visas

[wonderwall]

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I'm wondering: if you get a J1 visa then after 3 years you have to go back to your home country, right?? Is there a way to change your J1 visa into an H1 visa or into a green card?? I think it's stupid to accept an IMG for a residency and then send him back for 2 years..

 

[mmed]

I'm wondering: if you get a J1 visa then after 3 years you have to go back to your home country, right?? Is there a way to change your J1 visa into an H1 visa or into a green card?? I think it's stupid to accept an IMG for a residency and then send him back for 2 years..

There are ways to change J1 to H or green card without the 2 year country. Explore USCIS and Department of State web sites to know more about it. The main idea is to get waiver from this requirement.

 

[wonderwall]

Thank you.. ;-)

 

[f_w]

There are essentially 3 options after you do a residency on a J1 visa:

- go back for 2 years

- work for the veterans administration (the goverment agency that provides healthcare to retired career soldiers or soldiers with service related injuries) for period of 3 years (VA waiver)

- work in a healthcare personel shortage area for 3 years (Conrad30, ARC, DRA waiver)

In addition, there are two more options which might or might not be applicable to an individual:

- if your home countries goverment is overthrown while you are in the US and you have to fear persecution based on your religion or political affiliation (e.g. being a Sunni in Iraq these days), you can get a waiver from the requirement to go home (persecution waiver)

- if one of your kids gets sick and you can only get the medical care in the US, you can get a waiver (hardship waiver)

- if you have some hardcore research experience and continue to do that research after residency, you can get a waiver based on that (HHS basic research waiver)

After obtaining any of those waivers (and serving out whatever time you are committed to), you can switch to a H1b visa or a greencard (typically you will be on a H1b during the period of service committment).

So, there are options to stay after a J1. Now, if you can avoid it alltogether (e.g. by doing a residency on H1b or by marrying a US citizen) it is certainly easier.

 

[mmed]

There are essentially 3 options after you do a residency on a J1 visa:

- if you have some hardcore research experience and continue to do that research after residency, you can get a waiver based on that (HHS basic research waiver)

f_w, how you do that. If you are on J it will be all done by your last day of residency or so. You suppose for example to have a commitment with a place to continue research or just request extension of your status for example to O visa. Thanks

 

[f_w]

You suppose for example to have a commitment with a place to continue research or just request extension of your status for example to O visa. Thanks

Most of those people will be on O1s until the waiver is approved. This is in a way the hardest waiver to get. Typically, it will be someone who stays on staff at his residency institution while on O1 and waits for the waiver to go through (50-50 chance). If the HHS waiver doesn't work out, people typically go for VA positions at some of the VAs hooked up to academic institutions (once you have a level of research involvement that allows you to go for a HHS waiver, it is typically rather frustrating to go for a primary care underserved job for 3 years).

 

[MightyShorty]

Hello, I've looked into the whole J-1 thing and would like to share a few things...

1. J-1 Waivers - marrying an American or having a child in America does NOT qualify for the waiver, unless you can prove that it will cause extreme harm to the American citizen. The idea is that when you applied for J-1, you know you need to leave for 2 years so you should have planned on it. Your spouse/child can leave with you and unfortunately, excuses like "my spouse will lose a great job, doesn't speak my native language, etc." don't cut it. If you want to claim medical hardship, you'll have to prove that your home country can't provide quality medical care for your spouse's/child's condition. In other words, it's hard to get. Also, the "no objection" from home country waiver does not apply to physicians.
2. In order to apply for H1B, you need to pass step 3. Most states also have a requirement of having 1 to 3 years (varies from state to state) of post graduate medical training before taking step 3.

The advise I got from my school's international office is that if you intend to stay in US, it's best to avoid J-1 completely. Getting that J-1 waiver can be extremely difficult. For those who studied in US med schools, get OPT for the first year and then try for H1B or get married while on OPT (assuming you're engaged already, of course. I'm not suggesting you get married for the sake of staying in US). For those in international med schools... sorry, I'm not sure if you can get H1B right away (I'm in US so I only looked into the former).

 

[f_w]

1. J-1 Waivers - marrying an American or having a child in America does NOT qualify for the waiver,

In and by itself it doesn't give you grounds for a waiver, unless your home country is in civil unrest and there would be risk of harm to a US citizen who was forced to go back.
Marriage however doesn't disqualify you from seeking a waiver through any of the regular avenues (Conrad30 program, veterans administration, delta regional authority, appalachian regional commission).

2. In order to apply for H1B, you need to pass step 3. Most states also have a requirement of having 1 to 3 years (varies from state to state) of post graduate medical training before taking step 3.

Several states (e.g. FL, CT and MD) allow you to sit for step3 without any prior GME. The result will be accepted by all other states.

The advise I got from my school's international office is that if you intend to stay in US, it's best to avoid J-1 completely. Getting that J-1 waiver can be extremely difficult.

Depends on your specialty. You can't be picky with geography, but I am not aware of anyone who couldn't get one in the end.

For those who studied in US med schools, get OPT for the first year and then try for H1B or get married while on OPT (assuming you're engaged already, of course. I'm not suggesting you get married for the sake of staying in US). For those in international med schools... sorry, I'm not sure if you can get H1B right away (I'm in US so I only looked into the former).

You can get an H1b. However the number of residency programs that sponsor h1b is limited.
Marrying a citizen during or shortly after medschool is (at least from a training and work permit aspect) certainly the preferable solution.