Speech #1050043343

My legislation will help break this cycle by increasing the availability of doctors in underserved areas while reducing health care costs. Let me briefly provide some background information. Under the J1 visa program. foreign medical students are temporarily admitted to the United States in order to complete their medical education and clinical training. Upon completion of their education. these students are required to leave the United States for a minimum of 2 years before they can become eligible for an extension of their legal residency status. However. current law provides an exception to this 2year foreign residency requirement if the medical graduate agrees to practice in a designated "Health Professional Shortage Area." Congress reaffirmed its commitment to the J1 program. as well as to the waiver of the 2year foreign residency requirement for international medical graduates who agree to practice in underserved areas. when it passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996Public Law 104208. This Act was signed into law on September 30. 1996. Mr. President. in December 1996. the General Accounting Office [GAO] released a report assessing the J1 visa waiver program. This report. entitled "Foreign Physicians: Exchange Visitor Program Becoming Major Route to Practicing in U.S. Underserved Areas" noted the growing use of the visa waiver process and made several recommendations for improvement. In conjunction with the reforms enacted last year as part of the Immigration Reform Act. the legislation I introduce today will effectively implement several of the recommendations made by the GAO. As noted in the report. last years Immigration Reform Act required Federal agencies to utilize the same criteria for approval that previously applied to State health departments seeking such waivers. These new safeguards required physicians to: First. agree to work for at least 3 years for the health facility named in the application. second. work in an area designated by the Secretary of HHS as having a shortage of health care professionals. third. commence work within. 90 days of receipt of the waiver. and fourth. maintain a nonimmigrant status until the completion of the 3year commitment term. In addition. physicians who fail to comply with the terms of their agreements would face a termination of their residency status and a loss of eligibility to apply for legal immigrant status in the future. This legislation would further improve compliance with the waiver requirements. This act will address the GAO reports finding that Federal agencies need to improve coordination in granting waivers.