Publication
Arizona Finalizes Conrad 30/J-1 Visa Waiver Scoring Changes
On June 23, 2026, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) held a meeting to discuss final changes to Arizona’s Conrad 30/J-1 Visa Waiver program. These changes may affect how healthcare employers evaluate practice sites, prepare recruitment plans, and document J-1 waiver applications.
The updated scoring framework gives more weight to rural need, Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) status, and information ADHS can verify. The updated tool also increases the total possible score from 83 points to 95 points and removes multipliers that ADHS determined did not meaningfully affect outcomes. It places greater emphasis on rural, frontier, and Indian reservation practice sites, as well as HPSA scores that are updated by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Key Changes
- The worksite matters. Indian Reservation, Rural, and Frontier sites receive 30 points. Urban sites receive 6 points, down from 12 points previously. ADHS states that this change is intended to prioritize Indian reservations and rural communities with greater transportation and access-to-care challenges.
- HPSA and MUA/P status should be checked early. A primary practice site in a HPSA may receive the applicable HRSA primary care HPSA score, up to 25 points. A site in a Medically Underserved Area or Population (MUA/P) receives 10 points. If a site qualifies under both HPSA and MUA/P, ADHS will use the higher score.
Other scoring changes include:
- Facility type: this category is now worth up to 15 points instead of 20 points. Rural Health Clinics and Critical Access Hospitals must be Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-certified to receive those designations.
- Sliding fee schedule utilization: this category is now worth up to 10 points instead of 15 points because ADHS views this information as self-reported and difficult to verify.
- Language other than English: this category is now worth up to 5 points instead of 8 points because ADHS notes that the underlying data is no longer easily accessible through Census Reporter.
Practical Takeaways for HR and Recruiting Teams
For HR and recruiting teams, the practical next step is to build J-1 waiver planning into the hiring process earlier. Before finalizing a practice site or offer, employers may want to consider:
- How the proposed worksite may score under the revised framework;
- whether HPSA, MUA/P, facility type, and rural-access factors are clearly documented; and
- whether the recruitment plan and application narrative reflect ADHS’s focus on rural access, HPSA need, and verifiable data.
Healthcare employers that recruit foreign physicians for Arizona practice sites should account for the revised scoring framework when evaluating future J-1 waiver strategy, worksite selection, and application documentation.
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