J1 Waiver Transfer

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drjavi

Registered Users (C)
I am a physician working on J1 waiver, already passed 13 months on waiver but now I am really exhausted, with clinic i have to to cover ER sometimes continously 32 hrs I have to spend out of my house....clinic then overnight in ER next day again regular clinic..... PLUS doing nursing home responsible for whole nursing home alone.... didnot get any vacation during the last 13 months..... now I got a good offer from other hospital... working on waiver transfer.... now I have few questions
1)can my waiver transfer on these basis..... I dont have any proof except ER schedule, and my employer letter stating that in nursing home i am responsible for more than 100 patients,

2)my recruiter says we will get appraval from local state dept but for H1 we need a good attorney as our case is not so strong..... is anybody hear that enen after health dept approval uscis denied H1 petition....
 
drjavi said:
2)my recruiter says we will get appraval from local state dept but for H1 we need a good attorney as our case is not so strong..... is anybody hear that enen after health dept approval uscis denied H1 petition....
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You must have a somewhat strong case for Health department to approve the case. But it is solely USCIS discretion to approve or disapprove. Your health department's approval is not required.

It seems your employer is making you work much more than your contract. This is sad. You had some documentation of this abuse? If you think your case is not strong than you might want to talk to your employer and point out you're working more than your contract.

He might understand it or....

I hope your contract details your responsibilities and is not ambiguous like "at least 40 hours per week". I knows Health department require at least 40 Hrs per week work. I would 40 Hrs or 41 Hrs if they insists to meet Health department requirement.

Just go line by line in your contract and document and consider if you want to talk to your employer.

Re: vacation, were you paid for the vacation you were entitled to? If not, this might be something that might help your waiver transfer. You had vacation entitlement spelled out in your correct?

Oh by the way, if you choose to talk to your employer, do consider documenting your minutes of meeting and give him a copy.
 
I didnot get any compensation for vacation..... I asked for vacation few times verbally but not documented that.... so I dont think so it will be strong enough....
 
I think if u talk to your local state health dept people and let them know how u r being abused, they will be supportive of you for a transfer as long as the transfer is in hpsa. Dont worry and dont allow yourself to be abused any more.
Is your employer a "desi"?
 
thanks docboston and m img....no surprisingly not, they are not desi at all.... my question is that is any body heared abt any waiver transfer case which is denied at uscis level even after local state health dept approval.... thanks
 
drjavi

I went through same misery not long ago.

The health departments approval does not mean anything.
ITs USCIS which decided. I did not even talk to my health department.

Be creative and definitely use a lawyer. Talk about how ur fatigue could jeopardize patient care. I even attached Physician fatigue articles.

To boost you, I talked to 4 lawyer. First one hung up onme telling me no you dont have case (Robert A), second one told me there is 50% chance, thrid one todl me i definitelyhad a case but i cannot trasfer out of the state i am originally in. The forth one told me i had strong case, i can go anywhere i want, even to a VA hospital!!

I used the 4th one and ia m happy:)
 
Hi everybody
I saw this portal only a few days back.
I need some help and information

I'm in a similar position as drjavi
I'm doing my 3rd yr of my waiver job
As usual my employer is abusing me a lot and I have lots of evidence for it
I feel that he's going to make my life even worse before I complete my waiver.( he's got the record for it, though not for J1-waiver)
I have several people in this area who are willing to give employ me.
Here are the few questions

1. What is the appropriate procedure?

2.Do I have to tell my employer that I'm seeking for another job? - In the contract that I signed originally, there was no clause mentioning that I have to give him the time period before leaving( he can remove me whenever he wants to).

Please let me know
Thanks in advance
 
Careful carefil Careful!!!

First of all, review your contract, preferably with attorney and discuss(regardless of J1 waiver situation) , if you can leave and what kind of consequences you may face from employer's side.
{in my contract, employer could fire me anytime, but there was no clause that I could leave anytime with a notice!!! i.e I was stuck for 3 years}

Once, you have extablished that you can leave, then next step is to start looking for other jobs. Now , your contract may have restrictive cov. so you may not be able to find another job within 20 to 30 miles. be careful with that too.

You will need an attorney to file a creative 'extenuating circumstances' petition for you.

My attorney told me to find a job first and then resign from this job. If your employer fires you, your H1B is void immediately. In my case, I found new job, applied for waiver transfer. Once it was approved by USCIS, then i resigned from current job. I had to stay with him for 3 months as he forced me to.

ANother important issue: TAIL COVERAGE. you will need tail coverage when youleave this job. Look into this issue. I had to pay $40,000 out of pocket!!!!
 
cerruti2827 said:
Careful carefil Careful!!!

First of all, review your contract, preferably with attorney and discuss(regardless of J1 waiver situation) , if you can leave and what kind of consequences you may face from employer's side.
{in my contract, employer could fire me anytime, but there was no clause that I could leave anytime with a notice!!! i.e I was stuck for 3 years}

Once, you have extablished that you can leave, then next step is to start looking for other jobs. Now , your contract may have restrictive cov. so you may not be able to find another job within 20 to 30 miles. be careful with that too.

You will need an attorney to file a creative 'extenuating circumstances' petition for you.

My attorney told me to find a job first and then resign from this job. If your employer fires you, your H1B is void immediately. In my case, I found new job, applied for waiver transfer. Once it was approved by USCIS, then i resigned from current job. I had to stay with him for 3 months as he forced me to.

ANother important issue: TAIL COVERAGE. you will need tail coverage when youleave this job. Look into this issue. I had to pay $40,000 out of pocket!!!!
Click to expand...

All great points... re: "restrictive covenants", I think they're not allowed for J1-waiver authorities, State and USCIS. And they might not hold in court either if he sues you. But you might not find this as worth fighting for... if you find a great opportunity, however, you might want to fight for it.

I'm pointing this for future J1-waiver people... that .... look over the contract and if you find something similar then point to employer that State J1-waiver or H1-B does not allow this (I'm not sure about H1-B, but most states don't allow this). And they have to modify the contract. Sometimes State J1-waiver department overlook this. I have seen this that they miss it sometimes.

Second, there has to be exit clause for both sides. If need be, have your your lawyer contact them before signing the contract. I'm not sure if it is legal or not to have just exit clause one-sided... but could be argued in the court. It has to be same for both parties except in extra-ordinary circumstance, such as you loosing your license etc.

Third, very important that is mentioned here, "Tail coverage". You might have to negotiate it. If they don't offer... then estimate and ask for equivalent money to be added to salary of bonus.

Bottom line... evaluate the whole picture before signing the contract. Big practices might be more flexible as compared to one person Practice. But you never know.
 
Restrictive covenants are not prohibited in J1 contracts. JI applications are on some kind of internal point system , and a restrictive covenant in the contract may reduce one or two points.

The common beleif is that they dont hold in court, but even then one has to go through the whole torture of attorney/court!!!!
 
I have some kind same problem now, please help me with your expriences?
1- i was promissed to be paid 120/h, like other ER doc and they will pay it as a packege of salary and benefits. in contract they mentioned the number for salary but no number for benefits.Now when i asked them how much it costed for them salry and benefit it is 90/h. so hospital lied to me about value of benefit packge.is it considered as a breach of contract? I have all e-mails from hospital which tried to show me they break down and a value of 120/h)
2- they supposed to give me benefits , like health insurrance and retirment from begining but i didn't recieved anything in first three months. Is it breach of contract?
3- According to my contract, i should work morning and evening, but they made me do some night shifts.
is it breach of contract?
4- I have some witness who were told i should paid 120/h , can i use their word for supporting my claim ?
5- I was told i will recieved a high bonus as most productive person in group, but they sent me check as 1/3 of promissed number.can i use it as breach of contract or discrimination?
5- can i use all this senario as a discrimination case claim hospital discrimnate me with paying more money tocitizen docs and abused me?
6- there is a damage clause of 250,000$ in my contact, are all mentioned reasons enough to not get harmed by this fine?
any adivise be appreciated
 
hi Well im a physical therapist and i need to visit usa on J 1 , My J1 employer said he will not mention any thing on the the invitation about my non practise or next visit to usa , so he said ill have no probs in case i want to practise in the usa .. well i still have to do that J1 waiver stuff? i need to convert my J1 to H1b later in the year... will i have any probs?

My usa emplyer (H1b) said he can file for the cap exempt syuff only if i have a J1 waived
well i know that only a waiver is exempt of cap.. but as im goin to apply for the J1 i do not know whether mine will be the one waived or i still have to do the 2 yr req .. i case i do not get the waiver .. what do i do .. ?how do i get it waived?
plz help
 
You say that you are a physical therapist, I am not sure whether any of the things discussed here apply to you.
 
J1 waiver transfer need help!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got my waiver thru ARC and i am starting 2nd yr from 20aug.The work is totally diff than what i was told.In my census on an av day i have 35-40/day with one PA when i was told 25(unfortunately not in contract).Now they want to add more pts for which they are adding another PA.It is very stressful and on top hospital adm is not helpful with company and makes things even harder.PAs are fresh from school so not whole experience
Now I am getting job offer in another state which is not in ARC.

1.My question is it possible to transfer from one state to another and from ARC to NON ARC?other companys lawyer is saying yes just get release letter.
2.How can i get release letter from current employer and what other documents are needed?Do i need to notify health dept?

Please please help me!!!!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AZstar,
They wont do that becuz the census is consistently 35-40 and no docor wants to come.But dont you think for a single doc it is too much even?
 
difficult

I am sorry to hear about your troubles. Short of employers withholding paychecks, it is quite difficult to change jobs during the waiver. The employer will just tell the state office that 'you don't like your job' or that 'they think someone offered you more money' or some other nonsense. I don't know whether 35-40 patients is a high census in your specialty, but the number alone doesn't really constitute anything 'actionable' from a getting out of your job aspect.
Now, if you have a different employer in a HPSA with a willing state office, you may take your chances running the risk of having to do another 3 years after the transfer rather than 2. Ultimately, it usually pays to just stick it out for the 3 years, put up with less than optimal working conditions and to move on once you are done.

Good Luck.
 
I have changed J1 waiver job without any trouble in past (04/2004).

Here is what I would do. Find a second job, if possible with county clinic / federal health centers (to minimize risk of abuse). Once that is fixed then talk to a reputed lawyer, prepare case for hardship / unfavourable working enviornment etc. At that time be firm, tell you employer that you are able to see only 20-22 patients and thats what you can handle. Seeing more than 22 patients you are prone to make mistakes and it puts patients in danger.

Let me know if you need some help finding a suitable opportunity.
 
How did you get out of your old contract ? If the employer is abusive , is there any way to get out of it ?
 
cerruti2827 said:
Careful carefil Careful!!!

First of all, review your contract, preferably with attorney and discuss(regardless of J1 waiver situation) , if you can leave and what kind of consequences you may face from employer's side.
{in my contract, employer could fire me anytime, but there was no clause that I could leave anytime with a notice!!! i.e I was stuck for 3 years}

Once, you have extablished that you can leave, then next step is to start looking for other jobs. Now , your contract may have restrictive cov. so you may not be able to find another job within 20 to 30 miles. be careful with that too.

You will need an attorney to file a creative 'extenuating circumstances' petition for you.

My attorney told me to find a job first and then resign from this job. If your employer fires you, your H1B is void immediately. In my case, I found new job, applied for waiver transfer. Once it was approved by USCIS, then i resigned from current job. I had to stay with him for 3 months as he forced me to.

ANother important issue: TAIL COVERAGE. you will need tail coverage when youleave this job. Look into this issue. I had to pay $40,000 out of pocket!!!!
Click to expand...

Cerruti , please explain how you got out of the original contract since you said there was no clause for you to get out . Thanks !
 
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