J-1 Wavier Job Related Issue

A

acube12

Registered Users (C)
My wife did her Family Practice residency on J1.
We are looking for a J1 job for her. We found one non-profit organization looking for part-time doctor in the city I am working (exactly what we were looking for as we have two kids and I am computer Consultant) in the underserved area where 90% of the patients are without insurance.

1. What is minimum number of hours needed to apply for J1 Wavier Job?

2. The amount very low as 90% of patients don't have insurance the other doctor makes is $50/hour. What is minimum salarly needed? Can it be based on % of income clinic makes on the patients seen by my wife.

Thanks
Acube
 
> 1. What is minimum number of hours needed to apply for J1 Wavier Job?

'full time' = 40hrs/week. Many states allow you to count administrative time as practice. This reduces your time in the HPSA to 32-36hrs/week. Part time won't work.

> 2. The amount very low as 90% of patients don't have insurance the
> other doctor makes is $50/hour. What is minimum salarly needed? Can
> it be based on % of income clinic makes on the patients seen by my wife.

Prevailing wage for physician board certified/board eligible is usually around 135k p.a. Some things like retirement and health insurance can be counted toward that, also you can be 5% below prevailing wage. So, you need at least 125k on the LCA.
She hast to be IN H1B STATUS. She can't work on an EAD related to your case. The problem with that is that she needs to work as an employee, not self employed or as a contractor.
Some people in the practice situation you describe get their H1b, but in the end their employer only pays them 50k or 60k. This is very dangerous if you try to go for labor based GC at some point.

(If she is family practice trained and not afraid to do obstetric cases, she can get a waiver job in rural areas at market rate conditions. Market rate, depending on the area, is anywhere between 120-200k p.a.)


$50 at full time works out to be 112k. This might work if the job can be qualified as a 'level 1' wage (see j1victims post below). And yes, as an alternative to the state labor agencies wage, you can offer an alternate 'wage survey'. If you can find some documentation that the average wage for a primary care doc in an inner-city clinic run by a non-profit is lower than the usual 135-145k, you might be able to get an H1b through with that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
prevailing wage for waiver job

hadron said:
> Prevailing wage for physician board certified/board eligible is usually around 135k p.a. Some things like retirement and health insurance can be counted toward that, also you can be 5% below prevailing wage. So, you need at least 125k on the LCA.
She hast to be IN H1B STATUS. She can't work on an EAD related to your case. The problem with that is that she needs to work as an employee, not self employed or as a contractor.
Some people in the practice situation you describe get their H1b, but in the end their employer only pays them 50k or 60k. This is very dangerous if you try to go for labor based GC at some point.

(If she is family practice trained and not afraid to do obstetric cases, she can get a waiver job in rural areas at market rate conditions. Market rate, depending on the area, is anywhere between 120-200k p.a.)
Click to expand...

for Prevailing wage determination: -- Salary available at OWL (online wage library) from http://www.flcdatacenter.com >>> OES Search Wizard >>> State > continue >>> County and occupation >>> e.g. for physicians, codes start from 29-1061. >>>>>>
* for some states: level 1 and level 2 wages are different ($90000 Vs $145000). for some: level 1 and 2 wages are same ($145000)
**** LEVEL 1 or LEVEL 2 WAGES? >>>> Check this link, read the last paragraph under Q15 and decide - http://ows.doleta.gov/foreign/wages.asp (note- DOL mentioned wages at OWL may be unrealistically high and you may have to go for other source of wages; and mean wage from that source will be needed)
* prevailing wage approval is obtained from the local employment office that has jurisdiction over the geographical area of employment. State workforce agency (SWA) numbers:
http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign/contacts.asp BEWARE: for some states, this list may not have been updated. Call them and ask what form needs to be filled to get prevailing wage info. Mostly it is ETA 750A page 1.
** example --- if there is a Medical Director in your office, and the letter for prevailing wage is sent by Medical Director for your job and the Medical director will be your boss, then your job may qualify as a level 1 job.
.
 
Thanks hadron and J1victim for your detailed answers. You were of great help.

Can she try for J1 wavier right now or the quota/deadline has passed?
 
> Can she try for J1 wavier right now or
> the quota/deadline has passed?

Depends on where you are:
Every state has 30 waiver slots to allocate. It starts on oct 1st of each year. It is up to the state to allocate these slots. Some do a first come/first serve tactic, others have elaborate point systems, again others have a lottery. Some states require the position to be advertised for 6 months before they consider a waiver. Others say: 'just send us a free-form fax with the census tract of your practice location, we'll mail the stuff to the department of state. Thank you for serving the people of our state.'

As a rule of thumb, the larger X in the equation:

(30/state population)=X , the better your chances to get a waiver late in the season and without a lot of hassle (in other words, South Dakota in the spring offers better chances than New York on October 1st.)



The first steps would be to:
- hire a reputable immigration attorney familiar with physician J1 waiver cases (not your companies inept H1b filling law school dropout).
- have the prospective employer contact your state department of health to find out whether they would sponsor someone in that location, whether they have any slots left and what the application process entails from their end.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top