J1 Visa: 2 year home country vs 3 year waiver in the US

[LatinDoctor]

After finishing training on a J1 visa, there are two options > Returning to your home country for 2 years or doing a 3-year waiver in the US. I have only heard about people doing the waiver here in the US, but I have not met anyone or heard about anyone going to their country for two years and coming back. Does anyone have any insight on this? Would it be more difficult to find a job if you complete the 2 year waiver in your country and come back vs staying here? I don't know why nobody goes to their country for two years, where many have family and friends and is 2 vs 3 years here in an underserved area by yourself.

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[NotAProgDirector]

J1 waiver jobs can be much better than you expect. Some academic centers offer them. Any position at a VA would qualify. They are not all in the middle of nowhere, all by yourself.

Most people want waivers because they want to start the process of settling down. And the salary here is usually much better than elsewhere.

 

[LatinDoctor]

That is true, thanks for sharing.
Do you happen to know if it is harder to find a job here if you go to your country for 2 years? Also, if you go unmatched for fellowship, is it too late to find waiver positions in December?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If you go home for the 2 year HRR, when you return you'll still need a work visa. It won't be easy getting an H de novo. It depends on which country you're in, and what you're doing there.

If you don't match, your options will be to try to find a waiver job (not too late but definitely need to start looking ASAP), vs a chief year on a J, vs a one year fellowship on a J.

 

[mvenus929]

One of my colleagues did residency on a J1, went back to their home country and practiced for 2 years, came back to the US for fellowship on a J1 and got a waiver job after fellowship.

 

[jacobus1919]

After finishing training on a J1 visa, there are two options > Returning to your home country for 2 years or doing a 3-year waiver in the US. I have only heard about people doing the waiver here in the US, but I have not met anyone or heard about anyone going to their country for two years and coming back. Does anyone have any insight on this? Would it be more difficult to find a job if you complete the 2 year waiver in your country and come back vs staying here? I don't know why nobody goes to their country for two years, where many have family and friends and is 2 vs 3 years here in an underserved area by yourself.

Honestly, if you want to go home and practice in your home country there is no problem to that. But if you want to continue with your life here practice here and in the future settle here in the US then the 3 year waiver for home residency is the way to go. And depending on your specialty its sort of an easy thing to get, but your employer does all the grunt work for you though. As for job finding, keep in mind; if you are in the US its pretty much an everyday thing to get phone calls or emails from recruiters for a job opening as a physician here, again this highly depends on your specialty. It's not that hard to find a job while in another country as a physician but it's way easier for you to get a job and have all the paper work while you are local. For example, its easier for you to get your visa status changed while in the US vs doing the consular processing part. But the decision is for you to make. The problem with J1 is you will need to get a waiver job be under H1B for 3 years then you can think about getting permanent residency but if you go home for 2 years then come back after the 2 years you are not obliged to do a 3 year waiver job, and you can jump directly to permanent residency but that takes time depending on your country of birth.

Hope that helped

 

[LatinDoctor]

Honestly, if you want to go home and practice in your home country there is no problem to that. But if you want to continue with your life here practice here and in the future settle here in the US then the 3 year waiver for home residency is the way to go. And depending on your specialty its sort of an easy thing to get, but your employer does all the grunt work for you though. As for job finding, keep in mind; if you are in the US its pretty much an everyday thing to get phone calls or emails from recruiters for a job opening as a physician here, again this highly depends on your specialty. It's not that hard to find a job while in another country as a physician but it's way easier for you to get a job and have all the paper work while you are local. For example, its easier for you to get your visa status changed while in the US vs doing the consular processing part. But the decision is for you to make. The problem with J1 is you will need to get a waiver job be under H1B for 3 years then you can think about getting permanent residency but if you go home for 2 years then come back after the 2 years you are not obliged to do a 3 year waiver job, and you can jump directly to permanent residency but that takes time depending on your country of birth.

Hope that helped

Thank you so much for the detailed response, extremely helpful!