The United States Information Agency has issued a proposed regulation which would amend existing regulations governing the agency’s Exchange Visitor Waiver Review Board (“EVWRB”) and requests for waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement applicable in certain J-1 visa cases.
The proposed regulation is intended, according to USIA, to increase consistency in the adjudication of waiver request applications, particularly those relating to interested government agencies supporting the requests of foreign medical graduates. The regulation is also intended to prevent foreign medical graduates from pursuing concurrent waiver requests with multiple interested government agencies.
To achieve uniformity in interested government agency requests, the new regulations require interested government agencies to submit statements explaining why the grant of the waiver is in the public interest and the detrimental effects that would result if the J-1 visaholder is no longer a part of the particular program or activity. The request must be signed by the head of an agency or a designated official and include copies of all IAP-66 forms issued to the exchange visitor.
For foreign medical graduates seeking waivers based on work in a Primary Medical Care Health Professional Shortage Area (“HPSA”) or Medically Underserved Area (“MUA”), the waiver application must be accompanied by a contract between the doctor and the health care facility which specifies a term of employment not less than three years as well as a statement from the head of the facility that the facility is located in an area designated as an MUA or HPSA. The doctor must also sign a statement indicating that it has not submitted a request with another agency for a waiver in addition to the one submitting the current application. Finally, the facility needs to present evidence that unsuccessful efforts have been made to recruit an American physician for the position to be filled by the exchange visitor.
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