Russelmd Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 just wondering... say if one gets accepted to an American med school (as a Canadian citizen) then chooses to do a residency (+fellowships) in the states.. is it possible to get started on the process of obtaining a green card or some equivalent (citizenship) such that we wouldn't need visa sponsorship (H1b) from residency programs? .. has anyone had similar experiences that they would care to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 You want an H1-B visa, forget the J-1. You need to impress on your electives and get good board scores. It will not be a problem unless you are going for a competitive specialty at a competitive program - then it will be getting tough. I strongly consider you to consult SDN and go to the canada subforum. AProgDirector is actually a program director for IM residency and has advice better than what anyone can offer you on p101. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madz25 Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 doesn't answer your green card question but the best thread on this forum that discusses the visa issue thus far: http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28179 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Wong Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I am a Canadian citizen currently doing radiology residency in the US on a J-1 visa. I know of at least one other Canadian who is doing a radiology residency, who married an American citizen during US med school, and subsequently got his green card before his residency started. If you do med school in the US, you can get something called the OPT extension, which is a 1 year extension of the F1 visa you need to attend med school. This allows you to do your PGY-1 year without either a J-1 visa, or an H1B visa. In order to continue into your PGY-2 year, you would then need to get one of the above visas, or somehow get a green card (typically by marrying a US citizen). This avoids the problem in the timeline of getting an H1B visa in time, because you can't apply for Step 3 until after you graduate medical school, and you can't apply for an H1B visa to start July 1 until you have passed your Step 3. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest begaster Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 So Ian, would it be fair to say that the process is fairly streamlined and you're taken care of as a Canadian resident working in the States? Or is it an absolute nightmare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Ian would know ... I didn't think he would be around..I AM SO SORRY GREAT ONE (about no one else being as good as Aprogdirector) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippie Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 This avoids the problem in the timeline of getting an H1B visa in time, because you can't apply for Step 3 until after you graduate medical school, and you can't apply for an H1B visa to start July 1 until you have passed your Step 3. Ian Step 3 is not a requirement if you are a US medical graduate since you will be licensed in the state you studied in at the moment you graduate. I used to think step 3 was compulsory for everyone until some guy on SDN cleared this for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Wong Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 This is a useful link to an SDN thread discussing H1B visas, with some Canadian content. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450230 It looks like you are correct that Step 3 is not required for the H1B visa if you are a US graduate. However, that functionally is not as important, given that for your PGY-1 year, you will be using the OPT extension of your F-1 student visa; you won't need to use the H1B visa until your PGY-2 year. Since it is possible to take Step 3 during (or even before) your internship year, by registering with one of the states that doesn't require you to have internship/residency experience, such as California, you can get Step 3 out of the way before the end of your PGY-1 year. I would recommend this, as Step 3 is a very general exam, that you are actually probably best prepared for just after you finish medical school. Every year, we have a radiology resident or two in my program who have put off Step 3, and find themselves scrambling to remember all the general non-radiology minutiae that they've never used since medical school. Stuff like: immunization schedules, the appearance of molluscum contagiosum, appropriate time to start screening of things like prostate cancer or colon cancer, etc. The other factor is that you may not necessarily be able to get an H1B visa, depending on the competitiveness of the specialty that you are seeking. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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