whitelaw

What are the chances of a UK doctor getting a visa for the US are they in demand?

lonestargirl

To practice in the US you have to do residency there. To be eligible for residency you have to sit your USMLE exams and be certified by ECFMG. You apply for residencies through ERAS around September, interviews are in Nov - Dec and then you and the programs rank each other through NRMP and "The Match" is in the middle of March with positions starting July 1st. You are contractually bound to the program you match to. As a foreign medical graduate you will need above average board scores and you will also need a letter of recommendation from a US physician in the speciality you are applying to, if you are still in medical school and thinking about going to the US you should be trying to organise and summer rotation/observership so that you can get this letter.

Regarding visas, the alien physician J1 comes with a 2 year home residency rule that cannot be overturned by the standard wavier, you have to commit to 2-3 years of working in an underserved area to get around it (it's called the Conrad programme). Many people prefer a H1-B for this reason, generally the large competitive university programs don't do H1-Bs as they have an oversupply of applicants anyway. If you are already trained in a specialty it might help in convincing a programs to go down the H1-B route. There is no list of people who do H1-Bs you would have to ask the programmes directly.

lifehouse51

Hi, I'm not a foreign medical graduate, and attended med school in the U.S. But I'm a foreign national (Australian), so face similar hurdles as a foreign med grad when it came to residency application. It pretty much make things harder, and some of the most competitive specialties are out of the option. Foreign medical graduates usually go for specialties like Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology, general surgery. In contrast, specialties like Dermatology, opthalmology, Plastic Surgery, orthopedics are almost all out of the option.

If you're interested in moving to the U.S. as a foreign med graduate, there's A LOT of research you need to do, and what's posted above is a very brief outline of the process. When you have specific questions, then others can answer them for you.

lifehouse51

Also like to add that for visa issues, it's best to *negotiate* with the places you end up interviewing at, and see what they sponsor. What they post on their web site may be different when you talk to them in person. There are usually 2 types (or 3 types) of visas that can be used:

H1-B: The more favorable type of visa, however, there's a max duration of 6 years at a time, meaning that unless you have a permanent residency petition pending, you'll have to leave the U.S. for a year before becoming eligible for another H1-B. Since residency/fellowship progams DON'T in general sponsor permanent residency, this may create a bit problem down the line.

E-3: Only available for Australian Citizens, this is the one I'm using. Residency Programs are usually not familiar with it, so you have to know everything yourself well and tell the residency programs what's going on. Similar to H1-B but cheaper, simpler in application

J-1: Lease favorable visa type, but easy to get residency programs to sponsor. You'll be subject to 2 years residence requirement in your home country after your residency program ends. This makes it very unfavorable because it delays your career in the U.S. It's hard to get a waiver nowadays, but an option for waiver will be signing a contract to work in an underserved area for 3 years in a primary care specialty.

S Folinsky

A history lesson if you will:

The current US Immigration Law is "The Immigration & Nationality Act of 1952, as amended." A description can be found at this link. Among the immigration cogniscenti the INA is often referred to just as the Act.

As for the ease in interpreting US Immigration Law, this link might be of interest. On March 31, 2010, the Supreme Court noted in Padilla v Kentucky discussed the ease that lawyers have in understanding the INA -- with a historical discussion.

So, we are under the 1952 Act. The grounds of "exclusion" [now "inadmissiblity"] have always been found at section 212(a). In 1990, section 212(a) was reorganized -- however, before that time, 212(a) just listed the grounds of exclusion in numerical order from 212(a)(1) to 212(a)(34). Whenever a totally new ground of exclusion was added to 212(a), it would go at the end of the list. So, it was possible to ascertain in a rough fashion the order of the additions.

As of 1990, 212(a)(32) added physicians to the list of undesirable aliens if they were coming to the US to practice medicine. A few years later, Nazi war criminals were added to the list at 212(a)(33). 212(a)(34) added aliens who had used diplomatic immunity to escape US jurisdiction over a serious criminal offense.

I find this interesting.

lifehouse51

I'd say in general, besides the immigration side of things, the whole residency program system is set up in a way that's not neccessarily friendly to foreign medical graduates and foreign nationals. Everyone is required to pass the 4 steps USMLE (1,2 CK, 2 CS, 3) and some are required to have ECFMG certifcations. Then everyone has to do residency training in the U.S., regardless of what license, training you've done outside of the U.S. in the past. A lot of well-established physicians who tried to come to the U.S. had hard time passing the USMLE because they've been so removed from med school, and a hard time going through the intense residency training again because they did that a long time ago.

Bob

The missus worked with someone who couldn't be bothered with the hassle, went and worked in a bank instead, was a brain surgeon back in Russia but worked in France or Germany before coming to the US. He said he figured he was to old to be doing all that residency rubbish just to practice for a few more years.

He came here via marriage so visa wasn't a issue for him though.

lifehouse51

Yep, Neurosurgery is 5 or 7 years of Residency Training I believe, and you're treated like a dog, except that dogs don't work that hard and don't have to illegally go over the 80 hours/week regulaton and still lie on the hour log. A former classmate of mine's going through that right now.

S Folinsky

At least Congress gave an "out" for FMG's to immigrate. Later when Nazi's and criminals who evaded prosecution were added, Congress did not give the "out."

S Folinsky

Comment: The medical visa "mavens" of the immigration bar are: James David Acoba, Carl Shusterman and Stephen Yale-Loher.

lifehouse51

Folinsky, thanks for the info, though I think currently I'm too poor to afford any attorney. I just hope the DIY for E-3 should be straight forward enough...I'll worry about EB-2 later on.

Shusterman and I went to the same school! (Went to UCLA Medical School)

S Folinsky

Carl and I are nursery school classmates.

Ozzidoc

Two other resources which may be of use to you:

www.doctors.net.uk
Go to the Brits Abroad Exchange forum there. Several people there have done what you want to do.

www.studentdoctor.net
Several different forums there will be of interest.

lonestargirl

It can be hard to get a handle on your chances of getting a spot as the stats from NRMP include all foreign trained graduates and they span a wide range of abilites and skills, from those trained in known UK/Irish schools to non-native english speakers from obscure schools, overall about 30% of foreign applicants matched this year.

I'm a J2 spouse of an Irish citizen Irish educated doctor who matched in general surgery in a university program after initially taking a 1-year prelim position. The one advantage of going the J1 route is that a J2 spouse can get an EAD and work.

Ozzidoc

The true "match" rate is higher, as your figure excludes pre-matches.