US citizenship required for residency?

[Guest dopetown]

Hi,

 

I'm thinking about applying to med schools in the Caribbeans, where I can do clinical rotations and residency in the states.

 

How important is it to have a US citizenship to apply to residency programs in the states after I graduate?

 

How long do I have to be a permanent resident in order to obtain citizenship?

[Guest viswaka]

You don't need to be a US citizen or a permanent resident to apply for residency.

 

If you graduate from a US medical school, citizenship does not matter when applying for residency programs (for most of them). But as a foreigner, you will have to deal with the international office at the school to get the appropriate visa (J1 or H1b).

 

If you graduate from a foreign medical school then again, irrespective of your citizenship, you are treated on par with US citizen or permanent resident applicants from foreign medical schools (US IMGs as they are called and you will be just an IMG (IMG= International Medical Graduate)). But you will have to deal with visas as a foreigner.

 

I think you need to live in the US for five years after becoming a permanent resident to be eligible for US citizenship. Check this site for more information: http://www.uscis.gov

[Guest pyhw]

Look around this website for a posting on this topic. There was an extensive article written on this topic a while ago.

 

There is a good (H1B) and a @#%$ (J1) visa. Check up on it.