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Med School In Canada Or The Us?


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Can you take a research 4th year at UofC and then apply to US neurosurg? That way, you can get the step 3 out of the way and have enough time to get an H1B. Huge risk of course because you are sitting out a year.

 

 

That would be ideal. not sure though - I haven't seen or read of that possibility at Calgary. Supposedly you can do an enrichment year at McMaster though. So, maybe?

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  • 1 year later...

"I can (1) apply to the green card lottery [born outside of Canada] "

 

What do you mean by this? As an FYI the green card lottery, I thought was defunct as of 2016? Even if it's not...its still an extremely slim chance even if you are born outside of Canada etc. 

 

But since you bring up being born outside of Canada, does that mean you have another citizenship other than Canada? Because if so, you may be able to get that country to sponsor your J1 SON..most countries other than Canada don't have the caps and all that. Just random thoughts to throw into the commentary.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread but i was just curious about this.

I'm going to a DO school this fall, and the statement of need issue is a concern to me. I do hold another citizenship (a south Asian country) but i didn't really think that'd come in handy.

When it comes to applying for residencies, do you recommend me applying to hospitals that are H1B friendly or J1 friendly? I know the cons associated with J1 (no US citizenship and i have to come back here for 2 years) but wouldn't applying to J1 friendly spots increase my chances of getting the specialty of my choice since it's more abundant?

I guess i don't really have a specific question. Trying to figure out if i could use my other citizenship to my advantage.

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  • 9 months later...
On 5/30/2017 at 2:43 AM, prehealth101 said:

 

Sorry to revive an old thread but i was just curious about this.

I'm going to a DO school this fall, and the statement of need issue is a concern to me. I do hold another citizenship (a south Asian country) but i didn't really think that'd come in handy.

When it comes to applying for residencies, do you recommend me applying to hospitals that are H1B friendly or J1 friendly? I know the cons associated with J1 (no US citizenship and i have to come back here for 2 years) but wouldn't applying to J1 friendly spots increase my chances of getting the specialty of my choice since it's more abundant?

I guess i don't really have a specific question. Trying to figure out if i could use my other citizenship to my advantage.

The problem is if you apply for a residency and then can't get the VISA for that, it's going to really anger the program and you may even be at potential breach of the contract (although I'm speculating here). Canada has been incredibly resistant to issuing J1s for specialties that Canada is not in need of, despite that many individuals are wanting to use this as a route to end up practicing in the US and not return to Canada. I wish they would change this policy because it's outdated and unnecessary difficulty for Canadians.

My guess is as a DO you may have additional issues in getting a J1 from Canada, but I'm not sure on this either - maybe someone who's done this can comment.

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23 hours ago, bearpuppy said:

The problem is if you apply for a residency and then can't get the VISA for that, it's going to really anger the program and you may even be at potential breach of the contract (although I'm speculating here). Canada has been incredibly resistant to issuing J1s for specialties that Canada is not in need of, despite that many individuals are wanting to use this as a route to end up practicing in the US and not return to Canada. I wish they would change this policy because it's outdated and unnecessary difficulty for Canadians.

My guess is as a DO you may have additional issues in getting a J1 from Canada, but I'm not sure on this either - maybe someone who's done this can comment.

Any US MD or US DO grad has access to the F1-OPTI visa, so that if they unfortuantely do not get the SON for their J1, they can do PGY1 on this OPTI visa. Then they can re-apply for the SON J1(and hopefully get it, would be very statistically unlucky to not get it twice), or hopefully the program just offers H1B at that point, if it wasnt already on the table.

USMD and USDO have 100% no difference when it comes to visas, as long as you are going for an ACGME residency in the US, or a dually-accredited ACGME/AOA residency. With the merger happening, all the former AOA(DO) residencies will fall under the umbrella of the ACGME, so it will be even more of a non-issue. 

As a US graduate, you have a huge safety net with the OPTI to fall back on, that other grads do not have to fall back on. 

 

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On 5/29/2017 at 11:43 PM, prehealth101 said:

 

Sorry to revive an old thread but i was just curious about this.

I'm going to a DO school this fall, and the statement of need issue is a concern to me. I do hold another citizenship (a south Asian country) but i didn't really think that'd come in handy.

When it comes to applying for residencies, do you recommend me applying to hospitals that are H1B friendly or J1 friendly? I know the cons associated with J1 (no US citizenship and i have to come back here for 2 years) but wouldn't applying to J1 friendly spots increase my chances of getting the specialty of my choice since it's more abundant?

I guess i don't really have a specific question. Trying to figure out if i could use my other citizenship to my advantage.

Yes, figure out how to use your other citizenship for J1 purposes, and do it early. That way you can avoid Health canada's restrictions and do whatever residency you want and can achieve.  Most other countries for J1 do not impose restrictions via the statement of need process. 

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8 hours ago, JohnGrisham said:

Any US MD or US DO grad has access to the F1-OPTI visa, so that if they unfortuantely do not get the SON for their J1, they can do PGY1 on this OPTI visa. Then they can re-apply for the SON J1(and hopefully get it, would be very statistically unlucky to not get it twice), or hopefully the program just offers H1B at that point, if it wasnt already on the table.

USMD and USDO have 100% no difference when it comes to visas, as long as you are going for an ACGME residency in the US, or a dually-accredited ACGME/AOA residency. With the merger happening, all the former AOA(DO) residencies will fall under the umbrella of the ACGME, so it will be even more of a non-issue. 

As a US graduate, you have a huge safety net with the OPTI to fall back on, that other grads do not have to fall back on. 

 

 

I'm not sure you can do what you suggested (go OPT and then ask for an H1-B), but I don't know that for sure. I would think that programs might be pissed off if they didn't know they had to sponsor you on H1-B. I've also been told that residency programs have become very.... harsh.. during interviews, and that some students who are excellent candidates, graduating from US MD programs, have been pushed aside because they didn't have a green card. I was personally told of one such story by a dean at my school. He made some phone calls and it was rectified, but yeah.. it seems like you may not even get the opportunity to interview.

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On 3/15/2018 at 4:35 PM, bearpuppy said:

 

I'm not sure you can do what you suggested (go OPT and then ask for an H1-B), but I don't know that for sure. I would think that programs might be pissed off if they didn't know they had to sponsor you on H1-B. I've also been told that residency programs have become very.... harsh.. during interviews, and that some students who are excellent candidates, graduating from US MD programs, have been pushed aside because they didn't have a green card. I was personally told of one such story by a dean at my school. He made some phone calls and it was rectified, but yeah.. it seems like you may not even get the opportunity to interview.

More so meant that it gives the program another opportunity to possibly offer h1b if it means losing a resident they like. But if they dont offer it at all, then you would just do OPTI and then get the j1 the following year. And if that still didnt work out, on that rare chance, they would maybe reconsider offering the h1b.

Graduating USMDs being pushed aside is very unlikely, probably an applicant specific issue. When there's IMGs matching to programs, its very unlikely even the most mediocre USMD is going to be "pushed aside".

 

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  • 3 months later...

Not completely in the same vein as the visa conversation, but has anyone found clear statistics for US med graduates matching in Canada by specialty, or by program location? I've only come across one table on the CaRMS Data and Tables page that mentions the total number of applicants and matches.

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