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October 15, 2004 This newsletter, edited by Theodore Sherman, Esq., and published strictly in an electronic format, contains information pertinent to immigration issues for physicians and scientists who desire to reside in the U.S. on a temporary or permanent basis. Readers who wish to obtain more information on topics are encouraged to forward your queries to us by completing the online consultation form on our website. We will respond to your particular queries as soon as possible. Also, please don’t hesitate to contact the author directly if you wish, as I do attempt to answer all emails personally within just a few days of my receipt. MDvisaforum.com Website. During the month of October, we will launching an additional website – MDvisaforum.com - this website is indeed devoted to physician/scientists to share with each other and with us their immigration questions/issues in an organized discussion format. This format will indeed facilitate interactive discussions on a wide variety of important immigration issues relevant to physicians/scientists. You will be able to post questions and discuss immigration issues not only with us, but with physicians/scientists who have encountered the same issues you have encountered. Kindly let us know what you think of our new website, once you visit. J1Waiver.com Website. During the coming months, we will also be launching the website J1Waiver.com - specifically addressing all issues relating to J1 visa waivers – stay tuned for further details concerning the launch date. Our web developers, Chris and Ellie at C2G Media operating (operating out of the small town of Tustin, Michigan), have been with us since the beginning, and we owe the many of the ideas and improvements in the site to them. Should you have questions about web site design we highly recommend contacting them at www.c2gmedia.com. Just tell them that Ted sent you. Table
of Contents 1.1 Obtaining a Green Card through self-sponsorship in EB1/EB2 – an practice update US Immigration Regulations allow an individual to self-petition for the U.S. Green Card in the following categories applicable to physicians/scientists:
At the outset, it is important to note that obtaining approval in any Green Card category does not waive the two-year home residency requirement of a previously held or currently held J1 visa (you must obtain a waiver apart from the Green Card process). Update: There is really no reason to apply for a self-petition Green Card application in the EB1 category, as EB2 National Interest Waiver (wavier of job offer requirement) has exactly the same benefits, and is indeed an easier category to obtain approval. Some years ago, there existed queues for employment immigration, whereby the queue for EB1 applicants was often less than that for EB2 – this is no longer the case. For the last number of years, there have not been any queues in these categories – hence, the justification for applying in EB1 no longer exists. EB1 applications are scrutinized much tougher than EB2 – hence, we recommend that our clients only consider EB2. Lately, we have had increasing success in obtaining approvals for our clients in EB2 (waiver of job offer requirement). Kindly email to us a copy of your CV so that we may determine your likelihood of obtaining approval. 1.2 H-1B Processing for Medical Residents/Fellows – Part 2 As the H1B visa cap quickly approaches once again, please note that nearly all hospitals with medical residency programs are exempt from the cap (since they are nearly all non-profit and affiliated with medical schools, or qualify for some other exemption). Of the numerous medical resident/fellow H1B visa applications we prepared this year, none were subject to the cap. A more important issue is that of medical residents/fellows on H1B visa, who are finishing their training in June 2005. Since you were not counted toward the cap for your current H1B visa, you may then be subject to the cap should you need an H1B visa to begin work in July 2005 for a private medical group or private employer. Therefore, when the cap is reached, you will not be able to obtain an H1B visa until October 2005 – thus, you may have a gap from June to October 2005 where you will not have proper visa status. Gaps should be avoided at all costs, and may indeed result in additional immigration problems in the future. Contact us with questions in this regard, as legal counseling with this issue is indeed very important at this time. 1.3 J1 (Hardship) Waiver Update – STILL more approval Indeed,
we are still having excellent success with hardship waiver applications –-
in fact, this waiver option has become the waiver of choice for many
physicians.
A few of our latest hardship waiver approvals involved the following situations:
Indeed, I continue to highly recommend that hardship waivers be considered as a possible route to J1 waiver. Note, however, that hardship waivers are granted on a discretionary basis by the US Immigration Service/Dept. of State – hence, there will always be some uncertainty with these types of waiver applications. *** Multiple J1 Waiver Applications – kindly note that the US State Dept. DOES NOT PERMIT an individual to have more than one J1 Waiver Application pending at a given time. *** Advice – When presented with a Conrad 30 opportunity as well as a good case for Hardship Waiver, I NEARLY ALWAYS recommend the Conrad 30 opportunity, as this indeed is the conservative approach. Last year, we accepted only 50 candidates for O1 visa application due to the difficulty in obtaining visa approvals in this category (aliens of extraordinary ability). O1 visas remain very difficult to obtain, especially when the application is filed at the Vermont Service Center . O1 visa renewals have also been difficult to obtain as well. We recommend O1 visa as an option only for the most highly accomplished physician/researcher. Kindly contact our office for more information. In 2002, there were 853,187 practicing physicians in the U.S. Foreign medical graduates (FMGs) accounted for 24.7% (210,535) of these, and 27.4% (26,588) of physicians in residency and fellowship programs. FMG Residents/Fellows on J1 Visa (2002): 4,798 FMG Residents/Fellows on H1B Visa (2002): 1,619 HHS recommended 43 - J1 Waivers in 2003. ARC recommended 58 - J1 Waivers in 2003. Conrad State 30 programs recommended 1,017 J1 Waivers in 2003. Recommendations for subspecialists accounted for 33.5% the total. Only six (6) U.S. States limit their Conrad State 30 programs to primary care physicians. In the period from 1994-2002, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) recommended 3,000 J1 Waivers. In 2003, the USDA recommended 0 – J1 Waivers (the program closed in 2002). In a survey conducted in September 2002, 17 of the U.S. States reported that employers in their States could not recruit enough physicians to fill the 30 Conrad 30 J1 Waiver spots. 7 of the U.S. States reported that employers in their States could recruit nearly double the amount of physicians as allowed under Conrad 30. In 2003, 18 U.S. States filled all of their 30 Conrad 30 J1 Waiver spots, and 15 of these States reported that they could fill anywhere from 5 to 50 additional spots. The 2005 Texas Conrad 30 J1 Waiver program was filled by 8 a.m. on the first day applications were accepted ( September 1, 2004 ). Applications were only accepted by courier service (our law firm submitted an application by Fed-Ex first overnight – our application was signed for at 7:22 am in the morning on September 1, 2004, and our client was the 28th application to arrive). The 2005 North Dakota Conrad 30 J1 Waiver program may not fill all 30 spots over the course of an entire year. The 2005 Michigan Conrad 30 J1 Waiver program received 37 applications for 30 spots, during the one week applications were accepted in August 2004. Source: Library of Congress Report (June 17, 2004) We appreciate your comments. Please direct your emails to us at info@MDgreencard.com Please continue to visit our website at www.MDgreencard.com for further information and for periodic updates.
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