Best option for Doctor couple
- Thread starter cyclone22
- Start date
Short answer is H1-B.
True. Furthermore, you can apply for a "couples match" so you both can land on the same residency. And you both are studying for the Step 1? Haha...that's pretty academically romantic 
Good luck!
ULTRON
Good luck!
ULTRON
Apologies for the long-winded answer. It actually comes in two parts: One is my 'street paralegal' take on the different visa combinations, the other one a bit of relationship advice.
So, here is the immigration part:
H1B OR NOT TO BE !
__________________
So, both of you want to have H1b visas. This will give each of you 6 years to either do a residency and fellowship, or a residency and a job (which gives both of you a green-card). So if spouse 1 has an H1b, does a 3 year residency, gets a job gets a greencard, spouse #2 can switch directly from residency into green-card. One snag with this approach is that many fellowships don't sponsor H1b, so you have to be prepared to hit the workforce for 2 years or so to get your GC and do a fellowship later (e.g. if you want to do cardiology, spending a year or two as a hospitalist can be very valuable experience and increase your chances of getting the fellowship of your choice)
But realistically, one of you will be stuck with a hospital that balks at forking over the money for an h1b. So, if you elect to make a deal with Mephisto and sell your soul to the J1 program, you have basically three options:
A.
spouse #1 on H1b (and free to seek immigration, no need to do waiver)
spouse #2 on J1
This will mean that spouse #1 has to be willing to move wherever spouse #2s waiver blows them. This can put a crimp in spouse #1s career (e.g. by also working in the boonies doing primary care rather than pursuing that NIH grant)
B.
spouse #1 on J1
spouse #2 on J2
Danger, trap. Spouse #2 will be in a difficult situation while spouse #1 is doing the waiver. H4 visa doesn't allow work or study. Own H1b is unattainable due to the HRR inherited from the J2. One member here managed to get an NIW approved during his residency for a future job, filed I485 for himself and his wife and that way got a work permit (EAD) for her. But this approach requires 17 consecutive miracles in order to work out.
The upside is that spouse #2 doesn't need a waiver job by his/her own right. Once spouse #1 serves out his/her waiver, spouse #2 is off the hook as well.
C.
spouse #1 on J1
spouse #2 on J1
On the front end, this is the easiest path, on the back end this can be a real bit$$. Both spouses need to find waiver jobs, and hopefully in some sort of geographic connection. Now, if you both dream of doing family practice, do your residency at the same community hospital and get hired by one of their rural outreach clinics as a husband and wife team, this CAN work out beautifully. More likely, one of you will do a fellowship and get a waiver in Nebraska while the other could work primary care in an underserved area on Manhattan Island.
All 4 options are doable and I know physician couples who have done them respectively (make a guess which one I did). All of these options require coordination and planning, which leads me to part two of the answer:
So, here comes the marital advice part:
You are a team and whatever decisions are to be made need to be made unanimously. Compromises will have to be made along every step of the way, but once the compromise is reached it will be the 'so speak you all' of your crew. One or the other will either not get the residency of their dreams, or the fellowship, or the job with great partnership potential. You need to keep the eyes on the ball, and the ball in this case is your '10 year plan'. Where do you want to stand 10 years from now ?
If you play this right, 10 years from now you will both work in the same place, live in a nice 4 bedroom house and have something like a mercedes GL and a beamer in your garage.
If you play this wrong, one of you will be back in your home country, a bitter divorce has eaten your earnings potential and due to your troubled private life, your performance at work has suffered.
Take your pick !
So, whatever you choose to do, do it together. Husband and wife teams can be highly successful in medicine and immigration matters. As long as you are on the same page every step of the way, good things will come to you.
So, here is the immigration part:
H1B OR NOT TO BE !
__________________
So, both of you want to have H1b visas. This will give each of you 6 years to either do a residency and fellowship, or a residency and a job (which gives both of you a green-card). So if spouse 1 has an H1b, does a 3 year residency, gets a job gets a greencard, spouse #2 can switch directly from residency into green-card. One snag with this approach is that many fellowships don't sponsor H1b, so you have to be prepared to hit the workforce for 2 years or so to get your GC and do a fellowship later (e.g. if you want to do cardiology, spending a year or two as a hospitalist can be very valuable experience and increase your chances of getting the fellowship of your choice)
But realistically, one of you will be stuck with a hospital that balks at forking over the money for an h1b. So, if you elect to make a deal with Mephisto and sell your soul to the J1 program, you have basically three options:
A.
spouse #1 on H1b (and free to seek immigration, no need to do waiver)
spouse #2 on J1
This will mean that spouse #1 has to be willing to move wherever spouse #2s waiver blows them. This can put a crimp in spouse #1s career (e.g. by also working in the boonies doing primary care rather than pursuing that NIH grant)
B.
spouse #1 on J1
spouse #2 on J2
Danger, trap. Spouse #2 will be in a difficult situation while spouse #1 is doing the waiver. H4 visa doesn't allow work or study. Own H1b is unattainable due to the HRR inherited from the J2. One member here managed to get an NIW approved during his residency for a future job, filed I485 for himself and his wife and that way got a work permit (EAD) for her. But this approach requires 17 consecutive miracles in order to work out.
The upside is that spouse #2 doesn't need a waiver job by his/her own right. Once spouse #1 serves out his/her waiver, spouse #2 is off the hook as well.
C.
spouse #1 on J1
spouse #2 on J1
On the front end, this is the easiest path, on the back end this can be a real bit$$. Both spouses need to find waiver jobs, and hopefully in some sort of geographic connection. Now, if you both dream of doing family practice, do your residency at the same community hospital and get hired by one of their rural outreach clinics as a husband and wife team, this CAN work out beautifully. More likely, one of you will do a fellowship and get a waiver in Nebraska while the other could work primary care in an underserved area on Manhattan Island.
All 4 options are doable and I know physician couples who have done them respectively (make a guess which one I did). All of these options require coordination and planning, which leads me to part two of the answer:
So, here comes the marital advice part:
You are a team and whatever decisions are to be made need to be made unanimously. Compromises will have to be made along every step of the way, but once the compromise is reached it will be the 'so speak you all' of your crew. One or the other will either not get the residency of their dreams, or the fellowship, or the job with great partnership potential. You need to keep the eyes on the ball, and the ball in this case is your '10 year plan'. Where do you want to stand 10 years from now ?
If you play this right, 10 years from now you will both work in the same place, live in a nice 4 bedroom house and have something like a mercedes GL and a beamer in your garage.
If you play this wrong, one of you will be back in your home country, a bitter divorce has eaten your earnings potential and due to your troubled private life, your performance at work has suffered.
Take your pick !
So, whatever you choose to do, do it together. Husband and wife teams can be highly successful in medicine and immigration matters. As long as you are on the same page every step of the way, good things will come to you.