International Student

[101101]

I am describing my personal experience here as a foreign pharmacy graduate in the US. The route to an advanced practice career in the US starting with residency training is more challenging and labor-intensive than you would imagine. The necessary tools include very good English language, excellent communication skills and understanding of how things work in the US, PERSEVERANCE, organization and attention to the too many subtle details in the process, and readiness to expend lots of money and effort even if it does not pay off soon.

If you are a foreign graduate from a non -ACPE-accredited school, then getting FPGEC certification is mandatory. This process takes at least a year. Most states require 1500 hours of internship prior to full licensure, except WA state where the required hours depend on the FPGEE exam score. The least you can do is 300 hours if you get a score above 120, which is almost formidable. The earliest you can apply for residency is when you get very close to full license, because most programs require that you are fully licensed within 90 days or less from the start of the program. I would imagine that you would need to have an SSN to get an intern license and that these hours should be typically gained in a hospital setting if you are interested in a residency.

Now if you do all this or if you are a graduate of an ACPE-accredited school, you must find a residency program that is willing to sponsor (i.e. provide the necessary paperwork) your visa. Most of the time, you will have to pay for the visa yourself, which is about 6,000 USD if it's H1B or about 700 USD if it's J1 visa, which works equally fine for residency training. Now, the programs that sponsor these visa are usually the very large, reputable programs, which you would imagine them to be very competitive. By large I mean offering more than 6 residency positions. Most programs with only 2 or 3 positions would not be interested in hiring an international resident.

I contacted well more than 100 programs, only six programs were able to sponsor a visa, again with you usually being the fees. I cannot speak for these programs but you would have to check with them before you apply, next year. Please, PM me if you want to know what those programs are. I am not sure if it's appropriate to list them in here.

Maybe there are so many others in other states that I do not know about.

The deadlines for application this year have passed so maybe things will change next year, I do not know.

One more thing, please, all remember, we are pharmacists whatever our nationalities and levels of training are. Most of the time, there are things we cannot control like where we were born, where we got educated, etc. Maybe it's not just "getting a better life" is the motivation behind an international pharmacist's interest in getting residency training, maybe they have sincere interest in advancing the profession. I guess what I am saying is that we all should be aiming first and foremost for advancing our profession, whatever our other goals are, wherever we come from, and whatever pathway we take.

Good luck for all residency seekers.

Hi, I'm on H4 visa, dependent of H1.. and I am in MN where the board of pharmacy asks for SSN while applying for intern registration. You said about J1 visa but if the employer sponsors J1 visa , can we complete the internships on it then after completion switch to H4 visa ? as far as I know those who get J1 visa have to leave US after their completion of residency/training and can't apply back unless they spend 2 years in their homeland ?

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[tutt]

hi, iam also on H4 and living in MN. did u find any intern position??? its really hard to find sponsorship.

 

[studentpharmpak]

hey i am a PHARM-D student from Pakistan.. i will graduate in 2015... i want to go to US after graduation for residency but i dont know the path to adopt.. can u please telll me the step by step procedure so i can prepare myself ... thanks..And is there any chance of getting into internal medicine after pharmacy,,??

 

[studentpharmpak]

hi .. i am a PHARM_D student from Pakistan.. i will graduate in 2015 InshAllah.. i want to go to US for residency but i dont know what procedure to adopt.. can someone please suggest me the step by step process i need to do to fullfill my desire.. and what other oppertunities i have in US ?? Reply..

 

[vanadio]

As a EU future pharmacist, how much can i expect to spend on this process? I want to follow the hospital pathway...

 

[fiorio]

most US residency programs do not sponsor visa and require residents to be authorized to work in the US (as a US citizen or permanent resident)
Mass General Hospital has one pgy1 spot for international graduate,as part of their international program. i am sure it's very competitive since it's 1 per year, you can contact the program director to find out more
http://www2.massgeneral.org/pharmacy/Residency.htm

hi .. i am a PHARM_D student from Pakistan.. i will graduate in 2015 InshAllah.. i want to go to US for residency but i dont know what procedure to adopt.. can someone please suggest me the step by step process i need to do to fullfill my desire.. and what other oppertunities i have in US ?? Reply..

 

[vanadio]

But during a residency program we already have a wage, right?

 

[studentpharmpak]

thenkyou soo mch... keep posting... means alot

most US residency programs do not sponsor visa and require residents to be authorized to work in the US (as a US citizen or permanent resident)
Mass General Hospital has one pgy1 spot for international graduate,as part of their international program. i am sure it's very competitive since it's 1 per year, you can contact the program director to find out more
http://www2.massgeneral.org/pharmacy/Residency.htm

 

[101101]

hi, iam also on H4 and living in MN. did u find any intern position??? its really hard to find sponsorship.

Hi , no I haven't found yet...they are not even willing to give volunteer one.Have you found any ?

 

[tutt]

ya you are right they are even not offering volunteer position. i got my FPGEC last year but no luck so far
Where are u in MN?

 

[DeedeeY]

I am describing my personal experience here as a foreign pharmacy graduate in the US. The route to an advanced practice career in the US starting with residency training is more challenging and labor-intensive than you would imagine. The necessary tools include very good English language, excellent communication skills and understanding of how things work in the US, PERSEVERANCE, organization and attention to the too many subtle details in the process, and readiness to expend lots of money and effort even if it does not pay off soon.

If you are a foreign graduate from a non -ACPE-accredited school, then getting FPGEC certification is mandatory. This process takes at least a year. Most states require 1500 hours of internship prior to full licensure, except WA state where the required hours depend on the FPGEE exam score. The least you can do is 300 hours if you get a score above 120, which is almost formidable. The earliest you can apply for residency is when you get very close to full license, because most programs require that you are fully licensed within 90 days or less from the start of the program. I would imagine that you would need to have an SSN to get an intern license and that these hours should be typically gained in a hospital setting if you are interested in a residency.

Now if you do all this or if you are a graduate of an ACPE-accredited school, you must find a residency program that is willing to sponsor (i.e. provide the necessary paperwork) your visa. Most of the time, you will have to pay for the visa yourself, which is about 6,000 USD if it's H1B or about 700 USD if it's J1 visa, which works equally fine for residency training. Now, the programs that sponsor these visa are usually the very large, reputable programs, which you would imagine them to be very competitive. By large I mean offering more than 6 residency positions. Most programs with only 2 or 3 positions would not be interested in hiring an international resident.

I contacted well more than 100 programs, only six programs were able to sponsor a visa, again with you usually being the fees. I cannot speak for these programs but you would have to check with them before you apply, next year. Please, PM me if you want to know what those programs are. I am not sure if it's appropriate to list them in here.

Maybe there are so many others in other states that I do not know about.

The deadlines for application this year have passed so maybe things will change next year, I do not know.

One more thing, please, all remember, we are pharmacists whatever our nationalities and levels of training are. Most of the time, there are things we cannot control like where we were born, where we got educated, etc. Maybe it's not just "getting a better life" is the motivation behind an international pharmacist's interest in getting residency training, maybe they have sincere interest in advancing the profession. I guess what I am saying is that we all should be aiming first and foremost for advancing our profession, whatever our other goals are, wherever we come from, and whatever pathway we take.

Good luck for all residency seekers.

Good evening,
I hope you are good. I read your thread about pharmacy intern positions for foreign pharmacist graduates and was wondering if you could give me the details of the pharmacy institutions that sponsor foreign graduates.
I do have a pharmacy intern license for the state of Florida but have not been successful in securing a position. Do you know if I can work with a J1 visa seeing as it is for an intern position because a lot of threads seem to suggest that the H1 visa has to be obtained.
Thank you very much.

 

[DeedeeY]

Hey check ur inbox, i replied u...

Hello, Thanks for your thread. Are you able to suggest any companies or institutions that are willing to sponsor foreign pharmacists for internship hours? Thank you.

 

[101101]

hi, iam also on H4 and living in MN. did u find any intern position??? its really hard to find sponsorship.

hey tutt how did you get your SSN ? did the social security adm provide you SSN after reviewing the letter of deficiency from MN board of pharmacy ?

 

[tutt]

hi junior member,
i read your yesterday post about how to get SSN on H4 visa. I wonder did u get it?? i diidnt apply for that because my husband ask from someone and they told him that on H4 your wife cant get SSN. how about u?? did u get any positive feed back from SSA?

 

[tutt]

hi junior member, i read ur yesterday post about how to get SSN for H4 visa. i dont think so that it is possible to get it on H4. i didnt apply for that becoz my husband asked from someone about this and they told that she cant get SSN on H4. how about u? did u get it??

 

[101101]

no I didnt... I was told they can give me within a month but later I was told the person over there misunderstood the purpose or something...thats why I deleted the post thinking that will repost it once I get it..now they say they cant give on H4...it sucks !!! how did u get yours ?

 

[101101]

or you haven' t yet ?

 

[tutt]

I didn't apply for SSN bcoz I already knew about this. It's reall sad

 

[101101]

So you don't have intern license yet ?

 

[tutt]

No I don't have intern license. I do have letter of deficiency

 

[zzffnn]

Thank you PharmNerd08 and all for your comments.

I am in similar but slightly different situation. I do not need visa (have green card) but I only have a PhD, not PharmD. I also have a Chinese R.Ph. and just took FPGEE in Sep 2013.

It seems that ASHP's PGY1 (hospital residency) requires PharmD? I could be wrong, maybe having a US pharmacist licence could make it up. I will call ASHP next Monday to find out.

Please kindly comment, if you know any residency program or job position that accepts international pharmacists.

I know that you may do internship and then get a job directly from the same hospital, but it is hard to predict whether or not your internship will lead to a job.

Edit: I have talked with ASHP and was told that the decision as to whether non-PharmD is accetpable rests upon individual program directors. International non-PharmDs are at disadvantage for sure.

 

[djoker]

Hello !
I am a US permanent resident, and have graduated from a foreign pharmacy school in 2011. I want to know what is the process of references in pharmacy PhorCAS application ? I am a bit confused by that as I want to know what kind of references are required? Whom should I send request to? Do they accept an international pharmacy college reference?

I am currently in the NYS, and searching for a residency in USA. I also want to know which state is best for foreign pharmacy graduates where I could able to find a job to complete my internship hours at pharmacy. My preferences are NJ, MD, MI, TX but I can move to any state which has some space for foreign graduates.

P.S: I have cleared the FPGEC certificate

 

[waddahz]

Hi
If my husband has h1b visa and I live with him in us.. I finish my 3 exams cuz im international graduate..would it be possible to find residency... or still I need h1b visa?