Hi Capostat
First of all, you cannot say that you do not intend to Canada as it defeats the purpose of the J1 visa, even though you apply for a waiver later 😉. So, never mention this to anyone, it will backfire.
Instead of sitting and cursing yourself over this, you should curse them and ask them for the rationale behind unfair policy changes. I have been sending emails over this for long to federal J1 visa program, Deputy Health Minister (Simon Kennedy) who handles this branch, your local MP to raise your concern, and even PM Trudeau. I am also seeking help from legal aid program and can even go out to fight this in the court but I don't know much here. These changes were created in consultation of RCPSC (which is a "union" formed and funded by practicing doctors, known to control demand/supply, and lobby against IMGs) and provincial health ministry (who only care about lowering health care budget). Canada is the only country who is concerned about more doctors becoming a problem when it has a record length of waiting patients queues. While rest of the countries are indebted to US, Health Canada is creating roadblocks for its budding students from pursuing higher studies, which is unprecedented. The policy changes towards those who go to do IM will achieve nothing other than wrecking careers of many.
So here are some points you can fight on:
1. How does Categorization of candidates helps in limiting needs of sub-specialties as Category A and C have an unlimited endorsement?
2. Why the policy is biased and inconsistent that Category A can apply for fellowships directly as compared to Category B who need to apply from Category C. For fellowship in Canada, Category-A do 3 years IM in core IM then their fourth year is counted and done towards fellowship, hence it is same as 3 years IM done in the US.
Why Category B have to get full license in generic IM of 4 years. Its disrupting continuous education. Only when it comes to poractising and getting a license, RCPSC can dicate its requirements but here a US medical resident wanting to do US medical fellowship, why it needs to get a generic IM license?
3. From sub-specialty profile by CMA (you can find by googling it), you can see the employment and need for the sub-specialty you are interested in. For example, in Cardiology, the number 3.5 per 100K of the population which even decreased from 2015 to 2016. So, why the hell sub-specialists feel that they are employed when there are only handful of them. One cannot have everything one wants in a job. Just because one is not willing to move, or not getting hefty package, not getting research setup or academic designation, he/she cannot be considered unemployed. Just because some feel unemployed, . Like any other job sectors, there are no more cushy jobs, one needs to be flexible. And, govt. should try to make remote or rural areas attractive for doctors to have a uniform distribution of doctors instead of making us scapegoat
4. They don't have data on how many residents or fellows who got SON have returned. So, how can they determine their effect on the workforce. I have not seen anyone coming back to Canada. Most of them do J1 waiver. For cardiology, for example, only a handful of them (a single digit number) get SONs every year and we don't even know how many come back, so how its justified that they are saturating canadian job market.
5. And, finally why 2016 residents are not grandfathered under plan. We had already graduated and prepared our profiles to apply for a sub-specialty field when these changes were introduced in August or September. As we apply starting of september, why we were not given enough time to make an informed decision. IM is done mostly as it is a step to further sub-specialties. We would have picked some other area had we known that will be forced a gap of 2 years which will make us incompetent for fellowships, esp. competitive ones.
Btw, J1 waiver is 5 years not 3 years and route to green card will also depend on the country you were born in. J1 waiver is mostly done in remote, under privileged areas and in primary care. It will be hard to stay competent given the load of paper work etc. you will be given other than your core work. This long path will make you incompetent esp. for competitive fellowships.
It is a very poor strategy by Health Canada to discourage students from pursuing higher studies instead of solving the real issues.
No country in the world has done that. We are under democracy not dictatorship. If we take this matter to court, they won't stand a chance
