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SAMPLE LETTER TO SENATORS AND CONGRESSPERSON REGARDING EXEMPTING J-1 PHYSICIANS FROM THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRATION QUOTAS
Date
The Honorable [full name of Senator or Congressperson [address in Washington, DC]
Dear [Senator or Congressperson]:
We want to thank you for all the help you have provided to us and our community in securing the services of J-1 Physicians in the past. The physicians have made a tremendous positive contribution to delivering health care to many elderly, indigent rural Americans. [Brief sentence describing your particulars].
It was with great alarm we learned that beginning on October 1, 2005, physicians born in China or India now have as much as ten years to wait for permanent residence. Previously they waited three to four years. You will recall that the law requires J-1 waivered physicians to work for at least three years in a medically underserved area or at a VA hospital before even being eligible to file for a green card. In effect, they have a three year handicap other immigrants do not have. Now they are being told that they must wait many more years before obtaining permanent residence. During this time spouses may not be able to work and children may not be able to obtain the education for which they qualify.
We understand that this quota, employment-based second preference (EB2), will become backlogged for the entire world in a few months.
Given we already have a statute exempting some foreign medical graduates from the immigrant quotas, we request that you amend that statute, 8 USC Section 1101(a) (27)(H), to include J-1 waivered physicians and their dependents under the definition of special immigrants in that section.
We need to keep the physicians we have and to recruit more to serve our desperately underserved citizens. However, without your help, we may lose the J-1 physicians we have and be unable to recruit more. The J-1 physicians view this as yet another lengthy delay when they have already been delayed for a minimum of three years while serving America’s neediest citizens in rural underserved areas and serving America’s war veterans at Veterans hospitals. They will simply give up and not pursue waivers to work in underserved areas. Because of the great shortage of physicians nationwide, they have other options and we will lose them to urban and suburban areas without some relief from the long waiting lines.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have received high quality medical care through the J-1 physician waiver programs over the past decade. Many of our citizens would either go without medical care or wait until a medical problem became critical and required emergency room treatment and hospital admission. With the J-1 physicians caring for thousands of our medically needy citizens, the quality and quantity of health care has greatly improved.
We understand there are provisions in the Budget Reconciliation legislation which would recapture unused employment based visa numbers and H-1B visas for the short term. We urge your support for these provisions. However, as this is only a short term cure, we urge you to exempt J-1 waivered physicians from the immigrant quotas under the special immigrant section of the law, which already contains an exemption for some physicians.
We understand the Judiciary Committee will have a markup on this legislation October 20th.
We thank you for your support for our efforts to bring physician care to the medically vulnerable and needy citizens of our State.
We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you about this either the next time you are in the District or in Washington. We are deeply committed to our mission of doing our part to make affordable health care available to all.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
