The J2 visa is designed for spouses and dependents of J-1 student visa holders. As an immigration attorney serving clients throughout the United States, I work with those seeking both J1 and J2 visas. Here are some particulars regarding the J-2 visa in which applicants are often interested.

J2 Visa and Work

The J2 is a nonimmigrant visa under which you may work. In order to work with a J2 visa, the holder must receive special permission from the USCIS.

To apply, the J2 visa holder submits Form I-765. The process of adjudication takes from three to five months but processing times are subject to change based on government backlogs. If approved, the J2 holder will receive an Employment Authorization Document  (EAD) allowing them to work.

Waiver of the Two-Year Home Residency Requirement

If the holder of the J1 visa applies and receives a J1 waiver of the Two-Year Home Residency Requirement, then immediate family members who are J2 holders will also be granted a waiver.  Additionally, if the J1 holder passes on or if the J2 holder is divorced from the J1 holder, he or she may apply for a Two-Year Home Residency Requirement. Also, when a J2 holder reaches 21, they may also apply for a waiver.

If you have questions regarding the J2 visa and the process of securing one, then you should consult an immigration lawyer who focuses on J1 waivers. I’ve worked with a range of clients located across the country as well as those in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento California area on J1 and J2 visas.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group at 800-753-1399 or j1visawaiver.net if you have any questions regarding J1 and J2 visas or immigration.  We partner with clients throughout the fifty states.

We get calls from doctors asking whether or not they will qualify for the Conrad 30 program if they are a hospitalist.   If you are a hospitalist there are two issues you must consider:

Does the specific state that you intend to work in consider a hospitalist to be a specialist?

State Health Departments vary on their interpretation of whether or not they will categorize a hospitalist as a specialist.  Specialists often have unique or additional requirements that must be fulfilled to qualify for the J1 Conrad 30 program.

Does working 80 hours one week and then taking the next week off fulfill the Conrad 30 requirements?

Department of State has caught up to this unique health care trend and is interpreting this atypical work week as meeting the Conrad 30 requirements.  However, the employment must be “full time”.

In my opinion immigration law is catching up to the new emerging health care fields such as hospitalists.  Contact our office at 800-753-1399 or j1visawaiver.net to schedule a consultation and talk to an immigration attorney.

Here at the Ranchod Law Group it is J1 Conrad 30 Waiver season.  We are busy preparing J1 Conrad 30 waivers to ensure that we file our doctor’s applications expeditiously.

What are the Conrad 30 application trends for this year?

This year we have noticed a considerable decline in the number of applications in many states.

Specifically, California and Washington state have only received eight applications and Texas has 12 slots remaining.  Last fiscal year Texas filled all of their slots while California had many more applicants.

If you are a physician and have not filed your J1 waiver application or are in the process of your job search you still may be able to file for a J1 Conrad 30 Waiver application in some of the most popular states( for Conrad 30 waiver applications).
Contact our office at 415-986-6186 to learn more about your J1 Waiver options.

Best,

Kaushik Ranchod

I would like to wish all of you a Happy Diwali (festival of lights) for all of you who celebrate this holiday.

President Obama has a Diwali message for all of us.

Recently we obtained a no objection waiver for our Tanzanian client.

First we contacted the Tanzanian government via phone since there was no information on the website regarding the no objection statement. After a short while and a few explanations of the situation, we were routed through the offices and was connected with a Tanzanian Embassy representative who knew exactly what we were after.

 The most important thing on his list was who we wanted this information for!  We let the applicant remain anonymous and after being told that the applicant would have to call and get the procedure themselves, the representative rattled off a list of hurdles to cross and documents to send.

 The best part of the story is this: we prepared the J-1 waiver application, sent the documents to the US State Department and sent the package of documents required by Tanzania to the Embassy. We got a positive answer within two months!  It was amazing since processing times may be lengthy.  Neither the applicant nor our offices were contacted and asked for any additional documents so maybe getting it right the first time helped. But with nothing in writing from the Tanzanian government regarding their requirements (it evidently is not the Tanzanian way) it was dicey.  We’re glad it worked out and want you all to know that no matter how impossible it can seem to work with your government’s bureaucracy and our government’s bureaucracy the job can get done! 

-Kaushik Ranchod
Attorney at Law
Ranchod Law Group

President Obama recognizes the importance of the Conrad 30 program by signing Public Law 111-9, on March 20, 2009.

This extends the date until Sept. 30, 2009 by which international medical graduates have to have been granted J-1 nonimmigrant status in order to later qualify for the “Conrad 30” program. Before this latest extension was granted, the most recent sunset date for qualifying J-1 admission was March 6, 2009.

Under the “Conrad 30” program, each state health department may submit a request directly to the Department of State (DOS) to initiate the waiver process for a J-1 medical doctor. This request enables J-1 doctors to obtain a waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement, if DOS submits a favorable recommendation to USCIS and will generally be granted as long as there are no underlying concerns.

Once the waiver is granted, J-1 doctors must practice medicine for at least three years in a medically underserved shortage area or areas. The Department of Health and Human Services designates the medical shortage areas.

The Conrad 30 (originally Conrad 20) program was originally established in 1994 to address the shortage of qualified doctors in medically underserved areas, and has been extended several times since then. In 2004, Congress amended the program to exempt J-1 doctors who received a Conrad 30 waiver from the annual H-1B numerical limitation (otherwise known as the “H-1B cap”), as these doctors must complete their required three-year period of service as H-1B nonimmigrants.

This current sunset date of Sept. 30, 2009, applies to the date the medical doctor originally entered theUnited States in J-1 status or received a change of status to J-1, to complete a residency program in the United States. Doctors who acquired J-1 status before Sept. 30, 2009, may pursue a waiver of the two year foreign residence requirement under the Conrad State 30 program, if they meet all the eligibility requirements.

Legislation, S.628, was proposed on March 18, 2009 to provide incentives to physicians to practice in rural and medically underserved communities.

This bill will make the J-1 visa waiver program permanent, and in doing so, amend the provisions that were previously imposed on H-1B practitioners, ultimately providing an expansion in the number of foreign physicians accepted each year to a specific state (i.e. make it more than 30).  Many states such as California and Texas use their 30 slots, demonstrating the need for physicians in underserved areas.

It has as four main sections. The first simply acknowledges that this initiative may also be referred to as “Conrad State 30 Improvement Act”. Section two eliminates the Sunset provision of the Conrad state 30 program by removing the section that reads “and before September 30, 2009” in the 1994 Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act.

Section three proposes incentives for physicians to practice in medically underserved communities, by amending specific subsections of the original act, and Section four of the bill attempts to retain physicians in medically underserved communities.

Many physicians are contacting us to ascertain whether states have availability for their Conrad 30 programs.  Although some popular J1 Waiver Conrad 30 programs are no longer accepting applications including Texas and New York, many states are accepting applications for their J1 waiver programs.  Pennsylvania is currently accepting Conrad 30 J1 Waiver applications;  however, Pennsylvania may no longer have availability for their Conrad 30 program within the next two months.  On December 14, 2008 California had availability for 10 more Conrad 30 slots.  California has revised its Specialist policy and may accept applications on March 1, 2009 if the aforementioned primary care slots are not utilized.  Many states throughout the Midwest, Northeast and Northwest have availability for their J1 Waiver Conrad 30 Programs.  For instance, Maine has received one application and Washington has received 20 applications.  If you have questions about a particular state’s Conrad 30 J1 Waiver Program call our office at 415-986-6186.

There is still time to obtain a J-1 waiver.   Many states such as California that normally receive a large number of J-1 waiver applications are far from reaching their quota:  California has only received eight applications, Washington has received 4 applications, but Texas does not have any availability for their Conrad 30 Program.  (It is interesting to note that this year, Texas, one of the most popular Conrad 30 programs, did not fill all of their Conrad 30 slots on the first day, as they normally do).

There has been a significant decline in J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 applications this year due to the overall decline in the J-1 visa program.  In 2007 approximately 850 J-1 waiver applications were granted.  In contrast, in 2006 approximately 1000 J-1 waiver applications were granted.  The Wall Street Journal reports that “the number of foreign physicians with J-1 visas has decreased from 11,000 in 1995-1996 to 6,000 in 2005-2006″  (Jordan, Wall Street Journal, 2/16).  The popularity of the H-1B visa as an alterniative to the J-1 visa, and without the two year home residency requirement, is one of primary reasons that the popularity of the J-1 visa is in its decline.

However, the decline in J-1 waiver applications is a boon to physicians who have not applied for their J-1 waiver this year.

More information on the Conrad 30 Waiver page.