| Rural Health - J-1 Visa Waiver |
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J-1 Visa WaiverKDHE State 30 (Conrad) J-1 Visa Program Kansas participates in the State 30 (Conrad ) J-1 Visa Waiver Program which assists in the recruitment and retention of physicians to practice in communities that lack adequate access to primary health care. The program allows state public health departments to recommend that international medical graduates currently holding J-1 visa status be granted a waiver of the J-1 visa two-year home county residency requirement in return for practicing medicine full-time for a minimum of three years in an "underserved" community. Instructions for making application for the visa waiver recommendation from Kansas and a description of the program requirements are available. J-1Visa Waiver Program Requirements & Application Applications will not be accepted prior to October 1 and 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.
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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."