I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6980 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the reallocation 

of unused waivers of the foreign residency requirement for certain Jvisa holders. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2024 

Mr. NEHLS (for himself, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. DAVIS of North 

Carolina, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. SALAZAR, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs. HINSON, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. BERA, Mr. COSTA, and Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide 

for the reallocation of unused waivers of the foreign 

residency requirement for certain J-visa holders. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Directing Our Coun5 try’s Transfer Of Residency Slots’’ or the ‘‘DOCTORS 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REALLOCATION OF UNUSED WAIVERS OF THE FOR2 EIGN RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR CER3 TAIN J-VISA HOLDERS. 

4 Section 214(l) of the Immigration and Nationality 

5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(l)) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(4)(A) Beginning on September 30, 2025, and 

8 every September 30 thereafter, each State agency 

9 that received a waiver under section 212(e) during 

10 the fiscal year that ends on that date shall report to 

11 the Secretary of State the total number of such 

12 waivers that the State agency did not use during 

13 such fiscal year. 

14 ‘‘(B)(i) For fiscal year 2025, and each fiscal 

15 year thereafter, the Secretary of State shall— 

16 ‘‘(I) calculate the total number of unused 

17 waivers reported by all State agencies under 

18 subparagraph (A); and 

19 ‘‘(II) subject to clause (ii), reallocate such 

20 waivers for equal distribution among eligible 

21 State agencies for use during the subsequent 

22 fiscal year as waivers subject to paragraph 

23 (1)(D)(ii) (referred to in this paragraph as 

24 ‘supplemental waivers’). 

25 ‘‘(ii) In accordance with the 3-year commitment 

26 required under paragraph (1)(D), the number of 


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1 supplemental waivers to be redistributed for use dur2 ing a subsequent fiscal year shall be the total num3 ber of unused waivers described in clause (i)(I) di4 vided by three. 

5 ‘‘(C) In reallocating waivers under subpara6 graph (B), on January 1, 2025, and every January 

7 1 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall inform 

8 each eligible State agency of— 

9 ‘‘(i) the number of supplemental waivers 

10 available to the State agency for the subsequent 

11 fiscal year; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) the manner in which the supplemental 

13 waivers will be distributed. 

14 ‘‘(D) If the number of supplemental waivers 

15 distributed under this paragraph in a fiscal year is 

16 less than the total number of supplemental waivers 

17 available for distribution in the fiscal year, the dif18 ference between the number distributed and the 

19 number available for distribution shall be added to 

20 the total number of supplemental waivers available 

21 for distribution in the subsequent fiscal year. 

22 ‘‘(E) Ten percent of supplemental waivers dis23 tributed in a fiscal year shall be used to support po24 sitions in 1 or more facilities that serve patients who 

25 reside in medically underserved communities (as deVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6980.IH H6980

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1 fined in section 799B of the Public Health Service 

2 Act (42 U.S.C. 295p). 

3 ‘‘(F) In this paragraph, the term ‘eligible State 

4 agency’ means a State agency that, in the preceding 

5 fiscal year, used not fewer than 30 waivers under 

6 section 212(e).’’. 

Æ 


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