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 J- 
visa 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. SE-
WELL, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs. HINSON, Ms. SALI-
NAS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. BERA, Mr. COSTA, and Mr. VICENTE GON-
ZALEZ 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Directing Our Coun-
try’s Transfer Of Residency Slots’’ or the ‘‘DOCTORS 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REALLOCATION OF UNUSED WAIVERS OF THE FOR-
EIGN RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR CER-
TAIN J-VISA HOLDERS. 
Section 214(l) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(l)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(4)(A) Beginning on September 30, 2025, and 
every September 30 thereafter, each State agency 
that received a waiver under section 212(e) during 
the fiscal year that ends on that date shall report to 
the Secretary of State the total number of such 
waivers that the State agency did not use during 
such fiscal year. 
‘‘(B)(i) For fiscal year 2025, and each fiscal 
year thereafter, the Secretary of State shall— 
‘‘(I) calculate the total number of unused 
waivers reported by all State agencies under 
subparagraph (A); and 
‘‘(II) subject to clause (ii), reallocate such 
waivers for equal distribution among eligible 
State agencies for use during the subsequent 
fiscal year as waivers subject to paragraph 
(1)(D)(ii) (referred to in this paragraph as 
‘supplemental waivers’). 
‘‘(ii) In accordance with the 3-year commitment 
required under paragraph (1)(D), the number of 
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supplemental waivers to be redistributed for use dur-
ing a subsequent fiscal year shall be the total num-
ber of unused waivers described in clause (i)(I) di-
vided by three. 
‘‘(C) In reallocating waivers under subpara-
graph (B), on January 1, 2025, and every January 
1 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall inform 
each eligible State agency of— 
‘‘(i) the number of supplemental waivers 
available to the State agency for the subsequent 
fiscal year; and 
‘‘(ii) the manner in which the supplemental 
waivers will be distributed. 
‘‘(D) If the number of supplemental waivers 
distributed under this paragraph in a fiscal year is 
less than the total number of supplemental waivers 
available for distribution in the fiscal year, the dif-
ference between the number distributed and the 
number available for distribution shall be added to 
the total number of supplemental waivers available 
for distribution in the subsequent fiscal year. 
‘‘(E) Ten percent of supplemental waivers dis-
tributed in a fiscal year shall be used to support po-
sitions in 1 or more facilities that serve patients who 
reside in medically underserved communities (as de-
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fined in section 799B of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 295p). 
‘‘(F) In this paragraph, the term ‘eligible State 
agency’ means a State agency that, in the preceding 
fiscal year, used not fewer than 30 waivers under 
section 212(e).’’. 
Æ 
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