How to start for J1 Waiver job

S

sert

Registered Users (C)
I am reading through the forum, very useful info but i need some basic stuff to begin with..
I don't know how to go with after finding a job that qualifies for MUS or HPSA.
Lets assume I am in last year of my residency and looking for a job,. Obviously i need to look for hospitals/clinics/practices those are in HPSA or MUS areas. I thing i got that part right.
Then again let's assume i found a hospital/clinic/practice that is willing to hire me. I am not sure how it goes from here. Do they apply to state department for a request for waiver application under NI, or do they use a a slot from conrad 30. What exactly happens and how does it work. Are the availability of jobs for a given state limited to 30 physicians a year. What other categories can i obtain a J1 waiver (other than conrad 30 that is). Are conrad 30 and NIW seperate things?
I am also confused about who can hire me in terms of MUS/HPSA status. As far as i understand they just need to prove they are serving indigent populations but how do they document that. Do they have to do an application in order to be able to hire me because of my special condition.
Thanks a lot for your explanations.
 
Ok, couple of pointers:

-- Be very careful that you don't get taken advantage of. There are a couple of unscrupulous agencies charging residents 25k for getting a waiver job. Anytime, somebody makes you put down money before they can look for a job for you it is a fraud (I am not talking about legit lawyers fees once you have a job offer, I am talking about agencies 'guaranteeing' a waiver job if you pay them a 5k deposit.)

-- BE VERY AFRAID OF YOUR OWN COUNTRYMEN WHO OWN SMALL PRACTICES. THE FRIENDLY COLLEAGUE FROM YOUR HOME COUNTRY WHO OFFERS TO 'HELP YOU OUT' MIGHT TURN OUT TO BE A RUTHLESS SLAVEDRIVER. MANY J1 DOCS ARE BEEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF IN SMALL PRACTICES, THEY ARE FORCED TO TAKE ALL THE CALL FOR THE OWNER, ARE NOT PAID THEIR OFFICIAL SALARY ETC.

-- Look for job postings on the websites of large multispecialty practices. They frequently have clinics in rural areas they need to staff, many rural locations are also MUA/HPSA.

-- Check out www.3rnet.org Many of the job postings are hopelessly out of date, but it can give you contacts to CHC's and rural practices that have looked for docs in the past.

-- Look for 'community health centers' or 'CHC look-alikes'. Most of them are in underserved locations or qualify for waiver physicians even if they are not in a HPSA.

-- Don't look in JAMA or NEJM. People who post jobs there are innundated with CV's from J1 docs and run them through the shredder the moment they get the impression that you need a waiver.

-- If you are looking at a job, try to find the exact location of the practice.

-- then go to the website of the US census website
www.census.gov
click on 'census2000'
click on 'enter a street address to obtain census data'
enter the street address
note down the muncipality, minor civil division, county and most important 'census tract'

-- now, go to the website of the 'bureau for primary health care access' of the department of health and human services.
go to their 'databases' section
go to the 'HPSA database'
enter the state and county and put the filters on 'designated'
run a query
check whether the geography (county, MCD, census tract) for the job you are looking at is considered a HPSA
If yes: BINGO, you found a potential waiver job.
If no:

go back to the databases screen
now go to the 'MUA/MUP' database
enter state and county
check the geography
If yes: BINGO
If no: move on

Check on the website of the department of health for that state what their policy for waiver jobs is. Some are pretty lenient, others are outright bizarre. As a rule of thumb:
- Stay away from FL, NY, CA, IL, TX (the equation 30/population=X is the worst there)
- the south and the coasts seem to be more difficult than the midwest and plains.
- Look at places like ME, ND, SD, RI, NE.


The tricky part is to convince a practice that wasn't looking for a waiver job to go through the hassles of sponsoring you. Once you explain to them that by sponsoring you they are assured that you will stay for 3-5 years, they usually warm up.

As for the programs that can get you a waiver:

Conrad30
(state by state, very variable, from 'send us a fax, we send you the sponsorship papers' to 'when hell freezes over')

Appalachian Regional commission for parts of the states that have the Appalachian mountains runnign through them.
(only primary care, very restrictive)

Delta Regional Authority for parts of the states that the Missisipi river runs through.
(includes specialists, more lenient, program drafted by an immigration attorney)


A NIW has per se nothing to do with your J1 waiver job. Is just a vehicle to obtain a green-card while doing a waiver job. But that is a later stage in the game.
 
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locating a waiver job ...

hadron said:
Ok, couple of pointers:
Click to expand...
nice job hadron. would be better if you posted it as a separate thread. this is real great info for beginners.

hey, why not write all the steps from J1/H1 residency to waiver/regular job to GC. Would you like to work on that? i have been thinking of writing that stuff for a long time. may be we can write it together.
if interested, send me an email.
.
 
OH my god thank you so much for the text book answer to my question I am taking a print out and framing it. Now that will be a good start up for me. i cannot help you enough. As you have contributed to my cause as I learn more I ll try to contribute and help others as well. Thank you again Hadron
 
I have one more question. When does the quota for conrad 30 usually is filled up. When does the new quota opens. Lets say I start my final year of residency July 2006 now am i supposed to find the job and apply for a conrad position asap?or when can i apply lates.
 
If you want to help our all cause, make a generous contribution to Senator Conrads re-election campaign in 2006. He is the reason that there continues to be a Conrad30 program.

In some states, the program opens on Oct1st and fills by Oct1st in the afternoon (NY, FL, CA etc.)

Some states (e.g. ME, NE or ND) don't fill their quota at all. They can get you a waiver in september if you needed.
 
I got the J1 waiver job from the advt careerMD.com

http://ntnjobs.com/ is also good site .. register youself ..and you will get email of new job posting .. folllow the jobs if its under HPSA area or underserve area.

I got 4 offer for j1 jobs .. 1 from slave driver 2 look to be gentleman .. one from federal funded non-profit org. that I grabbed it.
 
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