The J-1 Visa Waiver Program is a partnership between the departments of health in each state and the United States Department of State and the Homeland Security Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS). A foreign medical school graduate may receive advanced training and complete a residency program in the United States as an exchange visitor. The student is granted J-1 visa status. Following the completion of his/her studies or residency, the student agrees to return to his/her home country for a period two years before seeking employment in the United States. However, the two year home residency requirement may be waived if an interested United States government agency or a state department of health requests a waiver in the public interest. The North Dakota Department of Health, with assistance from the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, acts as an interested government agency and sponsors J-1 status physicians who will work in under served areas where an American physician cannot be recruited.
Contact: Mary Amundson (701-777-4018) or Gary Garland (701-328-4839)