welcome news for hospitals, private medical practices and other health care organizations as well as foreign national physicians and patients in the footprint of the SCRC. Employers and physicians may wish to consider the requirements of applicable waiver programs early on during the physicians’ final year of training in order to have the greatest number of available options.
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