J1 gap between residency and fellowship

[skyblue2000]

Currently in IM residency and accepted for fellowship at the end of my third year.

The time between my IM residency ending and fellowship orientation is 10 days. The fellowship program said they can start a week early but not 10 days and my residency is refusing to extend my contract by 3 days.

I was told I cannot have any gap between residency and fellowship - even a day. Anyone faced this issue before? What are my options?

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[NotAProgDirector]

This is a real problem. We have some of our fellowships that start a week or two into July, so that people finishing on June 30 have time to move. But for anyone on a visa, they cannot have any gap. Usually our program has decided to pay them for the gap, while they did nothing.

The only other solution I see is to take a 1 week LOA from your program, if they will let you. They would then not pay you for this one week, and extend your training by one week. No additional cost to your residency program, and would bridge the gap.