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:
If you are thinking of applying for an extension to your tourist visa stay permit, you will need to provide a reason to the USCIS. You might think you have a good reason, but sometimes you need a little more.
Or, you may need to present the reason a little differently.
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.
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).
When an international medical graduate decides to apply for a residency in the USA, he is basically making a conscious decision to spend the next several months (sometimes, years) of his life running on a treadmill of the application process, reading a gazillion books at the same time. Decisions and strategies constantly occupy some lobe of the frontal cortex at all times.
One of several decisions the IMG must make is which visa to apply for – J1 or H1B? Which visa is better – J1 or H1? Arriving at the answer can be a no-brainer for some and extremely difficult for others.
When it comes to taking USMLE, one of the big stumbling blocks most foreign medical graduates face is that of ethics, or more specifically, medical ethics. Many, if not most, FMGs struggle when it comes to questions about ethics. These questions typically would present a scenario and ask you, as the doctor in that situation, to make a decision. That is where many FMGs trip up.
Does that mean FMGs are unethical? The answer to that must be one the most unequivocal NO’s in my life, ever. Then why is it that many FMGs struggle and squirm when faced with questions about medical ethics?
Who is the foriegn / international medical graduates’ chief competition? Is it the American Graduate? or the other international medical graduates?
Doing well on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is very important, obviously! In applying for residency in the USA, an IMG is up against the American graduates as well as other IMGs.
Now that you know the stiff competition you are up against, it’s time to start preparing for USMLE. As always, information is critical! You need to know:
If you are thinking about doing a residency in the USA, you must’ve given it a long, hard thought by now. The most important first step in the process is gathering information, which is why you are on this blog !
Know the process and deadlines beforehand. Be very very aware of the deadlines because getting delayed in the process – even a little – can severely effect your application. Residency programs get hundreds or thousands of applications each year and if you missed deadlines, you better have a sparkling, blindlingly brilliant CV for you to call and ask them to review your (missed) application.
You are an international medical graduate, i.e. IMG (or Foreign Medical Graduate?) and you would like to get a residency in the USA. Very good intention! But where do you begin?
The process, to summarize, consists of the following:
