II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2171

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to waive the foreign country

residence requirement with respect to foreign medical graduates.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 9 (legislative day, JUNE 7), 1994

Mr. CONRAD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to waive

the foreign country residence requirement with respect

to foreign medical graduates.

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

3 SECTION 1. WAIVER OF FOREIGN COUNTRY RESIDENCE RE4 QUIREMENT WITH RESPECT TO FOREIGN

5 MEDICAL GRADUATES.

6 (a) WAIVER.—Section 212(e) of the Immigration and

7 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(e)) is amended—

8 (1) in the first proviso by inserting ‘‘(or, in the

9 case of an alien described in clause (iii), pursuant to
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1 the request of an interested State agency)’’ after

2 ‘‘interested United States Government agency’’; and

3 (2) by inserting after ‘‘public interest’’ the fol4 lowing: ‘‘except that in the case of a waiver re5 quested by an interested State agency the waiver

6 shall be subject to the requirements of section

7 214(k)’’.

8 (b) RESTRICTIONS ON WAIVER.—Section 214 of that

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

10 following:

11 ‘‘(k)(1) In the case of a request by an interested

12 State agency for a waiver of the two-year foreign residence

13 requirement under section 212(e) with respect to an alien

14 described in clause (iii) of that section, the Attorney Gen15 eral shall not grant such waiver unless—

16 ‘‘(A) in the case of an alien whose education or

17 training is financed, in whole or in part, by the for18 eign country of the alien’s nationality or last resi19 dence or by United States foreign assistance funds

20 or in the case of an alien who is otherwise contrac21 tually obligated to return to such country, the for22 eign country furnishes the Director a statement in

23 writing that it has no objection to such waiver;

24 ‘‘(B) the alien agrees to continue to work in ac25 cordance with paragraph (2) at the health care facil-
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1 ity in which the alien is employed for a total of not

2 less than 3 years (unless the Attorney General deter3 mines that extenuating circumstances such as the

4 closure of the facility or hardship to the alien would

5 justify a lesser period of time);

6 ‘‘(C) the alien agrees to practice medicine in ac7 cordance with paragraph 2) for a total of not less

8 than 3 years only in the geographic area or areas

9 which are designated by the Secretary of Health and

10 Human Services as having a shortage of health care

11 professionals, unless the interested State agency de12 termines that the alien is a health care professional

13 who is needed in an area that has not been so des14 ignated; and

15 ‘‘(D) the grant of such waiver would not cause

16 the number of waivers allotted for that State for

17 that fiscal year to exceed twenty.

18 ‘‘(2) Whenever an interested State agency requests

19 the waiver of the two years residence requirement under

20 section 212(e) with respect to an alien described in clause

21 (iii) of that section, the Attorney General shall adjust the

22 status of the alien to that of an alien described in section

23 101(a)(15)(H)(b).

24 ‘‘(3) If an alien whose status was adjusted under

25 paragraph (2) demonstrates that the alien has worked for
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1 a period of three years in a health professional shortage

2 area (or an area otherwise designated by a State agency),

3 then the Attorney General shall approve a petition filed

4 on the alien’s behalf by the health care facility in which

5 the alien is employed seeking adjustment of the alien’s sta6 tus to that of a special immigrant described in section

7 101(a)(27)(L).’’.

8 (c) SPECIAL IMMIGRANT STATUS.—Section

9 101(a)(27) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is

10 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara11 graph:

12 ‘‘(L) immigrants whose status have been

13 adjusted from that of an alien described in

14 paragraph (15)(H)(b) pursuant to section

15 214(k)(2), except that not more than 1,000 im16 migrants may be admitted in any fiscal year

17 under this subparagraph.’’.

18 (d) GROUNDS FOR DEPORTATION.—Section 241(a)

19 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.

20 1251(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following

21 new subparagraph:

22 ‘‘(I) FAILURE TO MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT

23 AS A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.—Any alien

24 described in section 212(e)(iii) who fails to
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1 maintain employment in accordance with sub2 paragraphs (B) and (C) of section 212(k)(1).’’.

3 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

4 this section shall apply to aliens admitted to the United

5 States under section 101(a)(15)(J) of the Immigration

6 and Nationality Act, or acquiring such status after admis7 sion to the United States, before, on, or after the date

8 of enactment of this Act.

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