Gme office vs program

[yougotit]

As I have mentioned before. I am a Canadian student at a us school. While trying to decide on a specialty I am emailing various programs to find out if hey sponsor for h1b visa or no. Most of the programs I have contacted are for pretty competitive specialties that do not have much experience with international students.
Almost everyone of the programs I have contacted replied that they don't sponsor for h1b. However, some of these programs' gme offices say that they do! What does that exactly mean? That the programs are unaware of the procedures or that those programs are not willing to petition the gme office for you .

I don't know if I should end up applying to those programs or no and I don't feel comfortable enough to actually email the programs again to tell them what their gme offices said.

Any advice?

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[PistolPete]

I'd apply anyway. Usually GME handles the visa issues. If GME says they'll sponsor H1b, then they will. Of course, sometimes individual departments refuse to sponsor H1b, but I think this is more that they are not aware of the fine details, which may be your case. Take my advice with a grain of salt, as I haven't applied to residencies yet, just e-mailed a few program coordinators about my visa issue as I am also a Canadian attending a US school and want an H1b. Good luck!

What specialties are you interested in?

 

[yougotit]

Aprogdirector, do you have any input on this from your own experience?

 

[docbill]

Aprogdirector, do you have any input on this from your own experience?

GME usually runs the visa sponsorship, so normally what they say goes... unless a department doesn't want IMGs to apply. But you are a US student so you are not an IMG.

You can get a training extension on your F1 visa and then apply for H1b.
Just apply. Worst case scenario you have to get a J1 visa. I don't believe USA medical students have to do the MCQEE to get a J1 letter for J1 visa.

 

[yougotit]

GME usually runs the visa sponsorship, so normally what they say goes... unless a department doesn't want IMGs to apply. But you are a US student so you are not an IMG.

You can get a training extension on your F1 visa and then apply for H1b.
Just apply. Worst case scenario you have to get a J1 visa. I don't believe USA medical students have to do the MCQEE to get a J1 letter for J1 visa.

It's not the mcqee that's the problem. In order to get the j1, you have to do a specialty that is needed in Canada. What I am interested in is not!

 

[docbill]

It's not the mcqee that's the problem. In order to get the j1, you have to do a specialty that is needed in Canada. What I am interested in is not!

Not 100% true. Call the J1 office and ask for the details. I believe the priority is for the specialties on the list for each province, but other specialties may also be sponsored as long as they are ACGME and not combined residency.

 

[yougotit]

Not 100% true. Call the J1 office and ask for the details. I believe the priority is for the specialties on the list for each province, but other specialties may also be sponsored as long as they are ACGME and not combined residency.

here's what health Canada says:

What documents do I need to submit? below). The specialty for which endorsement is being requested MUST appear on the current year's List of Needed Specialties.

I will call and double check anyways.

 

[leeolivesingh]

here's what health Canada says:

What documents do I need to submit? below). The specialty for which endorsement is being requested MUST appear on the current year's List of Needed Specialties.

I will call and double check anyways.

Here's the twist though: this "list of needed specialties" isn't prepared until the January of the same year of the match, at which point you will have already picked your specialty and be half-way through interviews!! I graduated with a fellow Canadian (in a US school) going into ENT; needless to say ENT was not on the list of needed specialties for his province. He of course found this out after he had finished most of his interviews! Thankfully though he matched at a place that sponsors H1b's!🙂

The Canadian/J1 visa sponsorpship program is such a headache for one to go through!

 

[yougotit]

Here's the twist though: this "list of needed specialties" isn't prepared until the January of the same year of the match, at which point you will have already picked your specialty and be half-way through interviews!! I graduated with a fellow Canadian (in a US school) going into ENT; needless to say ENT was not on the list of needed specialties for his province. He of course found this out after he had finished most of his interviews! Thankfully though he matched at a place that sponsors H1b's!🙂

The Canadian/J1 visa sponsorpship program is such a headache for one to go through!

This is so unfair! you do not decide overnight what you want to do as a specialty! It takes a lot of preparation, research experience and even commitment match.

What if he had matched in a place that only sponsors for J1. Do you know what his options would have been?

This sounds like a nightmare.

 

[leeolivesingh]

Unfortunately I think his options would have been very limited. In fact, I don't know what he would have done!

However, if you happen to be from Alberta (such as me), Alberta Health and Wellness does not prepare such a "list of needed specialties"; instead they look at each J1 applicant as a case by case basis- (their main criteria is that you should have at least tried going through Carms for whatever specialty you are trying to pursue.)

 

[yougotit]

Unfortunately I think his options would have been very limited. In fact, I don't know what he would have done!

However, if you happen to be from Alberta (such as me), Alberta Health and Wellness does not prepare such a "list of needed specialties"; instead they look at each J1 applicant as a case by case basis- (their main criteria is that you should have at least tried going through Carms for whatever specialty you are trying to pursue.)

Unfortunately I am not. Here's another twist that I have found:

Conditions
Physicians' practice in a province or territory will be subject to obtaining certification from the RCPSC and specialty licensure from the provincial or territorial licensing body according to the requirements in place at the time of application for a medical licence. Physicians returning to Canada after residency training will be subject to any physician resource management policies in existence at the time of their return to Canada.


I always wanted to work with the underserved, so that will be my consolation......

 

[NotAProgDirector]

It is the GME office's responsibility to process visas.

Some competitive programs may simply not interview IMG's at all, and hence not know what their GME's office policies are. Also, the "less competitive" programs may have lobbied GME to offer H's.

Still, the program gets to decide what type of visa to offer. There is little point to interviewing only to find out that they only offer a J visa if that's not what you want.

Canada is interesting, since they are using the J visa program as it was designed -- to train physicians in US based medicine to take back to their home countries. The point of the letter of need is exactly that -- to be certain that the training obtained is really needed in the home country. If Canada doesn't need ENT docs, then canadian citizens shouldn't train on J visas for that. It does seem somewhat backwards to publish the list during interview season though -- would be better if it was 6 months earlier.

 

[NewCanadian]

It's not the mcqee that's the problem. In order to get the j1, you have to do a specialty that is needed in Canada. What I am interested in is not!

Am I correct, you haven't graduated MD school yet, so you have not matched yet. So if it's next year you go thru the match, how would you be sure what you want is not on the list when the list for next year has not been created. What do you want to train in?

 

[JPR22]

I was in a similar situation a few years ago as a canadian coming from a us med school. I really didnt want to go through the J1, and only really shady programs offered the H1b (in exchange for like $9k+). In the end it was just easier to go back to canada.

 

[yougotit]

Am I correct, you haven't graduated MD school yet, so you have not matched yet. So if it's next year you go thru the match, how would you be sure what you want is not on the list when the list for next year has not been created. What do you want to train in?

You are correct. However, the list of needed specialties comes out in January and I would have already been done with my interviews by then. I am interested in Urology which is an early match and also still considering Neurosurgery since I have lot of research in it. I might end up applying to both matches in order to boost my chances.

The process would have been way easier if the list of needed specialties came out 1or 2 years in advance.

 

[yougotit]

I was in a similar situation a few years ago as a canadian coming from a us med school. I really didnt want to go through the J1, and only really shady programs offered the H1b (in exchange for like $9k+). In the end it was just easier to go back to canada.

It is illegal for programs to charge you the fees for H1B! This is pretty shady. With the financial trouble lot of hospitals are having H1Bs are getting rarer and rarer and I personally think that eventually they will disappear since soon enough there will be enough US grads to fill most of residency spots.

Personally I don't mind the J1 because I want to come back to Canada.