Hi Everybody,

Hope all is well. I am back with another round of questions to stimualte your trans-atlantic minds.

I will have a H1b soon, to start work on july 2010 as an Internal Medicine Resident (Junior Doc)

Q: When is the earliest I can apply for a GC? Is it as soon as I start work?
Q: Does anyone know if hospitals/universities sponser GC for their employed physicians?
Q: As a Physician can I petition my self?
Q: As a Brit is my process to get a GC quicker than others?
Q: As a Physician is my process to get a GC quicker than others?

Thanks a lot guys,

Axel99

The only one I know the answer to is this one....and it's no.

Rene

Many of your quesitons about the process are answered here: Green Card Through a Job
and here: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frv...etin_1360.html

Please do keep your immigration questions in the Immigration forum.

No



Yes, you must be sponsored for residency/green card. You do not file, they file for you. Not sure if your profession requires a labor certificate or not. If it does, that will add time to your wait.

Not that I am aware of for all three of those questions.

Hold your horses and see if you like it here

Your employer applies on your behalf. If they want to start the process the day you arrive, they can... but they'd be really stupid if they did that.


Some do... some don't. They aren't ever obligated to.


No... even as a non-physician you can't sponsor yourself.


No.


No.

Ian

Why would they be stupid to sponser my GC?

Because they don't know if you will "work out". It is expensive for them to sponsor you for a green card. Once you have the application in you get an employment authorization card and that entitles you to up and quit your job with them and work someplace else. If the money involved to upgrade your credentials and payment for immigration processing, filing for you immediately, might mean a loss of thousands of dollars.

Why are you so keen to get it immediately?

I think Ian may have been referring to the timeline "immediately".

Have you discussed PR sponsorship (green card) with your employer? They are not obligated to do this; the H-1B is a temporary worker visa.

I am joining a relatively new residency program. It is a training job to become qualified in internal medicine. My job is part service provision, but mainly I get an education in Medicine. In three years I will leave the program anyway to persue a further career. Whether it be in a hospital or specialised training.

I am eager to get GC/citizenship ASAP, as my fincee/wife will be accompyning me as a H4, and I know she cannot work. I am happy to support her, but she is eager to work, for financial and sanity reasons, and she can only legally do this after I get my GC and citizenship? right?

I don't know if there is any other way for her to get work whilst on a H4 or any other way. She has a beauty salon which she will be selling, and has all the qualificatuions in this area. She wants to eventually open another salon in the US, but what can we do in the mean time??

What can we do????

It's essentially an insurance policy. If you are on the visa you can't take any job you get offered, you have to be sponsored for another visa. They can also treat you however they like because they know it will be difficult for you to leave for another job leaving the only other option of leaving the country and go home. Plus it's costly and they don't know for sure if you are a numpty or not.

I know my hospital definitely sponsors some physicians for green cards, generally those who bring in a lot of money like surgeons. Many other more junior physicians are on H1B or J visas.

Not quite right. Part of the paperwork for getting the green card includes an application for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). So if your employer IS going to sponsor you and your wife for green cards, she can apply for her EAD at the time that paperwork is filed. No need to wait until you actually become a PR or get USC-ship.

Rene

You might want to google the terms "EB-2" and "EB-3" - the classifications of employment-based green card that are applicable. In general terms, you need employer sponsorship and a labor certification process to demonstrate that the employer was unable to find any qualified US applicants.

The EB-3 classification has a long backlog (but I believe you and your wife would be both be able to work once the application reached a certain point [edit: this is the EAD that Noorah is talking about]). UK citizens have it easier than Indian/Chinese applicants so far as the backlogs are concerned. Also as a physician, it's possible that the process can be expedited if you are prepared to work in an "underserved area".

It has to be said, H4 isn't great for the sanity...