Skip to main content

Wisconsin Conrad 30 Waiver Program - Program Description

The Division of Public Health (DPH) is the designated state agency that can submit State-30 recommendations to the U.S. Department of State (USDOS). The DPH accepts applications for State-30 recommendations from health facilities, or their attorneys, after an offer of employment has been made to the foreign physician.

Starting September 1 each year, Wisconsin begins accepting J1 waiver applications from employers. All applications received by October 1, will be reviewed and decisions made (see requirements below) For federal updates and more information on the U.S. Department of State J-1 Visa waiver program, see the USDOS J1 Visa website.

The USDOS reviews state recommendations and submits its recommendation to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which makes the final J-1 visa waiver decision.

Key requirements for Wisconsin Conrad 30 Waiver Program

  • The U.S. Department of State (USDOS) requires that J-1 visa waiver applicants (J-1 visa physicians) submit a "user" fee for USDOS to process the application. J-1 visa physicians or their attorneys should submit the fee and the USDOS "J-1 Visa Waiver Review Application" directly to the U.S. Department of State. Please note: A Wisconsin Conrad 30 "slot" will not be assigned until DPH has received, reviewed, and approved a complete application from the employer, including the physician's USDOS case file number.
  • The applicant physician must provide care at a facility that is physically located in a geographic area federally designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (primary care or mental health HPSA), Medically Underserved Area (MUA), or Medically Underserved Population (MUP). Wisconsin can make 10 placements (known colloquially as “flex” placements) in areas that are not designated as HPSAs or MUA/Ps, that serve populations from a surrounding shortage area(s) or meet the required extenuating criteria (Flex Placement criteria).
  • The applicant physician must agree to provide full-time primary care, general mental health care, or specialty care in this shortage area/service area for three years and 40 hours per week, with at least 32 hours per week spent in direct patient care.
  • The applicant physician must have completed a residency or fellowship in the U.S. in the specialty associated with the applicant's employment agreement (e.g., family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, psychiatry or other subspecialty).
  • The physician and facility must provide care to clients eligible for Medicaid and Medicare and to medically indigent clients.
  • The physician must begin working at the facility within 90 days of the effective date of the J-1 visa waiver (after completion of the physician's residency training).
  • The employer must provide evidence, over a period of at least 6 months, of unsuccessful efforts to recruit U.S. physicians for the position.
  • The employment agreement must demonstrate the employer's commitment to recruit and retain the physician for at least three years.

Flex placement criteria

In order to be recommended for a non-HPSA or non-MUA/P placement (a “flex” placement), at least 30 percent of the physician's primary care or specialty patients must come from surrounding HPSA or MUA/P areas. If a facility cannot meet the percentage requirement, the following is proposed as an alternative consideration method:

Of the following criteria, the first as well as three of the other five criteria must be met:

1. Documentation of the percentage of patients served who reside in a HPSA/ MUA/P (the facility must document some service to patients from these areas), and discussion of how employment of this physician will increase access for the underserved. (This element is required.)

Three of the five following criteria must be met in addition to #1:

2. Facility payer mix that includes 50 percent of patients insured through Medicare and/or Medicaid.
3. Documented difficulty recruiting a physician of the intended specialty (please address all of the following):

a. Documentation showing one year of recruitment efforts.
b. Time it takes or has taken in the past to fill a position for a particular specialty.
c. Retention information for past providers of that specialty. (For example, does the facility have difficulty retaining providers of this type? How does the facility plan to address this?)
d. Other relevant information supporting a case for recruitment difficulty.

4. Need for a physician of that specialty (please address all of the following):

a. Need for this physician's services—How many people in the facility’s service area are waiting for appointments with a physician of that specialty? (For example, how many patients can be documented as needing these services? Will this be the first specialist of this type for the service area?)
b. Documentation regarding physicians leaving or retiring.
c. Long wait times—More than 7 days for returning patients, 14 days for new patients.
d. Documentation that other physicians of this specialty in a reasonable service area are not accepting new patients, or that there are no specialists of this type within the service area.
e. If the specialty is very highly trained and specific, document a statewide shortage of that specialty (and thus having that physician would benefit the entire state).
f. How many full-time employee (FTE) physicians of this specialty does the facility have, and how many does it need to be considered fully staffed?
g. Other relevant information supporting a case for need of a particular physician.

5. Particular barriers unique to the location, including travel time to see an available physician of a particular specialty, geographic barriers, distance from major cities with a variety of services, or other issues regarding location that could support need for a physician.
6. Documentation of population factors, including but not limited to having more than 20 percent of the population with incomes below the federal poverty level, population age distributions or birth rates that cause unusual strain on health care resources, and incidence and/or prevalence of a particular disease burden.

Shortage areas

The lists of federally designated shortage areas, Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) and Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs), are updated on an ongoing basis. The Division of Public Health (DPH) will consider making recommendations in HPSAs of any status. HPSAs which have been officially withdrawn in a Federal Register Notice are no longer recognized as designated or eligible shortage areas. The physician’s employment offer must include a practice site that is located in a primary care HPSA or MUA/MUP, or in a mental health HPSA for psychiatrists. A current listing of HPSAs and MUA/MUPs, respectively, is maintained at the following federal web sites:

HRSA Data Warehouse Data Sources

HRSA Find Shortage Areas

Check if street address of the practice site is located within a designated shortage area: Use this link to check if a street address is located within a current HPSA or MUA/MUP and get the designation details.

More information on Shortage Areas can be found at: Wisconsin Primary Care Programs - Shortage Designations

Physician vacancies

Wisconsin does not maintain a list of vacancies specifically for J-1 visa physicians or provide a placement service. Many physicians search through private recruiters or employment ads. Internet sites that might be helpful include:

Requesting an H-1b work visa

Once USCIS notifies the foreign physician that the J-1 visa home-residence requirement is waived, the next part of the employment process is for the sponsoring employer to submit an H-1b work visa petition to USCIS. The DPH does not have a formal role in petitions for H-1b visas or permanent residency.

Information resources related to petitioning for an H1-b visa:

Glossary

 
Last revised August 29, 2024