Your Immigration Link to the World

Section 203(b)(2)(B)(ii)(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended by the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act (Nursing Relief Act) of 1999, establishes a national interest waiver of the Department of Labor’s labor certification process for alien physicians petitioning for EB-2 classification (aliens with advanced degrees or exceptional ability).

Pursuant to section 203(b)(2)(B)(ii)(I), the Attorney General, now the Secretary of Homeland Security, “shall grant a national interest waiver [of the job offer requirement] … on behalf of any alien physician with respect to whom a petition for preference classification has been filed … if:

(aa) the alien physician agrees to work full-time as a physician in an area or areas designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as having a shortage of health care professionals or at a health care facility under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and,

(bb) a Federal agency or a department of public health in any State has previously determined that the alien physician’s work in such an area or at such facility was in the public interest.

The physician may not receive lawful permanent resident status “until such time as the alien has worked full-time as a physician for an aggregate of 5 years” in the shortage area, or 3 years in the shortage area if the doctor petitioned for the national interest waiver before November 1, 1998.2 INA 203(b)(2)(B)(ii)(II) and (IV); 8 USC § 1153(b)(2)(B)(ii)(II) and (IV).

Qualifications:
You must agree to work full-time in a clinical practice. For most physician NIW cases, the required period of service is 5 years.

1. You must work in a primary care (such as a general practitioner, family practice petitioner, general internist, pediatrician, obstetrician/gynecologist, or psychiatrist) or be a specialty physician.
2. You must serve either in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), Mental Health Professional Area (MHPSA – for psychiatrists only), a Medically Underserved Area (MUA), or a Veterans Affairs facility, or for specialists in a Physician Scarcity Area (PSA).
3. You must obtain a statement from a federal agency or a state department of health that has knowledge of your qualifications as a physician and that states your work is in the public interest. (This statement is known as an attestation).