February 4, 2011 - The past J-1 waiver and transfer filing season was fairly busy for our law firm. The applications we have handled this season include physicians, physician groups and institutions in different specialties spread out in states across the country, including Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and Indiana. The states of Illinois and Michigan recently performed their review of Conrad 30 J-1 waiver applications.

Our law firm received favorable recommendations and waivers for all the physicians we represented in these 2 states. We received waiver recommendations and sponsorships for one internist in Illinois; two general surgeons and a pediatrician in Michigan. We were quite delighted especially given the fact that both states seemed to have received more applications than the 30 spots allowed.

Typically, when more than 30 applications are received, states apply different methods and criteria to prioritize applications and determine which ones to sponsor. Many states give preference to primary care physicians over specialists. Others base their preferences on actual location, HPSA scores, number of physicians presently in the area, specialty area, or a combination of these factors.