canadian with visa issues...

[brendang]

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i'm a canadian who went off to a caribbean school, nailed a 238 on step 1, so far doing very well in my medicine rotation in the US and am looking to do a surgical residency... the problem is that i will require the dreaded H1-B visa. with that, do i apply to university centres ) it seems as though most are not kind to people in my position, or aim for the "community" residencies with the better reputations...

thanks.
bren.

 

[tussy]

why not try for a gen surg residency here in Canada. There are usually quite a few good spots open in the second round of the match and you'd have no problem getting in.

 

[The Pill Counter]

Tussy, although this year there were three spots at Memorial and one at UofAlberta, it is much too variable for someone to base their future on. In 2002, only one in Ontario and one in Quebec were vacant after first iteration, and foreign grads are not eligible to apply to the second iteration in those provinces. In 2001, there was two in Saskatchewan and one at Memorial. In 2001, three FMG's matched in general surgery and none the past two years. Unless you know some people who've employed some backdoor tricks, Canada doesn't look like a viable option.

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by brendang
i'm a canadian who went off to a caribbean school, nailed a 238 on step 1, so far doing very well in my medicine rotation in the US and am looking to do a surgical residency... the problem is that i will require the dreaded H1-B visa. with that, do i apply to university centres ) it seems as though most are not kind to people in my position, or aim for the "community" residencies with the better reputations...

thanks.
bren.

Some residency programs will give H1B and/or J1, so you will have to call them up when you apply and before you interview and see which one they specifically offer.

To get H1B, however, it is a little tricky. If you have graduated from an Amercan MD school, then you can get that right after after graduation. HOwever, coming from Canadian MD school or the Carribeans, you need to complete all three steps of USMLE before the residency programs are allowed to file your H1B application with the government. The problem is that for most states, you need to have completed at least 6 months of internship year before you are eligible to sit for step 3. In some states (NY? CA?), you are allowed to sit for step 3 RIGHT AFTER you obtain your MD diploma from your school. However, in most cases, that means the earliest you can sit is May of that year (where the match day was March of that year). I do not know how people go around that problem. Maybe do one year of research in that time period? If you graduate in Dec., sit for step 3 right away, then I assume that you can still make it to the March Match day.

Anyway, that's the extent of my knowledge. Could be not 100% accurate 🙂 All in all, general surgery is not competitive at this point. So you should do fine. J1 is not that bad after all. However, I have heard of horror stories of how people have such a difficult time switching out of J1 that they just gave up. AAMC is also pushing for the home residence requirement from 2 years up to 5 years!

 

[Clue]

I am a Canadian going to a US osteopathic school. Did well on the USMLE. I plan on going into family med, but alot of the university based hospitals I talk to have policies against sponsoring H1 visas. I would like to enter the Canadian match but am also worried about not having a spot because as an osteopathic graduate we can only enter the second iteration, which is at the end of April, way after I have a chance of getting a good position in the scramble.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by Clue
I am a Canadian going to a US osteopathic school. Did well on the USMLE. I plan on going into family med, but alot of the university based hospitals I talk to have policies against sponsoring H1 visas. I would like to enter the Canadian match but am also worried about not having a spot because as an osteopathic graduate we can only enter the second iteration, which is at the end of April, way after I have a chance of getting a good position in the scramble.
Any advice would be appreciated.

In Canada, there are tons of family med spots left over in second iteration.

In the US, I don't know but sometimes you can talk to the university's graduate medical education office or international student/scholars office that actually DO the paper work for filing your H1B and/or J1 application. Sometimes, the dept of family medicine who does the actual training program itself is clueless, or does not know the whole story. In other words, sometimes they do sponsor US grads for H1B (but would sponsor IMG or FMG for J1 only) but you have to go around the residency program and go straight to the original source to get that info. This is a serious pain! But it is worth a try.

Lastly, why do you want to do family med at an university-based program? don't you get better training when there is no ob-gyn, internal med, peds and surgery fighting for your cases? And doing family med in underserved area can get you out of J1 status but that's a serious pain in the future too.

 

[Clue]

Thanks for your reply. I am looking at programs, both university and community based. Alot of the community based ones also only sponsor J1's.
I got an e-mail from the program director at the U of A. He told me that for each empty spot in the program, there are over 50 applicants. I don't know if I really like those odds.
Appreciate your advice.

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by Clue
Thanks for your reply. I am looking at programs, both university and community based. Alot of the community based ones also only sponsor J1's.
I got an e-mail from the program director at the U of A. He told me that for each empty spot in the program, there are over 50 applicants. I don't know if I really like those odds.
Appreciate your advice.

Oh wait, I suddenly remember something....
Ok here is the link I give out all the time, please take a look:
http://www.international.duke.edu/int_visa_class.html#clstaff

After reading the above link, are you sure that you are not eligible for H1B simply by graduating from an American medical school? I know that MD school counts but not sure about DO.

Secondly, many programs do not want to sponsor for H1B because 1) it takes too long and sometimes after Match day in March, the visa does not come back in time for you to start residency in July and 2) it takes some money (like 200ish application dollars) and some trouble (like hiring a lawyer) for a program to sponsor you.

However, being a Canadian and a student in the US give you two advantages. All other nationales need to go to their consulate offices to get an official visa in their passports and that takes 1-2 months at a time. BUT Canadians do not need to go through that. You probably know that already because you just carry your I-20 and your passport across the border without having a WHOLE PAGE in your passport with an extra picture + visa page. Therefore you can argue that you can definitely get your H1B in time to start residency.

Secondly, if you read your F1-student status carefully, you are GUARANTEED by virtue of being a student in the US that you are allowed to work in the US following graduation for up to 1 year, on the "optional practical training" (OPT) work visa. You can start that application right on match day and you can be very sure that OPT will arrive in time, before June. Therefore, you can work as an intern on that visa for the first year of residency and during that internship year take Step 3 of USMLE. After finishing 3 steps of USMLE you are definitely eligible for H1B (regardless of whether graduates of DO schools are eligible for H1B straight out of med school)!!! Then with the sponsorship of your program, ask to be switched to H1B that year. The problem is that some states require you to be in internship for 6 months before you can write step 3 but in some other states (NY? and CA?), you are allowed to write for step 3 IMMEDIATELY after you obtain your medical degree (so you can write it in June, even prior to the start of your internship year).

And if the hospital still does not let you have H1B, offer them that you will pay for the application fee ($200+) and hire a lawyer to do the paperwork for the hospital.

The key is that do NOT EVER start internship on J1. I talked to a fellow today who started on J1, got her greencard during residency but was still forced to go back to Brazil for 2 years before allowed to enter the US again.

It is best to start with H1B and if not, you can always do optional practical training for 6 months and then switch to H1B. A couple Canadians and myself do plan to use optional practical training coming up.

And if programs still give you a hard time, I think that this is about the time you hire a lawyer. It is worth the money.

Currently, J1 still has a 2-year home residence requirement so you have to leave US to go back to Canada for 2 years after you finish your residency in family medicine. AAMC is pushing to extend that to 5 years (this is all politics). If you want to get out of home residence requirement, you can go to underserved area of the US. Today I was told by some residents that another resident in the program here is going to go to South Dakota for 3 years to fulfill that. And they inform me that already, that length of underserved requirement has been extended to 5 years by yours truly AAMC! I have not researched that myself.

And if worst comes to worsts, marry an American. 😀 You will be graduating from an US DO school. You are well qualified to get a good family medicine spot, but the only thing holding you back in the greencard.

Lastly, if your school cannot provide guidance and provide the info I gave above, then you should consider seriously about hiring a lawyer. 2 years of your life are not too long but the difference in earning potential should be worth every penny in hiring a lawyer.

Good luck!

 

[Clue]

Wow, thanks alot. A little less stressed now. Now if you could write my personal statement for me, I will be set🙂

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by Clue
Wow, thanks alot. A little less stressed now. Now if you could write my personal statement for me, I will be set🙂

$200. I only accept certified check from US banks... Make it payable to "thewonderer"

😀

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by Thewonderer
$200. I only accept certified check from US banks... Make it payable to "thewonderer"

😀

Working on that new car already heh?😛