When to start looking for J1 waiver job

Sunday, September 4, 2011 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

Anyone on a J1 visa has this simple question…when should I start looking for a J1 waiver job?

In general, the search for J1 waiver follows the timeframe similar to fellowship search. If you are in a 3-year residency (or fellowship) program, you should start looking as soon as you enter year 2. You should aim to line up interviews by the middle of year 2 which would translate to October-February period of year 2. Try to seal the deal (i.e.) sign the contract by June at the latest – i.e. end of year 2.

The whole point of this exercise is to have your J1 waiver application packet ready to be filed by August. In case you missed it, the packet needs to be ready to be filed by August.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • J1 • Residency • Waiver
 
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How to find J1 waiver jobs

Sunday, January 9, 2011 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

How to find a J1 waiver job!!! This can be a lengthy topic to deal with, so we’ll break it up into short manageable segments. This following post is the first such post. The plan is to summarize everything in the final post sometime in the future. But we’re quite well known to not always stick to the plan! Onward, however…

Finding a J1 waiver job can be a long drawn out affair. On the other hand, it can be a very quick experience. It all depends on what your requirements from the waiver job are. It also depends on luck, of course.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • J1 • Residency • Waiver
 
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Visa for residency : J1

Monday, December 14, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

There’s J1 for residency and J1 for research. This post refers to the J1 visa as it applies to an international medical graduate (IMG) seeking a residency program. For residency J1, an IMG needs to meet certain criteria. Details can be found on the ECFMG site. But briefly, an IMG must have:

  • passed USMLE steps 1, 2CK and 2CS. (Step 3 is not required for J1 visa.)
  • ECFMG certificate.
  • a contract or letter of offer from the residency program.
  • and, “Statement of Need” from Ministry of Health or equivalent.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • J1 • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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The J1 research visa

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

This post is for those foreign / international medical graduates who are considering applying for a J1 ‘research’ visa, or came to the United States as research scholars on J1 visa and now want to switch to a residency program on the same visa.

Let’s get one major issue out of the way at the very outset – there is no J1 research visa. There’s just the J1 visa. Period. (waiting for the howls of protest to die down!)

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • J1 • Residency • Visa
 
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Moonlighting for residents and IMGs on H1B or J1 visa

Saturday, September 12, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

Here is a succinct definition of moonlighting:

to work at an additional job after one’s regular, full-time employment, as at night.

Many institutions in a typical city need round-the-clock physician coverage but don’t have residency programs and find it too expensive to hire full-time physicians to provide such coverage. Such institutions would typically include hospitals, nursing homes etc. These places often find it financially more viable to hire residents or fellows to cover shifts during nights or weekends. These residents are “moonlighting”. It is a well established and acceptable practice, provided some rules and regulations are adhered to.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: H1 • International Medical Graduates • J1 • Moonlighting • Residency • Visa
 
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Visa for residency : H1B, employment and the ‘green card’

Saturday, September 12, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

The most critical difference between H1B and J1 visas remains the issue of jobs and applying for green card. On a J1 visa, at the end of your residency / fellowship training, you must either, return to the country of last legal permanent residence for 2 years, or do a “waiver” job typically in a medically underserved area. You must do one of these things before you can apply for a green card, and that too via an H1B visa! (This aspect of J1 will be explored in a seperate post – coming soon).

On the H1B visa however, you are free to apply for green card at the end of your residency. You are also free to seek jobs at “regular” places.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: H1 • International Medical Graduates • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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Visa for residency : H1B and fellowships

Saturday, September 12, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

It is debatable whether getting a fellowship on H1B visa is any more difficult than on J1. While it is widely acknowledged that people on J1 visa experience little or no difficulty moving on to fellowship training after residency, some folks on H1 can find the going a bit tougher.

Most big, university programs have no issues when it comes to sponsoring visas. Programs at large universities are looking for excellent candidates and they don’t care about visa issues in general – they have the resources, both human and financial. If they find a great candidate on J1, they’d take him. Ditto for H1B.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: H1 • International Medical Graduates • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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Visa for residency : H1B

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

The H1B visa is issued to “temporary workers” and falls under the nonimmigrant visa category. A lot of information technology folks come to the US on H1B visa and so do a lot of foreign / international medical graduates. Let’s look at how an H1B visa applies to an IMG seeking residency in the United States.

According the Department of State:

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, Residency, Visa
Tagged with: H1 • International Medical Graduates • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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How to ‘extend’ tourist visa?

Thursday, September 3, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

If you came to the United States on a B2 (pleasure) tourist visa for USMLE Step 2CS and/or residency interviews, you should pay attention at the immigration desk at the airport as described here. If however, you were busy admiring the surroundings and the officer stamped your I-94 with a two month stay, you might find yourself in a bit of time crunch. You need about four months to do the Step 2 CS and the interviews you say!

Well, you need to extend your stay in the United States then, isn’t it? And here, in short, is how to extend your tourist visa or, to be more accurate, your stay in the United States.

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, USMLE, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • Interview • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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Interviewing for residency – at the airport!

Monday, August 31, 2009 | By Peculiar Poster, MD

Your first interview in the entire residency process really occurs as soon as you first land in the USA – at the airport!

That’s the interview with the immigration officer. It can have a profound effect on your interviews in the USA especially if you are also planning on taking Step 2CS during the same trip (that’s the most economical strategy as described here).

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Categories: International Medical Graduates, USMLE, Visa
Tagged with: International Medical Graduates • Interview • Residency • USMLE • Visa
 
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