IMG visa advise

[durisetister]

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Hello, I am an IMG from India planning to apply for the match this year. I was debating whether or not I should take step 3 to apply for residency this year just for the sole purpose of obtaining H1b visa or not give step 3 and take my chances with the famous J1 visa. I have been doing some research on this.

Thinking prematurely at this stage, my goal is to pursue IM residency followed by cardiology fellowship and sub specialize in cardiac electrophysiology. (Total 8 or maybe 9 years)

J1 visa sponsored by ECFMG has a maximum limit of 7 years. An extension of training beyond 7 years is possible but I would need a letter of exceptional need from my home country (which I hear is not as easy to obtain as the statement of need for the inital J1 visa). Also J1 has the very pretty 2 year HRR rule and if I want to continue medicine in the US, as Indian govt no longer issues NORI, I would have to try for a J1 waiver (for 3 years in medically underserved areas) and then 2 more years under NIW to apply for permanent residence. If one somehow manages to get the letter of exceptional need for the sub speciality training and get an extension of training approved beyond 7 years, the chances for waiver are esentially screwed.

Now if you are lucky enough to get one these days, H1b has a limit for 6 years. From what I have heard, its tougher to find fellowships on H1b and even if you do, I have not heard of anyone who has had H1 sponsorship for sub specialization. So if you are from India or China, after H1b residency if you can't find a fellowship (though unlikely) or want permanent residence, you are stuck in primary care or hospitalist jobs willing to sponsor green card which takes 4-6 years (maybe more) or try NIW in medically underserved area for 5 years, apply for permanent residence and then apply for fellowship or sub specialization.

Phew.

Would appreciate it if anyone wants to correct anything or add additional info?

 

[buonassezia]

There are a few programs that have tracks exclusively for IMGs with stellar research experience like UPMC International Scholars and UMiami William T Harrington Program. There are other programs like Mayo, Cleveland, UTSW, Iowa, UAB and BU that always have at least a couple of IMGs every year. Cornell, NYU, BWH and JHH have a track record of accepting IMGs from South America from countries like Colombia, Peru and Brazil. Speaking Spanish/Portuguese/Creole in these places helps a lot.

Here at Pitt, we have 5-6 spots every year, we interview around 35-45 people from a pool of over a 1,000 IMGs every year. The IMGs that match here are usually MD-PhDs/MD-MPHs and have done research in the US with crazy amount of publications in journals like Nature, Science, NEJM and JAMA. They usually do extremely well and this year's match we had 2 matching in Cardiology (Hopkins and UAB), 4 GI (Cleveland Clinic x2, Mayo, Hopkins), Endocrine (Mayo). These guys are extremely smart and other than pubs, they usually have USMLE scores above 240 and sometimes above 260 and amazing LORs from rockstars in their specialty.

Here's the website with their profiles: http://www.residency.dom.pitt.edu/program_overview/tracks/students.html

As far as the Cards fellowship goes, other than coming from an academic program and having some decent research you should also invest in programs that would sponsor you a H1b visa that would give you the option of spending a year off as a hospitalist to apply for a Greencard. GC is probably the single most important thing for an IMG to secure a place in an academic fellowship and the reason why is because without a GC you can't apply for research grants.

Bottom line is that it's not impossible. However, do you think you have the skills to pay the bills?

A lot of us on this forum aren't responding because we don't know the answers to your questions, since we don't have experience with a similar situation, and/or some of your questions have been covered already in other searchable threads of this forum.

Try seeking out IMG forums or other IMGs from your country who have successfully matched in the past for advice. There are many cardiologists in the US from India who may be able to guide you with more specific advice. Above is quoted some potentially relevant advice from another thread.

 

[ROBINHO]

Hello, I am an IMG from India planning to apply for the match this year. I was debating whether or not I should take step 3 to apply for residency this year just for the sole purpose of obtaining H1b visa or not give step 3 and take my chances with the famous J1 visa. I have been doing some research on this.

Thinking prematurely at this stage, my goal is to pursue IM residency followed by cardiology fellowship and sub specialize in cardiac electrophysiology. (Total 8 or maybe 9 years)

J1 visa sponsored by ECFMG has a maximum limit of 7 years. An extension of training beyond 7 years is possible but I would need a letter of exceptional need from my home country (which I hear is not as easy to obtain as the statement of need for the inital J1 visa). Also J1 has the very pretty 2 year HRR rule and if I want to continue medicine in the US, as Indian govt no longer issues NORI, I would have to try for a J1 waiver (for 3 years in medically underserved areas) and then 2 more years under NIW to apply for permanent residence. If one somehow manages to get the letter of exceptional need for the sub speciality training and get an extension of training approved beyond 7 years, the chances for waiver are esentially screwed.

Now if you are lucky enough to get one these days, H1b has a limit for 6 years. From what I have heard, its tougher to find fellowships on H1b and even if you do, I have not heard of anyone who has had H1 sponsorship for sub specialization. So if you are from India or China, after H1b residency if you can't find a fellowship (though unlikely) or want permanent residence, you are stuck in primary care or hospitalist jobs willing to sponsor green card which takes 4-6 years (maybe more) or try NIW in medically underserved area for 5 years, apply for permanent residence and then apply for fellowship or sub specialization.

Phew.

Would appreciate it if anyone wants to correct anything or add additional info?

If cardiology is your priority then u maybe better off taking a j1. Cardiology is competitive for Img. H1 visa makes it even more difficult. Pple will tell u that u can do residency on h1 and then switch to j1 for fellowship. But the fact is that just the fact that u are on h1 will make some programs to exclude you and u won't get chance to even discuss that.

If u want quick green card then obviously go for h1

 

[durisetister]

If cardiology is your priority then u maybe better off taking a j1. Cardiology is competitive for Img. H1 visa makes it even more difficult. Pple will tell u that u can do residency on h1 and then switch to j1 for fellowship. But the fact is that just the fact that u are on h1 will make some programs to exclude you and u won't get chance to even discuss that.

If u want quick green card then obviously go for h1

Thanks.
Is it even possible to change from H1b residency to J1 for fellowship?

 

[IMPD]

Thanks.
Is it even possible to change from H1b residency to J1 for fellowship?

Immigration attorneys are the best people to answer this question. My general understanding is that switching J --> H or H --> J is not permitted. But I'm sure someone will be on here in a millisecond to tell me about their cousin who did just that.

Your general sense of the visa types seems correct. I've seen many people get the "exceptional necessity" letter and the idea that Hs are more desirable for easier green card acquisition also seems correct. I expect that the volatility in the political world may affect future H visas. Or maybe not.

Your visa status is out of your control, unless you limit your residency application based on it. I don't recommend that approach.

 

[ROBINHO]

Thanks.
Is it even possible to change from H1b residency to J1 for fellowship?

U can change H1 to any other visas including j1. There are restrictions on changing J1 to any visa which indicates a Green card pathway like H1b, EB1. But again as I pointed out to you above,don't go into residency with the thought process that u will change from H1 to J1. Most administrators don't understand visas and when they see that u are on h1...they will automatically screen your application out. U will not have opportunity to even declare this intent. And just to make it clear...switching one visa to another is always a headache with no guarantees. Stick with one visa

 

[tartesos]

Hello, I am an IMG from India planning to apply for the match this year. I was debating whether or not I should take step 3 to apply for residency this year just for the sole purpose of obtaining H1b visa or not give step 3 and take my chances with the famous J1 visa. I have been doing some research on this.

Thinking prematurely at this stage, my goal is to pursue IM residency followed by cardiology fellowship and sub specialize in cardiac electrophysiology. (Total 8 or maybe 9 years)

J1 visa sponsored by ECFMG has a maximum limit of 7 years. An extension of training beyond 7 years is possible but I would need a letter of exceptional need from my home country (which I hear is not as easy to obtain as the statement of need for the inital J1 visa). Also J1 has the very pretty 2 year HRR rule and if I want to continue medicine in the US, as Indian govt no longer issues NORI, I would have to try for a J1 waiver (for 3 years in medically underserved areas) and then 2 more years under NIW to apply for permanent residence. If one somehow manages to get the letter of exceptional need for the sub speciality training and get an extension of training approved beyond 7 years, the chances for waiver are esentially screwed.

Now if you are lucky enough to get one these days, H1b has a limit for 6 years. From what I have heard, its tougher to find fellowships on H1b and even if you do, I have not heard of anyone who has had H1 sponsorship for sub specialization. So if you are from India or China, after H1b residency if you can't find a fellowship (though unlikely) or want permanent residence, you are stuck in primary care or hospitalist jobs willing to sponsor green card which takes 4-6 years (maybe more) or try NIW in medically underserved area for 5 years, apply for permanent residence and then apply for fellowship or sub specialization.

Phew.

Would appreciate it if anyone wants to correct anything or add additional info?

You can change your visa from h-1 to j1 with no problems( not the other way around).
The time to green card from h-1 after training is avg 1 year. A lot of people obtain a green card and then Apply for fellowship, not a guarantee and not easy, but not impossible.
Cardiology is another story, because it is extremely competitive, but I won't get into that now.

Good luck!


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