Visa question

[Anfield rd]

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What visa do the foreign medical graduates obtain from the residency programs when they start pathology in the US? Is it J-1 of H1B?

 

[JPR22]

Generally, it's the J1, for pathology at least.

 

[Gorlum]

What visa do the foreign medical graduates obtain from the residency programs when they start pathology in the US? Is it J-1 of H1B?

A type of a visa has no correlation with a specialty. It depends on a policy of a hospital. J1 is more prevalent than H1B. If you consider only H1B - tough.

 

[Anfield rd]

A type of a visa has no correlation with a specialty. It depends on a policy of a hospital. J1 is more prevalent than H1B. If you consider only H1B - tough.

If H1B is better than J1, why don't hospitals only offer H1B?

 

[JPR22]

H1B costs alot of $, as well as a ton of paperwork. J1 is easy, and cheap.

 

[lifehouse51]

For H1B, the employer's legal representatives have to do a lot more paperwork to get you sponsored. And of course the $$ involved may be too much for a hospital.

For J-1, the burden of paperwork essentially falls on the ECFMG instead. And the applicant has to pay different fees to ECFMG as well. It's an easier visa to get.

The biggest disadvantage of J-1 is of course the 2 years foreign residence requirement after residency, that is hard to waive. However, spouses of J-1 get J-2 visas and they are allowed to work. Spouses of H1-B get H-4 visas, and are NOT allowed to work.

 

[isaishere]

For H1B, the employer's legal representatives have to do a lot more paperwork to get you sponsored. And of course the $$ involved may be too much for a hospital.

For J-1, the burden of paperwork essentially falls on the ECFMG instead. And the applicant has to pay different fees to ECFMG as well. It's an easier visa to get.

The biggest disadvantage of J-1 is of course the 2 years foreign residence requirement after residency, that is hard to waive. However, spouses of J-1 get J-2 visas and they are allowed to work. Spouses of H1-B get H-4 visas, and are NOT allowed to work.

What do you need ti get a H1-b? I mean besides all the Steps (including s3) and ecfmg requirements, Or is it just that you get matched in a program that sponsors it?

 

[Gorlum]

The biggest disadvantage of J-1 is of course the 2 years foreign residence requirement after residency, that is hard to waive.

I would say it's impossible to waive in pathology. There were two attendings in the history of my program who managed to switch to O-visa after J1 (O- outstanding), which was good for 3 years. But it did not exempt 'em from 2yhrr. As a result, one returned to her home country and another moved to Canada for good. Kids born in the US or spouses on green card/with citizenship do not help to get a waiver. In any over specialty it's not a problem at all.

 

[Gorlum]

Or is it just that you get matched in a program that sponsors it?

That's correct.

 

[Gorlum]

For J-1, the burden of paperwork essentially falls on the ECFMG instead. And the applicant has to pay different fees to ECFMG as well. It's an easier visa to get.

Actually, most of the paperwork is done by an applicant. ECFMG just issues a final form (DS-2019), which is your legal stay in the US. We pay 250 usd for this piece of paper yearly. (Used to be 200). Plus, a SEVIS fee - "Big brother" watches us at our expense🙂. Overall, J1 is better than H1B if you don't want to stay in the US. Also, the majority of fellowships accept J1 only.

 

[lifehouse51]

What do you need ti get a H1-b? I mean besides all the Steps (including s3) and ecfmg requirements, Or is it just that you get matched in a program that sponsors it?

Some places have firm policies to only accept J-1 sponsorship from ECFMG. Sometimes this is the hospital's policy that the residecy program can't do anything about. Other times it's possible to negotiate visa policy with the specific program. I suggest apply to programs you're interested in, regardless of visa sponsorship, then negotiate with the places you interview at. Sometimes you'll get things different from what is posted on their websites.

As for my previous comment about burden of paperwork on ECFMG, I guess I meant it in the sense that ECFMG handles most of the stuff rather than the residency program itself. ECFMG will still need the applicant to fill out forms, get letters, etc.

The 2 Year Foreign residence requirement is also hard to waive for Pathology because most of the waiver jobs are in primary care fields. The only other viable ways I see that requirement waived are by claiming extreme hardship to leave the U.S. or political asylum, etc.

 

[Anfield rd]

For H1B, the employer's legal representatives have to do a lot more paperwork to get you sponsored. And of course the $$ involved may be too much for a hospital.

For J-1, the burden of paperwork essentially falls on the ECFMG instead. And the applicant has to pay different fees to ECFMG as well. It's an easier visa to get.

The biggest disadvantage of J-1 is of course the 2 years foreign residence requirement after residency, that is hard to waive. However, spouses of J-1 get J-2 visas and they are allowed to work. Spouses of H1-B get H-4 visas, and are NOT allowed to work.

Is it LEGAL for hospital to offer H1B visa? How can you verify that?

 

[lifehouse51]

Is it LEGAL for hospital to offer H1B visa? How can you verify that?

I don't know what you mean by "Legal". To offer H1-B, the hospital essentially has to prove via petitions to the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service) and the Dept of Labor that it has tried searching for candidates that are U.S. citizens and PR, but couldn't find a better candidate than the foreign citizen. THe hospital also has to prove that it is paying the prevailing wage to the foreign citizen. All these don't seem to be a problem to satisfy for residency spots, because the spots ARE indeed advertised nationally, and the salary is set and is the same for everyone in the same PGY level.

H1-B is used for jobs that require a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent working experience. A Doctor of Medicine degree definitely exceeds that.

If a residency program tells you that it will sponsor H1-B, chances are it has done so in the past and has had no problem, so you shouldn't be concerned. Your concern should be whether they'll be willing to sponsor it, because most don't.

 

[shehab3]

I heard that in order to stay in the states for a job after the maximum 6 years period of H1b visa, you need to find a job and start the paperwork process a year and a half in advance (before the maximum of 6 years). That means that if you spend 4 years in residency, and then 2 years in fellowship (that's 6 years), you need to find a job that will sponser a green card for you a year and a half in advance which will be just 6 months into your first year of fellowship. Does anyone know whether that is true or not?

 

[lifehouse51]

I heard that in order to stay in the states for a job after the maximum 6 years period of H1b visa, you need to find a job and start the paperwork process a year and a half in advance (before the maximum of 6 years). That means that if you spend 4 years in residency, and then 2 years in fellowship (that's 6 years), you need to find a job that will sponser a green card for you a year and a half in advance which will be just 6 months into your first year of fellowship. Does anyone know whether that is true or not?

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1-B#Duration_of_stay