F1 visa to green card during first year of residency

[DoctorOrange]

Hello all,

I am going to start residency in 2024 (assuming I match). I will get OPT for my first year of residency.
However, I am planning to get married to my fiance in March of 2024, so I will get the greencard from her. I will receive my greencard within the first year even if it takes up to 15 months.

Anyhow, my question, is EAD granted by only those hospitals who sponsor J1/ H1 visas? Could i potentially apply to any program even those with a green card/ US citizen requirement, as they will not need to sponsor me for a visa post OPT?

Thoughts appreciated.

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[NotAProgDirector]

OPT is part of the F visa, and hence is granted by your school, not a residency program. You would need to ask programs that have a US cit / GC requirement whether your EAD to GC plan is acceptable or not. Innumerable problems can delay your GC, and if it doesn't get processed in time you'll lose your spot at any program that doesn't offer visas.

You could consider getting legally married now. That way, you're very likely to have a GC by the time you're applying for residency.

No matter what you do, speak with an immigration attorney first. This is very easy to screw up.

 

[philiveyoffi]

OPT is part of the F visa, and hence is granted by your school, not a residency program. You would need to ask programs that have a US cit / GC requirement whether your EAD to GC plan is acceptable or not. Innumerable problems can delay your GC, and if it doesn't get processed in time you'll lose your spot at any program that doesn't offer visas.

You could consider getting legally married now. That way, you're very likely to have a GC by the time you're applying for residency.

No matter what you do, speak with an immigration attorney first. This is very easy to screw up.

@NotAProgDirector I am hoping to get your advice regarding my difficult situation. I am a Canadian citizen and current US MD senior that did not match into competitive specialty this year (2024). I applied as a visa seeking applicant. I will be reapplying this year after a research year on OPT. I have married my US citizen fiancé recently and we are in the process of working with an immigration lawyer on EAD and green card. Our case is strong as we have been together 5+ years and have vast amounts of evidence of our relationship. Given current timelines I will have my EAD by the time eras is submitted, but not my green card. I understand that this would make me currently eligible to work based on EAD (change of status) with permanent resident status being the means for me to work during residency itself.

My question is thus, clearly applying again with EAD status is better than my previous visa seeking status, but without green card in hand by eras submission time I am worried that the program directors in this competitive field will still be ify on giving me interviews. Given this is an all or nothing application as my second time around, when filling out ERAS I could thus either fill it out as per above, or fill it out as just permanent resident without mention of EAD. What do you recommend?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I think many programs may be just fine with an EAD.

No matter what you do, do not lie on your ERAS app. If you don't have a GC, then you don't have permanent resident status.

 

[Giovanotto]

It's been a very long time since I've looked into this, but (OP) your OPT may qualify for STEM extension as well, I believe it is 18 months on top of your 12 month OPT. That way you can do 12+18 months on OPT.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Unfortunately, Medicine does not qualify for the STEM extension. Current list is here. Unless you only take care of molecules. Or astronauts.

 

[aashirss786]

@NotAProgDirector,

Hello, thank you so much for answering visa-based questions it's been extremely helpful reading through your replies. I am a Canadian US DO in my 4th year, I am going to have to use OPT for my preliminary IM year while my EAD via marriage based green card is processed. Would using an OPT cause any issues with the hospital that I am going to do my prelim? On residency explorer basically every program lists that they don't accept OPT but that doesn't really seem right since it shouldn't really matter to them especially if I will only be spending 1 year at their institution anyways.

Any guidance would be extremely helpful.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I agree it shouldn't matter. However programs / institutions can do as they please. The only problem I see with OPT is that it's only good for 12 months. INternship is usually a bit longer -- since there's usually a paid orientation period first. So it's possible that programs won't accept OPT without some future plan because the OPT won't last quite long enough. The only way to know is to ask programs.