Guest dopetown Posted October 27, 2005 Report Share Posted October 27, 2005 Hi, I'm interested in attending medical school in the Caribbeans. I know that coming back to Canada would be very difficult, so I'm thinking about doing residency in the States. I read a bit on the NRMP website, but I'm still not sure how difficult it will be if I apply as a Canadian citizen. Could someone be so kind as to shed somel light on this issue? I dug up a few threads from these forums, but didn't find anything helpful. The NRMP website said "non-US citizens should inquire about visas accepted by the institution." I take it there are fewer schools that accept visas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Here's a thread that should answer the majority of your questions. p090.ezboard.com/fpremed1...=201.topic Simply put, as a Canadian citizen, you need a visa in order to do a US residency; without one, you cannot reside in the US for the purposes of residency training, nor get a Social Security Number so that you can get paid/pay taxes/apply for your state medical license, etc. Many programs (but not all) sponsor a J-1 visa, which requires you to come back to Canada for a minimum of 2 years following residency or fellowship (in an effort to prevent you from immediately settling into a job in the US upon graduation). Getting the J-1 visa takes some effort on the program's behalf, so if they can take an equally-qualified US citizen, they are unlikely to be interested in volunteering themselves for extra headache of getting you your visa. A few programs sponsor an H1B visa, which allows you to stay in the US following residency or fellowship, and in time, allows you to apply for a green card, or permanent US resident status. After a certain number of years on a green card, you are eligible to apply for US citizenship. Getting the H1B visa takes a significant amount of effort on the program's behalf, and as a result, this visa is usually not offered unless the program is using it as an incentive to recruit IMG's (without whom, the program might not successfully fill in the match). From the applicant's point of view, getting the H1B visa is the best. From the program's point of view, not having to deal with visas at all is the best, but a J-1 visa is manageable. As programs get more competitive, they are less likely to offer H1B visa and J1 visas. If you matched into a relatively non-competitive specialty in the US like Family Medicine, you would probably have little difficulty finding programs willing to sponsor you for an H1B visa. On the other hand, if you have your heart set on Dermatology, you are doubly-disadvantaged by the nature of #1 being an IMG, and #2 requiring the program to go through the hassles of getting you a visa. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dopetown Posted October 28, 2005 Report Share Posted October 28, 2005 Thanks Ian. That clears it up for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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