The Northern Border Regional Commission announced the launch of its J-1 Visa Waiver Program in collaboration with Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont in an ongoing effort to provide rural and underserved areas with adequate access to quality, affordable health care.

The new program will help address the national health care provider shortage by easing the visa requirements for physicians who are trained in the United States if they agree to practice in underserved areas of the Northern Border Region.

The commission will recommend that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security waive what is known as the two-year home-country physical presence requirement for eligible physicians seeking to work at health care institutions and practices within the Northern Border territory.

“Rural communities face many challenges to economic well-being. Access to health care is one such challenge that is particularly difficult for rural areas to address on their own, and is critical to maintaining a vibrant community,” said Northern Border Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Chris Saunders.

“As part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to rural communities, it is with great excitement that the commission undertakes this effort to address the region’s health care workforce shortages and bolster one of the underlying elements that make economic development possible.”

The Northern Border Regional Commission will consider recommending a waiver on behalf of eligible J-1 physicians who will work in health professional shortage areas and medically underserved areas. Eligible physicians will work in primary or mental health care for at least three years and 40 hours per week within a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-designated shortage area or underserved area of the Northern Border Region. The program is modeled, in part, after the Appalachian Regional Commission’s successful J-1 Visa waiver program.

State partners in New York and New Hampshire showed early support in favor of implementing a waiver expansion program in the Northern Border Region. The commission acknowledges the members of Congress from the Northern Border Regional Commission region who have encouraged the agency to utilize its authority to develop this program.

“In rural communities like ours, the chronic physician shortage has very real implications for the people we serve. Longer wait times for appointments, required travel for people who may already have transportation challenges and reduced time with physicians — all of this impacts the quality of care provided to patients. The J-1 Waiver program will help alleviate some of these obstacles by making it possible for more physicians to remain in this country and practice,” said Regional Physician Leader Lisa Mark, M.D., of the University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group.

“This program is a great of example of what can be accomplished when we work together to be sure those living in rural areas have equitable access to necessary care,” offered Alice Hyde Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital President Michelle LeBeau.

“Access to quality health care is vital for all New Yorkers, which is why the State Health Department continues to work with the Northern Border Regional Commission and the Department of State to expand these waivers to provide greater access to physicians within our underserved rural communities — a commitment to ensuring quality health services are available to everyone, no matter where they live,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “The Department continues to focus on ensuring our rural communities have access to critical health care services, including transportation and emergency medical services.”

Requests for waivers through the J-1 Visa Waiver Program must first be sponsored by a state within the Northern Border Regional Commission’s region, all of which have collaborated closely to complement each state’s pre-existing Conrad 30 waiver programs.

Contact information for J-1 Program specialists in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont can be found on nbrc.gov.

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