97-13918. Exchange Visitor Program  

  • [Federal Register Volume 62, Number 102 (Wednesday, May 28, 1997)]
    [Rules and Regulations]
    [Pages 28801-28804]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 97-13918]
    
    
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    UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
    
    22 CFR Part 514
    
    
    Exchange Visitor Program
    
    AGENCY: United States Information Agency.
    
    ACTION: Final rule.
    
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    SUMMARY: This rule amends existing regulations governing requests for 
    waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement made 
    by interested United States Government agencies on behalf of an 
    exchange visitor. Changes to the regulations governing waiver requests 
    by interested United States Government agencies are
    
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    necessary to provide for uniform administration of such requests. The 
    Agency anticipates that such changes will increase administrative 
    efficiency and speed of response and also ensure that multiple waiver 
    requests on behalf of an individual exchange visitor are not processed.
    
    EFFECTIVE DATE: This regulation is effective May 28, 1997.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Stanley S. Colvin, Assistant General Counsel, United States Information 
    Agency, 301 4th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20547; Telephone, (202) 
    619-6829.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the aegis of the Exchange Visitor 
    Program, some 175,000 foreign nationals work, study, or train in the 
    United States annually. As part of the public diplomacy efforts of the 
    United States Government, these foreign nationals enter the United 
    States as participants in the Agency administered Exchange Visitor 
    Program which seeks to promote peaceful relations and mutual 
    understanding with other countries through educational and cultural 
    exchange programs. Accordingly, many exchange visitors entering the 
    United States are subject to a statutory provision, set forth at 8 
    U.S.C. 212(e), which requires that they return to their home country 
    for a period of two years to share with their countrymen the knowledge, 
    experience and impressions gained during their sojourn in the United 
    States.
        Foreign nations entering the United States as Exchange Visitor 
    Program participants are subject to the return home requirement if 
    they: (i) receive U.S. or foreign government financing for any part of 
    their studies or training in the U.S.; (ii) studies or trained in a 
    field deemed or importance to their home government and such field is 
    on the ``skills list'' maintained by the Agency in consultation with 
    foreign governments; or, (iii) entered the U.S. to pursue graduate 
    medical education or training. An exchange visitor subject to Section 
    212(e) is not eligible for an H or L visa, or legal permanent resident 
    status until the return home requirement is fulfilled or waived.
        If subject to the two-year return home requirement, an exchange 
    visitor may seek a waiver of such requirement. The bases upon which a 
    waiver may be granted are: (i) a no objection statement from the 
    visitor's home government; (ii) exceptional hardship to the visitor's 
    U.S. citizen spouse or child; (iii) a request, on the visitor's behalf, 
    by an interested United States Government agency; (iv) a reasonable 
    fear of persecution if the visitor were to return to his or her home 
    country; and, (v) a request by a state on behalf of an exchange visitor 
    who has pursued graduate medical education or training in the U.S. 
    Section 212(e) also prohibits a foreign medical graduate from applying 
    for a waiver on the basis of a no objection statement from the 
    visitor's home government.
        The exact number of exchange visitors that are subject to the 
    212(e) requirement is not known; but, a careful examination of this 
    matter would suggest that upwards of 100,000 exchange visitors are in 
    fact currently subject to the return home requirement.
    
    Interested U.S. Government Agency Waiver Requests
    
        The Agency Exchange Visitor Program Services, Waiver Review Branch, 
    is responsible for processing waiver applications. Last year, this 
    branch processed over 6,000 waiver applications, 95 percent of which 
    were based upon either a no objection statement from the visitor's home 
    government or a request from an interested government agency. Over the 
    past three years, the number of interested government agency requests 
    submitted to the Agency has increased five-fold to some 1700 annually.
        The vast majority of interested government agency requests 
    processed by the Agency involve foreign medical graduates who entered 
    the United States to pursue graduate medical education or training. 
    Currently, the Department of Agriculture and the Appalachian Regional 
    Commission will act as an interested government agency on behalf of a 
    foreign medical graduate seeking a waiver of his or her two-year home-
    country physical presence requirement in order to work in health 
    professional shortage area. The Department of Veterans Affairs has 
    acted on behalf of foreign medical graduates in the past but is not 
    prevented from doing so by Section 622 of the Illegal Immigration 
    Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The Department of 
    Housing and Urban Development has also acted on behalf of foreign 
    medical graduates in the past but has now placed a moratorium on such 
    requests.
        As explained in the supplementary information of the Agency's 
    September 4, 1996 Federal Register announcement of proposed rules for 
    this type of waiver request, inconsistency in the administration of 
    such requests among the participating agencies has created a degree of 
    confusion in the administrative process. Further, foreign medical 
    graduates have also pursued concurrent waiver requests with multiple 
    agencies. These concurrent requests reflect conflicting commitments and 
    are therefore inappropriate, waste limited administrative staff 
    resources, and do not further the requesting agency's mission and 
    policy objectives. Further, such concurrent requests are unfair to the 
    communities named in the unapproved applications given the considerable 
    expenditure of resources that local communities devote to the waiver 
    process.
        To address these concerns, the Agency adopts at 22 CFR 514.44(c)(4) 
    specific provisions regarding the documentation that must accompany an 
    interested government agency waiver request submitted on behalf of a 
    foreign medical graduate. These requirements were developed by an 
    inter-agency working group comprised of representatives from the 
    Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban 
    Development, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs as well as the 
    Appalachian Regional Commission. These requirements are designed to 
    enhance the underlying programmatic objectives that the submitting 
    agency seeks to meet, viz., making primary medical care available to 
    Americans living in areas without adequate access to medical care.
        To this end, an employment contract that specifies the foreign 
    medical graduate will provide not less than 40 hours per week of 
    primary medical care, for a period of not less than three years, in a 
    designated primary care Health Professional Shortage Area (``HPSA'') or 
    designated Medically Underserved Area (``MUA'') or psychiatric care in 
    a designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Area (``MHPSA'') will 
    be required. As the underlying policy objective for an agency to act on 
    behalf of a foreign medical graduate is to provide primary health care 
    to the residents of such areas, the contract shall not include a non-
    compete clause enforceable against the foreign medical graduate. This 
    provision is adopted to ensure that the foreign medical graduate is not 
    forced to leave a HPSA, MHPSA, or MUA at the end of his or her 
    contract. In similar fashion, the Agency also sought public comment 
    regarding the inclusion of liquidated damages clauses in these 
    contracts of employment. No clear evidence exists that such clauses 
    either enhance or are detrimental to the underlying policy objectives 
    of interested government agencies and accordingly, no regulatory 
    provision governing this matter is adopted.
        In addition to a copy of the employment contract, each waiver 
    request filed on behalf of a foreign
    
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    medical graduate by an interested United States Government agency must 
    include two written statements. The first statement must be signed and 
    dated by the head of the health care facility that will employ the 
    foreign medical graduate. The head of the facility will attest that the 
    facility is located in a designated HPSA, MHPSA, or MUA and that the 
    facility provides medical care to Medicaid or Medicare eligible and 
    indigent uninsured patients. These requirements must be met in order to 
    satisfy the underlying program and policy interests of the requesting 
    agency. A second statement must be submitted by the foreign medical 
    graduate that declares he or she does not have a pending interested 
    federal agency or state department of health request awaiting 
    administrative action and will not request that another agency pursue a 
    waiver request on his behalf while the immediate request is being 
    processed.
        Nine comments were received in response to the Notice of Proposed 
    Rulemaking published on September 4, 1996. A detailed comment was 
    submitted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. This comment 
    presented an argument that agencies should request waivers on behalf of 
    specialists as well as primary care physicians and that the physical 
    location of the health care facility that employs the foreign medical 
    graduate need not be physically located in a HPSA, MHPSA, or MUA. Other 
    comments received advanced similar arguments. The working group 
    carefully considered, but decided against, these suggestions because of 
    the predicted over-supply of specialists in the United States, the 
    greater need for primary medical care in health professional shortage 
    areas, and in order to confirm with such programs as the National 
    Health Service Corps established within the United States to provide 
    health care in shortage areas.
        Further, specific unmet needs for physicians in prisons, mental 
    hospitals, or specific population groups may be met by obtaining the 
    required designation from the Department of Health and Human Services. 
    Designation of these facilities or population groups as site-specific 
    HPSA, MHPSA, or MUA areas will allow foreign medical graduates to 
    provide primary care services or psychiatric care to these populations. 
    Such designation takes into account the suggestion in certain comments 
    received by the Agency, that limiting the practice of foreign medical 
    graduates to the geographic environs of a HPSA, MHPSA, or MUA would 
    prevent these site-specific populations from receiving primary care or 
    psychiatric care services.
        In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 605(b), the Agency certifies that this 
    rule does not have a significant adverse economic impact on a 
    substantial number of small entities. This rule is not considered to be 
    a major rule within the meaning of Section 1(b) of E.O. 12291, nor does 
    it have federal implications warranting the preparation of a Federalism 
    Assessment in accordance with E.O. 12612.
    
    List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 514
    
        Cultural exchange programs.
    
        Dated: May 21, 1997.
    R. Wallace Stuart,
    Acting General Counsel.
    
        Accordingly, 22 CFR Part 514 is amended as follows:
    
    PART 514--EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM
    
        1. The authority citation for Part 514 continues to read as 
    follows:
    
        Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J), 1182, 1258; 22 U.S.C. 1431-
    1442, 2451-2460: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977, 42 FR 62461, 3 
    CFR, 1977 Comp. p. 200; E.O. 12048, 43 FR 13361, 3 CFR, 1978 Comp. 
    p. 168; USIA Delegation Order No. 85-5 (50 FR 27393).
    
        2. Section 514.44 is amended by revising paragraph (c) to read as 
    follows:
    
    
    Sec. 514.44  Two-year home-country physical presence requirement.
    
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        (c) Requests for waiver made by an interested United States 
    Government Agency. (1) A United States Government agency may request a 
    waiver of the two-year home-country physical presence requirement on 
    behalf of an exchange visitor if such exchange visitor is actively and 
    substantially involved in a program or activity sponsored by or of 
    interest to such agency.
        (2) A United States Government agency requesting a waiver shall 
    submit its request in writing and fully explain why the grant of such 
    waiver request would be in the public interest and the detrimental 
    effect that would result to the program or activity of interest to the 
    requesting agency if the exchange visitor is unable to continue his or 
    her involvement with the program or activity.
        (3) A request by a United States Government agency shall be signed 
    by the head of the agency, or his or her designee, and shall include 
    copies of all IAP-66 forms issued to the exchange visitor, his or her 
    current address, and his or her country of nationality or last legal 
    permanent residence.
        (4) A request by a United States Government agency, excepting the 
    Department of Veterans Affairs, on behalf of an exchange visitor who is 
    a foreign medical graduate who entered the United States to pursue 
    graduate medical education or training, and who is willing to provide 
    primary medical care in a designated primary care Health Professional 
    Shortage Area, or a Medically Underserved Area, or psychiatric care in 
    a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area, shall, in addition to the 
    requirements set forth in Sec. 514.44(c) (2) and (3), include:
        (i) A copy of the employment contract between the foreign medical 
    graduate and the health care facility at which he or she will be 
    employed. Such contract shall specify a term of employment of not less 
    than three years and that the foreign medical graduate is to be 
    employed by the facility for the purpose of providing not less than 40 
    hours per week of primary medical care, i.e. general or family 
    practice, general internal medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics and 
    gynecology, in a designated primary care Health Professional Shortage 
    Area or designated Medically Underserved Area (``MUA'') or psychiatric 
    care in a designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Area. Further, 
    such employment contract shall not include a non-compete clause 
    enforceable against the foreign medical graduate.
        (ii) A statement, signed and dated by the head of the health care 
    facility at which the foreign medical graduate will be employed, that 
    the facility is located in an area designated by the Secretary of 
    Health and Human Services as a Medically Underserved Area or Primary 
    Medical Care Health Professional Shortage Area or Mental Health 
    Professional Shortage Area and provides medical care to both Medicaid 
    or Medicare eligible patients and indigent uninsured patients. The 
    statement shall also list the primary care Health Professional Shortage 
    Area, Mental Health Professional Shortage Area, or Medically 
    Underserved Area/Population identifier number of the designation 
    (assigned by the Secretary of Health and Human Services), and shall 
    include the FIPS county code and census tract or block numbering area 
    number (assigned by the Bureau of the Census) or the 9-digit zipcode of 
    the area where the facility is located.
        (iii) A statement, signed and dated by the foreign medical graduate 
    exchange visitor that shall read as follows:
    
        I, ____________________ (name of exchange visitor) hereby 
    declare and certify, under penalty of the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 
    1101, that I do not now have pending nor am I
    
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    submitting during the pendency of this request, another request to 
    any United States Government department or agency or any State 
    Department of Public Health, or equivalent, other than 
    ____________________ (insert name of United States Government Agency 
    requesting waiver) to act on my behalf in any matter relating to a 
    waiver of my two-year home-country physical presence requirement.
    
        (iv) Evidence that unsuccessful efforts have been made to recruit 
    an American physician for the position to be filled.
        (5) Except as set forth in Sec. 514.44(f)(4), infra, the 
    recommendation of the Waiver Review Branch shall constitute the 
    recommendation of the Agency and such recommendation shall be forwarded 
    to the Commissioner.
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    [FR Doc. 97-13918 Filed 5-27-97; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 8230-01-M
    
    
    

Document Information

Effective Date:
5/28/1997
Published:
05/28/1997
Department:
United States Information Agency
Entry Type:
Rule
Action:
Final rule.
Document Number:
97-13918
Dates:
This regulation is effective May 28, 1997.
Pages:
28801-28804 (4 pages)
PDF File:
97-13918.pdf
CFR: (1)
22 CFR 514.44