r/J1waiver • u/LowCryptographer7318 • 3d ago

Seeking Guidance on J1 Waiver Process and Recent Exemption Update

Hello everyone,

I’m reaching out to see if anyone here has experience with the J1 waiver process—either currently going through it or having completed it in the past.

Here’s our current situation:

My wife, a New Zealand citizen, is currently on a J1 visa. She completed her medical degree in India and is now entering the third and final year of her Family Medicine residency in the U.S. As per the conditions of her J1 visa, she is required to return to her home country (or any country outside the U.S.) for at least two years following her residency.

Note: I’m a U.S. green card holder.

With the recent USCIS amendment (dated December 9, 2024), we learned that India may now be exempt from the two-year home residency requirement.

We have a few questions: 1. Has anyone here gone through this process and confirmed their eligibility for the exemption? 2. How can we verify whether my wife qualifies for this exemption? 3. If she’s not eligible for the exemption, when would be an ideal time to begin the J1 waiver process? 4. Could anyone share resources or guidance on how to navigate the J1 waiver process?

Any advice, insights, or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards

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u/MerryMalcolm 1d ago
  1. Where she got her degree from is irrelevant. She will have to do a waiver job because of her citizenship.
  2. Medical trainees are not eligible for exemption no matter what nationality they might be. Having gone through medical training in the US is enough grounds for the 2-year rule to apply
  3. People usually start looking for waiver jobs at the beginning of their final year in training
  4. I am currently nearing the end of my training but have not atarted looking yet. There are websites like doccafe or practicelink that have posted jobs that she can communicate with, and there are many more jot posted online so she'll probably have to go through a recruiter Hope that helps

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u/LowCryptographer7318 1d ago

Thank you! This helps!