DOCTORS Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6980 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6980

    To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the 
reallocation of unused waivers of the foreign residency requirement for 
                        certain J-visa holders.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2024

Mr. Nehls (for himself, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Davis of North 
Carolina, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Salazar, Ms. Sewell, Mr. 
    Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Casten, Mrs. Hinson, Ms. Salinas, Mr. 
   Pascrell, Mr. Bera, Mr. Costa, and Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the 
reallocation of unused waivers of the foreign residency requirement for 
                        certain J-visa holders.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Directing Our Country's Transfer Of 
Residency Slots'' or the ``DOCTORS Act''.

SEC. 2. REALLOCATION OF UNUSED WAIVERS OF THE FOREIGN RESIDENCY 
              REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN J-VISA HOLDERS.

    Section 214(l) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1184(l)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4)(A) Beginning on September 30, 2025, and every 
        September 30 thereafter, each State agency that received a 
        waiver under section 212(e) during the fiscal year that ends on 
        that date shall report to the Secretary of State the total 
        number of such waivers that the State agency did not use during 
        such fiscal year.
            ``(B)(i) For fiscal year 2025, and each fiscal year 
        thereafter, the Secretary of State shall--
                    ``(I) calculate the total number of unused waivers 
                reported by all State agencies under subparagraph (A); 
                and
                    ``(II) subject to clause (ii), reallocate such 
                waivers for equal distribution among eligible State 
                agencies for use during the subsequent fiscal year as 
                waivers subject to paragraph (1)(D)(ii) (referred to in 
                this paragraph as `supplemental waivers').
            ``(ii) In accordance with the 3-year commitment required 
        under paragraph (1)(D), the number of supplemental waivers to 
        be redistributed for use during a subsequent fiscal year shall 
        be the total number of unused waivers described in clause 
        (i)(I) divided by three.
            ``(C) In reallocating waivers under subparagraph (B), on 
        January 1, 2025, and every January 1 thereafter, the Secretary 
        of State shall inform each eligible State agency of--
                    ``(i) the number of supplemental waivers available 
                to the State agency for the subsequent fiscal year; and
                    ``(ii) the manner in which the supplemental waivers 
                will be distributed.
            ``(D) If the number of supplemental waivers distributed 
        under this paragraph in a fiscal year is less than the total 
        number of supplemental waivers available for distribution in 
        the fiscal year, the difference between the number distributed 
        and the number available for distribution shall be added to the 
        total number of supplemental waivers available for distribution 
        in the subsequent fiscal year.
            ``(E) Ten percent of supplemental waivers distributed in a 
        fiscal year shall be used to support positions in 1 or more 
        facilities that serve patients who reside in medically 
        underserved communities (as defined in section 799B of the 
        Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p).
            ``(F) In this paragraph, the term `eligible State agency' 
        means a State agency that, in the preceding fiscal year, used 
        not fewer than 30 waivers under section 212(e).''.
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