Rural J-1 Visa Waiver resources via the Rural Assistance Center
Rural J-1 Visa Waiver resources related to rural health and human services, with information provided by the Rural Assistance Center

• News: Born in India, Transforming Rural Md.
  Washington Post, (DC) article profiles Vinod K. and Ila Shah, Bombay-educated and D.C.-trained husband-and-wife doctors who, eager to open a practice in a rural area, built the largest private specialty practice in Southern Maryland, Shah Associates, which has treated about 90,000 of St. Mary's 110,000 residents.
• Tool/Web Site: Rural Health Research: International Medical Graduates (IMGs)
  Provides summaries of current and completed rural health research projects and related publications addressing the topic of International Medical Graduates (IMGs), produced by the Office of Rural Health Policy's funded rural health research centers. -- Rural Health Research Gateway
• Tool/Web Site: Rural Health Research: J-1 Visa Waiver
  Provides summaries of current and completed rural health research projects and related publications addressing the topic of the J-1 Visa Waiver, produced by the Office of Rural Health Policy's funded rural health research centers. -- Rural Health Research Gateway
• Tool/Web Site: Health Professional Shortage Area Database
  Provides searching for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) by region, state, county, designation status, type of service and more. Includes date of latest designation status. -- Bureau of Primary Health Care
• Publication: Foreign Medical Graduates: A Brief Overview of the J-1 Visa Waiver Program
  Provides background information on the J-1 Visa Waiver program which allows foreign medical graduates (FMGs) to remain in the U.S. after completing graduate medical education, in exchange for agreeing to work in a designated healthcare professional shortage area for a minimum of three years. Includes a description of the waiver process. -- Congressional Research Service
• Publication: Improving Access to Health Care for Colorado's Underserved Populations: Recruitment and Retention of International Medical Graduates
  Includes a program report and evaluation of Colorado's Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver and National Interest Waiver Programs. The report concluded that the reasons for adequate or inadequate access to health care are complex involving many system-level factors such as physician to population ratio; location of health services; geographic concentration of physicians; insurance reimbursement rates; insurance status, and physicians' willingness to provide health care to people in public programs. -- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• Publication: Foreign Physicians: Data on Use of J-1 Visa Waivers Needed to Better Address Physician Shortages
  Examines the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies; waiver physicians' practice specialties, settings, and locations; and the extent to which waiver physicians are accounted for in the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to address physician shortages. -- Government Accountability Office
• Map: Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) and Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs), Designated Type
  Printable map that shows the designated type of MUAs and MUPs nationwide. Data source: Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, April 2007. -- Rural Assistance Center
• Publication: On-Line Atlas of International Medical Graduates
  Displays trends in the geographic distribution of IMGs over the past 20 years through a series of maps. -- WWAMI Center for Health Workforce Studies
• Tool/Web Site: ARC J-1 Visa Waiver Program
  Requests for waivers under the ARC J-1 Visa Program must be sponsored by a state within the Appalachian Region. All inquiries should be made to state contacts, a list of which is provided. -- Appalachian Regional Commission
• Tool/Web Site: Bringing Doctors to the Delta
  Allows foreign physicians who are trained in this country to work in medically underserved areas for three years. The Delta Doctors program accepts waiver requests for medical specialists, and has assisted with the placement of more than 50 physicians in the region. -- Delta Regional Authority
• Publication: United States Licensure for International Dentists
  Provides information to a dentist, who was educated outside the United States and Canada and wishes to obtain a dental license in the U.S. -- American Dental Association
• Publication: Foreign Physicians: Preliminary Findings on the Use of J-1 Visa Waivers to Practice in Underserved Areas
  Reports preliminary findings regarding the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies and states' views on the 30-waiver limit and on their willingness to have unused waiver allotments redistributed. -- Government Accountability Office
• Map: Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) - Dental Health, Designated Populations
  Printable map that shows the location and type of population that is underserved for population group dental HPSAs nationwide. Data source: Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, April 2007. -- Rural Assistance Center
• Map: Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) - Mental Health, Designated Populations
  Printable map that shows the location and type of population that is underserved for population group mental health HPSAs nationwide. Data source: Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, April 2007. -- Rural Assistance Center
• Map: Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) - Primary Medical Care, Designated Populations
  Printable map that shows the location and type of population that is underserved for population group primary medical care HPSAs nationwide. Data source: Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, April 2007. -- Rural Assistance Center
• Publication: Little Fork In The Road
  Describes the experiences of a physician from Pakistan practicing in rural Minnesota, who came to the area via the J-1 visa waiver program. -- Minnesota Medical Association
• Publication: Role of International Medical Graduates in America's Small Rural "Critical Access" Hospitals
  Statistics on the use of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) at Critical Access Hospitals. Includes overview of the J-1 visa waiver program. -- Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Tracking Project Consortium, 1999-2003
• Tool/Web Site: global health.gov
  Provides information on the waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement. Includes J-1 Visa updates, travel advisories and more. -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services