An MD without an MD: GC while on F1

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pulos

Registered Users (C)
Hey guys!
I came to the US right after finishing Med School due to family obligations and since I didn't complete the health service obligations of my home country, they didn't give me my final MD degree. So there goes USMLE/residency!
Anyways, I entered the US a year ago on H4 and have been volunteering as a researcher eversince. Now I will be joining a biomedical PhD program in the coming fall and so will file for COS from H4 to F1.
Now the question is, my current supervisor is willing to file for an employment-based GC for me so that by the time my PhD is done, I will hopefully have my wrok-permit or GC at hand. Is it possible to have a GC case while on F1 status?
I know about the whole non-immigrational nature of F1, but I entered the US on H4 not F1, and I have no intention to leave the US in the coming years, so there is no need to F1 stamp/re-entry/etc...
Ah, by the way, my wife is doing her residency on H1 and we are looking for ways to conserve her H1 years. Do you think it is a reasonable option for me to go and check with my school international students office and ask them for a J1 for my PhD IF AND ONLY IF they ensure me that I won't have 2 yrs HRR? Then my wife can do her residency on J2 and save her H1... Is it possible?! (Damn it! Her residency salary will be twice as much as my PhD stipend..!)

Thanks,
Paul
 
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GC is for a future position. You can file for it. However at the time of FILING, you should have the degree/skills etc which the position requires. So if they file for you and the position requires a PHd, at the time of filing if you DO NOT have your phd, you can't be hired. Ask them to work on the job position so that it can be suitably tailored to what you already have at the time of filing...
Don't know about residency on J2...


pulos said:
Hey guys!
I came to the US right after finishing Med School due to family obligations and since I didn't complete the health service obligations of my home country, they didn't give me my final MD degree. So there goes USMLE/residency!
Anyways, I entered the US a year ago on H4 and have been volunteering as a researcher eversince. Now I will be joining a biomedical PhD program in the coming fall and so will file for COS from H4 to F1.
Now the question is, my current supervisor is willing to file for an employment-based GC for me so that by the time my PhD is done, I will hopefully have my wrok-permit or GC at hand. Is it possible to have a GC case while on F1 status?
I know about the whole non-immigrational nature of F1, but I entered the US on H4 not F1, and I have no intention to leave the US in the coming years, so there is no need to F1 stamp/re-entry/etc...
Ah, by the way, my wife is doing her residency on H1 and we are looking for ways to conserve her H1 years. Do you think it is a reasonable option for me to go and check with my school international students office and ask them for a J1 for my PhD IF AND ONLY IF they ensure me that I won't have 2 yrs HRR? Then my wife can do her residency on J2 and save her H1... Is it possible?! (Damn it! Her residency salary will be twice as much as my PhD stipend..!)

Thanks,
Paul
Click to expand...
 
Actually, there is a J1 without a HRR. If the university and not ECFMG sponsors the J1, and if it is carefully constructed, there is no risk of an HRR.
- can't be defined as medical education in any way or form
- job description doesn't fit on the 'skills list'
- no sponsorship by home country
 
hadron is correct. Just be careful.

If you change your status to J1 or F1, why would your wife has to change to any other status? Let her be on H1. And she can find a perspective employer now who is willing to file for her LC/I140 now and she and you might get GC soon after she finished residency.
 
though there is a technical clause, but in some cases it has back fired so think twice before plunging
best of luck
 
> I came to the US right after finishing Med School due to family
> obligations and since I didn't complete the health service obligations
> of my home country, they didn't give me my final MD degree. So
> there goes USMLE/residency!

Mhh, would there be any way to go back home for a year and to finish up your service requirement ?
In the long term (talking 35 years here), you will still be better off as an MD. As a PhD you have to be lucky or very good to make it to a 6 figure salary, as an MD you can expect this after your residency. And you can do USMLE 1+2 before you graduate medschool, you only need the diploma for the ECFMG certificate.

lalala is correct in that some people have been slapped with a HRR on J1 without realizing it. What happens is that the schools international office thinks that your job title is not on the skills list, when in fact it is. As a result they write on the DS2019 'no HRR'. 3 years down the line when you try to switch to H1, CIS gets an 'advisory opinion' from DOS and denies your COS based on that (bc it turns out that the international office made a mistake). In that case you still have the 'no objection' waiver opportunity, but that is a whole other can of worms.
 
Many thanks for all of your valuable inputs. You are all right. J1 is not a very safe path and I too think it doesn't worth the risk.
By the way, Hadron: I am fully aware of the misery of being a PhD versus the glory of being an MD in the US and I already did know it when I made my mind and decided to come to the US... The fact was, I went to Med school because I wanted to become a molecular biomedical researcher and that was the best way to do it in my country (there wasn't much of the science programs there). I also know that even if you want to do pure molecular research, having an MD gives you advantage in getting grants, etc but if I want to get my MD back, I have to return to my home country and spend at least 2-3 years at rural outposts treating diarhea (which I'm ok with) and worse, there won't be any guarantee for me to be able to return back to the US afterward. So, I'm quite determined to pursue the PhD path and say au dius to the fame, glory, and fortune of being a physician!

I will double check with my lawyer and we will try to have GC applications for myself (while on F1) and my wife as a physician. Thanks again!

Paul
 
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