H1B, J1... I am drowning and need a dumbed down explanation

[riakoob]

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Hi there,

I am a Canadian Med IV who has applied to the U.S. via ERAS for residency. My top pic will sponsor an H1B visa, but I also understand that in order to write the Step 3 USMLE exam, a pre-requisite for H1B completion, one must be officially graduated. Now, is it thus an impossibility to graduate this June and start a residency on an H1B by July? I am starting to understand that it is, based on the threads I've read.

Also, why is the J1 so bad? And is it at all possible to change the J1 to something else at any point?

My fiancé lives in the U.S. hence my choice to try and get into a residency there, as three more years away from him seem a bleak choice. However, I am becoming way overwhelmed with the visa situation, and i have no idea what to think or do.

I know many of you have seen these questions before so I this is repetitive if you could point me in the direction of the simplest and best thread, I would appreciate it. Also any fresh thoughts from perhaps someone who has gone through these choices recently would be much appreciated either as a post or message.

My sincere thanks in advance.

 

[LebDoc]

Bump

 

[splik]

you're not going to an H1B visa this year. So you will have to do J1 or reapply next year. As you say you MUST pass all parts of the USMLE for your program to apply for a H1B visa which can take months even if they pay extra to get it expedited.

J1 visas are bad depending on your specialty. If it is non-primary care (i.e. NOT IM, FM, peds, psych, OB/GYN) then you will not find it easy to get a J1 waiver job which means you will have to return back home after training. If you are doing one of those specialties its not really that bad you can switch on to a H1B with a J1 waiver and work in a medically underserved area which is NOT necessarily the middle of nowhere.

You cannot otherwise transfer onto another visa if on a J1, and you cannot apply for permanent residency even if you marry an American on it. H1B visas are dual intent so you can apply for a green card/permanent residency on it should you so wish or if a hospital sponsors you for one later on.

H1B visas last 3 years and then can be renewed for a further 3. J1 visas need renewing annually and a trip back home (not really a problem for you!) to do so. H1B visas allow you to moonlight in your own program, you cannot moonlight on a J1 visa. H1B visa, the onus is on the employer to pay the costs and do the paperwork. J1 visas you have to do all that.

 

[shopsteward]

What is your fiance's status in the US? If it will help you get a visa/green card, then get married. You can always have the big family party/religious blessing at a later date.

 

[riakoob]

Thank you guys for bumping, and thank you splik for the thorough response... I guess I am confused as to why the H1B was brought up if the school can't offer that to me this year. The J1 doesn't sound sooo horrible BUT we would like to eventually get married and so having to go back for two years after starting a family etc seems really worrisome. I am not scared of "underserved areas" I work in Northern Canada in a rural clerkship - that would be considered very rural/underserved by most I think, but I enjoy it.

Is the J1 visa paperwork very work intensive i.e. do I have to start this process right away and what are the hoops?

My fiance is an American born and bred... if it wasn't for him I definitely would not be doing this. Getting a residency in Canada is a much ... well easier, thing for me than the one in the U.S. But what do you do? However, I also know that the fiance visas take a while to go through as well, which may not be realistic for residency start.

Also - are there any folks who have gone through the J1 process vs. the H1B process vs anything else and have any thoughts on the process, pros/cons? You are welcome to PM me privately as well.
again, thank you SO much for responding.

 

[Andreji]

Hey,

I prematched this year and am going through the J1 process from Colombia (south america).

I'm getting a lot of support from the hospital's GME office, but so far the process has been quite easy- and I can also tell you for a fact that many friends of mine have gone through the same process and it's been a breeze for them too. Simply getting together copies of the passport, ecfmg certificate- easy; the statement of need being probably the most "time consuming" but for a red-tape ridden ministry of health like ours, 5 working days was brilliant.

Now things aren't up to me- hospital must enter me into some ecfmg application website, I fill out a part and they then generate a DS2019 form, with which I can schedule an appointment at the US embassy. Usual total time ~6 wks (as per the gme advisor and friends' experiences). The embassy here *is* one of the largest, but i reckon the process must be easier/there must be a ton of consulates all over in canada.

Now going a bit over my head here, I reckon it must also be easier to "come back" (ie., get hired) to the US with the 2-yr req. as a canadian, if you were to work in a decent place in Canada, where practise is much more similar to that in the US (than in my case). Plus, going back-and-forth, whether it be in Canada or in underserved areas in the US (rural or urban, insofar as to having to simply move somewhere after finishing training) is probably indistinguishable. I may be wrong.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

First, read this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450230. It's in the IMG forum, and reviews the differences between the H and J visas, and answers many common questions.

I can't remember everything that's in that thread, so a couple of key points (and read the thread first, or these may not make sense):

1. You MAY not need to take Step 3 to get an H visa. Since all schools in Canada are LCME accredited, you should qualify for an H visa without Step 3 (the reasoning and explanation for this is in the thread). That being said, it's up to the visa office and your H visa might not come through (or might be delayed).

2. The Ministry of Canada is REALLY SLOW at generating the Letter of Need for a J visa. If you decide to get a J visa, start that process IMMEDIATELY after the match. Quebec is amazingly slow. The rest of the process is fast.

3. DO NOT GET MARRIED IN ORDER TO GET AN EAD WITHOUT TALKING TO AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER FIRST. Please read this at least three times. Then read it again. Then email it to your fiance, so you don't forget. If you do get married, and don't do it correctly, you may trigger a "marriage of convenience" investigation. The gov't is looking for people who are getting married simply to get citizenship. This happens frequently -- let's say your best friend is an american. You want to be an american. You decide to get married, get your citizenship, then get divorced. This is a "sham marriage". The gov't is looking carefully for these. If you trigger their alarms, they will deport you, and you will be banned from all visas for some period of time. Do not make this mistake.

 

[riakoob]

This is a great thread - thank you!! And thank you for the main points - and just to clarify, neither one of us wants to take any chances with marriage issues, so we would NOT get married just to get an EAD. I am a stickler to rules and so is my partner, that's just how we were both raised which is probably why it works🙂 However, with me wanting to be with my actual, real partner and this whole residency, navigating the rules and regulations can be complicated and frustrating. Having this great board to get a sense of how people are dealing with the various bumps in the road really helps. Thank you!

 

[shopsteward]

To clarify, I wasn't suggesting that you get married as a way around the US immigration rules. I was suggesting you get married because you are engaged and want to spend the rest of your lives together, and because getting married now rather than "eventually" could mean that you would not have to be separated either for three years while you do a residency in Canada or for two years after you do a residency in the US.

If you are engaged but don't currently have even a vague wedding date in mind, how serious is your engagement? How equal is your relationship with your fiance? Would he be prepared to move to Canada while you do a three-year residency there? If not, why not? How committed to you and your relationship is your fiance? If the answer to any of these questions is such that only living in the US would keep your relationship going, or that getting married now would simply be for immigration purposes, then perhaps you should re-think whether you should either be engaged to this man or coming to the US for residency.

 

[Swisych]

.

 

[PistolPete]

I am a Canadian DO student matching to an allopathic residency this March. My top 3 choice sponsor the H1b, the rest sponsor the J1. If I were to match on the H1b, do I need to take the USMLE Step 3? I've taken COMLEX 1, 2CE, 2PE, and will take COMLEX III to get licensed. I've taken USMLE 1, and 2ck. Thoughts?

 

[KluverB]

Caveat: the J (and F) visas are non-immigrant visas which means that petitioning for a change of status, from non-immigrant to immigrant IS COMMITTING FRAUD. It does not mean you cannot get married, Homeland Security monitors enough of our lives to care about that, but it is the act of petitioning a change in your immigrant status that is committing fraud. You'd go from a J-1 (non-immigrant) to Permanent Resident (immigrant). Immigration fraud comes with a 5-year ban to enter the US and a significant fine...
If you decide to get married, you'd have to go back to Canada and have your spouse request a visa for spouse of US citizen for you to legally enter the US and then ask for the permanent residency. This, 3 years ago, was taking about a whole year. I used repeated 3-month tourist visas to come and visit.

How is changing your visa status committing fraud!?!?!? This is pure BS! There are all sorts of circumstances under which people change their status. I've done it more than once; from a non-immigrant to immigrant back to non-immigrant. My life situation changed and so did my visa needs. There is nothing inherently fraudulent about it.

What you are up against, however, as has already been mentioned, is that marriage to a US citizen will not absolve you from your 2-year home-country physical presence requirement. So, you will either need to get out, which might not be all that bad, Canada is not a bad place for a Dr to work, or to look for a J1 waiver job, which may not be easy, especially if you're not in a primary care speciality.

If you could get an H visa without loosing a year to take the USMLE 3 and all the paperwork and waiting that goes with obtaining an H, that would be ideal. I don't know anything about that route, so check out what aPG suggested. Don't get married for the EAD. Even if you got married today, there is little chance that you will get it by July 1 anyway. Go for it, if you're not planning on matching this year.

Health Canada etc. is notoriously slow to get the Statement of Need. If that's the route you take, start getting your ducks lined up right now. However, (unless things have changed in the last few years), you will not be able to complete the process until you have your med school diploma and your ECFMG cert. (which requires USMLE I and II CS & CK [please correct me if I'm wrong]).

 

[Swisych]

How is changing your visa status committing fraud!?!?!? This is pure BS! There are all sorts of circumstances under which people change their status. I've done it more than once; from a non-immigrant to immigrant back to non-immigrant. My life situation changed and so did my visa needs. There is nothing inherently fraudulent about it.

Thanks for your kind and calm words!!!!$%&(^&$#!!!!!!!!!! (enough punctuation? 😎)
I do stand corrected as I had my facts confused between student visas and tourist visas, where petitioning for AOS (Adjustement of Status) on the basis of marriage is indeed committing fraud. I had lumped the 2 visa classes together and took a shortcut. Chillax and thanks for the correction.

Removing my original post to avoid any further confusion.

 

[Optoed]

I knew a resident who started her residency on an F1 extension - OPT (occupational practical traing visa), before switching over to her H1B. She took her Step 3 during her OPT year.

http://www.upenn.edu/oip/isss/opt

Hi there,

I am a Canadian Med IV who has applied to the U.S. via ERAS for residency. My top pic will sponsor an H1B visa, but I also understand that in order to write the Step 3 USMLE exam, a pre-requisite for H1B completion, one must be officially graduated. Now, is it thus an impossibility to graduate this June and start a residency on an H1B by July? I am starting to understand that it is, based on the threads I've read.

Also, why is the J1 so bad? And is it at all possible to change the J1 to something else at any point?

My fiancé lives in the U.S. hence my choice to try and get into a residency there, as three more years away from him seem a bleak choice. However, I am becoming way overwhelmed with the visa situation, and i have no idea what to think or do.

I know many of you have seen these questions before so I this is repetitive if you could point me in the direction of the simplest and best thread, I would appreciate it. Also any fresh thoughts from perhaps someone who has gone through these choices recently would be much appreciated either as a post or message.

My sincere thanks in advance.

 

[LucileDupin]

I knew a resident who started her residency on an F1 extension - OPT (occupational practical traing visa), before switching over to her H1B. She took her Step 3 during her OPT year.

http://www.upenn.edu/oip/isss/opt

You can only apply for F1 OPT if you've been studying in the US in an eligible degree program for at least 1 year full-time. Sounds like the OP is in a med school in Canada so I don't think she qualifies.

 

[Buzz Me]

What is your fiance's status in the US? If it will help you get a visa/green card, then get married. You can always have the big family party/religious blessing at a later date.

I know this wasn't your intention (as seen above)...but PLEASE do not consider getting married under any sort of suspicious (i.e. visa-related) circumstances.