Originally posted by xrayray17:
•But the visa problem is definitely something to worry about, it could really screw you over and waste a lot of your time, if you don't plan things out carefully. On the site that I listed, it had this link to this other page which is also for Canadians, and basically it talks about the visas and stuff. In order to avoid the visa problem, you need to basically become a U.S citizen. Well there's several ways of doing it, apply for U.S citizenship, marry a U.S citizen, apply for permanent resident status, get a green card, get someone to adopt you, or invest in some business, these are just some suggestions. Don't u think that it sucks how being a Canadian brings along so many visa problems. I don't see other countries having visa problems with the states....sigh...good luck guys..•••
The visa problem is a pain for me but it is not as big of a deal as some people make it out to be. A summary is, if you are a Canadian med school grad and wants to do residency in the US, you will need to go back to Canada for two years after you finish your residendy program in the US (this might apply to Australians as well and maybe that's why there are so many of them in certain top-notch residency programs in the US); this is called the J-1 exchange Visitor Visa class. However, if you are an American med school grad (regardless of country of origin) you can jump straight to apply the H1B visa and on the green card route without that stupid 2-year home residency requirement (alternatively, you can use your practical training portion of your student visa for the first year of residency and then apply to H1B; practical training comes with your F1 student visa for studying medicine in the US). Below is some info I wrote already in another thread on this board.
However, I did look into the option of going back to Canada for med school but I turned it down because if you want to be a fresh Canadian med school grad coming to the US for residency, you need an J-class working visa. That means at the end of your residency, you will be forced to go back to Canada for two years before being allowed to come back to the US to work (this is called the home-residence requirement). It is meant to protect Canada for obvious reason. There are three ways to by-pass that. One is to hold an American green card then you don't need a working visa in the states at all! Two is to graduate from an American med school and by that, you can opt to go after H1B class working visa after you graduate and work in the states as a resident without worrying about the home-residency requirement. Three, Canadian med school grad can bypass J-class and go straight to H1B IF they pass USMLE step III. The key here is that you are not eligible to write step III until you finish first year of residency. So that does not help much, does it?
Please see the following link:
<a href="http://www.international.duke.edu/int_visa_class.html#clstaff" target="_blank">http://www.international.duke.edu/int_visa_class.html#clstaff</a>
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