President Bush, on December 3, signed legislation that extends and modifies the “Conrad 30” J waiver program for foreign-born physicians.  Under the program, aliens who participate in medical residencies in the United States on exchange program (J) visas are exempted from the two-year foreign residence requirement if they agree to practice medicine for three years in an area designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Secretary of Health and Human Services as having a shortage of health care professionals. A detailed description of the bill is available on our web site at http://www.visalaw.com/04nov4/2nov404.html.

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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) made an incorrect announcement on November 23, 2004 concerning the address at which certain applications should be filed. 

The USCIS incorrectly stated that beginning December 1, 2004 those applicants who usually file with the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) should begin sending applications to a lockbox in Chicago for all I-485, I-765 and I-131 applications.

The correction to this Federal Register Notice went on to say that this change of filing centers does not affect those applying for the above mentioned applications.  Therefore, all these applications should continue to be sent to the Nebraska Service Center.