Psychiatry and H1B

[ZucattiManicotti]

Hello everyone.

I am a Canadian that may or may not be attending a USDO school this fall (financial things I need to figure out).

In the event that I do.... I am primarily interested in Psychiatry (have been looking into Clinical Psychology if medical school does not pan out...)

However I have two disadvantages, if I attend a US school.

- DO + Canadian.

I was wondering are H1b visas common in Psychiatry vs other areas where you find them like family med?

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[PistolPete]

Yes many programs sponsor H1b visas (though most probably dont). Many places that say they don't actually will do if they want you enough, though as a DO student you would probably be less likely to fall into that category. It's easier if you go do medical school in the US vs if you were an IMG. You would then do your med school on an F1 visa and do intern year on an OPT. You need to do step 3 and have graduated med school to get an H1 visa which you would for for your PGY2.

The main issue of course is that the status of the H1b visa has a massive question mark over its head. We have no idea whether the program will continue to exist, or whether residents would be eligible for it (there is talk of it only being available to those making 6 figure salaries etc). Currently premium processing has been suspended meaning residents who were planning start on H1b visas are no longer able to and have gone the J1 route.

The whole $100,000 minimum salary thing only applied to H1b-dependent companies, which means companies that hire over 15% of their workers on H1b, which would not apply to most academic medical centers.

I don't see the H1b going away, although it may change somewhat, and the change will be slow.

In short, yes, OP, you can get an H1b being a Canadian DO graduate. This would be much more difficult if you went to med school outside the US/Canada.