Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
Change of Status F1 to J1
- Thread starter Rabit
- Start date
-- Please see a psychiatrist and have your head examined. You are about to change your status to a J1 visa. You want to be sure that you didn't have something like a frontal lobe tumor that clouded your judgement at the time you signed on that dotted line on the bottom of the DS2091 form.
-- You don't necessarily need to leave the country to change to J1 status. A 'change of status' request with the USCIS can do that for you. Look up on the USCIS and visalaw websites on how to file that request. They will send you a new I94 form stating D/S on it and a 'notice of action' attached to it.
-- It could be a close call. You are allowed to enter on a J1 something like 20 or 30 days before the start of your residency. I don't know how they handle it with a COS request and whether you have some 'grace period' after the end of your F1 to carry you over.
-- You don't necessarily need to leave the country to change to J1 status. A 'change of status' request with the USCIS can do that for you. Look up on the USCIS and visalaw websites on how to file that request. They will send you a new I94 form stating D/S on it and a 'notice of action' attached to it.
-- It could be a close call. You are allowed to enter on a J1 something like 20 or 30 days before the start of your residency. I don't know how they handle it with a COS request and whether you have some 'grace period' after the end of your F1 to carry you over.
docneedsdoc
Registered Users (C)
Easy, easy tiger
hadron....easy man.... some people have to dance with the devil and might not have other options or might not really want to stay in the US after training.
hadron....easy man.... some people have to dance with the devil and might not have other options or might not really want to stay in the US after training.
> other options or might not really want to stay in the US after training.
Well, most peoples perspective on that very question tends to change during about the 2nd year of residency. Except for the brits, aussies, swiss and french going back is a very unattractive option. But once you are stuck with a J1, it is quite a campaign shake it off again. (The J1 visa has about the same effect as a moderate case of eczema or mild prostatitis: Not the end of the world, but really something you could definitely live without.)
Peoples plans change all the time. I came here on 'wife 1.1' with 'career plan 1.1'. In the meantime I am on 'wife 2.0' and 'career-plan 3.8'. And believe me, I am not alone.
(There is more than one person out there in their last year of interventional cardiology fellowship. Your colleagues are deciding whether they want to 'make 500k in their first year in Lubbock or 'only' 425k in Laredo' and you are wondering whether you will be able to live with your US citizen children and US citizen wife for the next couple of years....)
Well, most peoples perspective on that very question tends to change during about the 2nd year of residency. Except for the brits, aussies, swiss and french going back is a very unattractive option. But once you are stuck with a J1, it is quite a campaign shake it off again. (The J1 visa has about the same effect as a moderate case of eczema or mild prostatitis: Not the end of the world, but really something you could definitely live without.)
Peoples plans change all the time. I came here on 'wife 1.1' with 'career plan 1.1'. In the meantime I am on 'wife 2.0' and 'career-plan 3.8'. And believe me, I am not alone.
(There is more than one person out there in their last year of interventional cardiology fellowship. Your colleagues are deciding whether they want to 'make 500k in their first year in Lubbock or 'only' 425k in Laredo' and you are wondering whether you will be able to live with your US citizen children and US citizen wife for the next couple of years....)
docneedsdoc
Registered Users (C)
I fully agree that H1 is better option than the J1+ stamp! At least it leaves ur options open till later in your trainig and life.
Having said that, many of our comrades for one reason or other dont have the option of H1. And in my 6 years here I have never seen a J-1 person go back who did not volutarily want to. And I do know of other nationalities (lebanese, Arabs, even some Pakistanis/Indians) that have returned of their own - have rich families, hospitals back home etc etc.
All this aside, I appreciate your time and attention to detail in answering all these queries - its a great public service cause even a small piece of info can help save some a lot of time and heartache.
Having said that, many of our comrades for one reason or other dont have the option of H1. And in my 6 years here I have never seen a J-1 person go back who did not volutarily want to. And I do know of other nationalities (lebanese, Arabs, even some Pakistanis/Indians) that have returned of their own - have rich families, hospitals back home etc etc.
All this aside, I appreciate your time and attention to detail in answering all these queries - its a great public service cause even a small piece of info can help save some a lot of time and heartache.
The same reply could have been given in a civilized manner.hadron said:-- Please see a psychiatrist and have your head examined. You are about to change your status to a J1 visa. You want to be sure that you didn't have something like a frontal lobe tumor that clouded your judgement at the time you signed on that dotted line on the bottom of the DS2091 form.
-- You don't necessarily need to leave the country to change to J1 status. A 'change of status' request with the USCIS can do that for you. Look up on the USCIS and visalaw websites on how to file that request. They will send you a new I94 form stating D/S on it and a 'notice of action' attached to it.
-- It could be a close call. You are allowed to enter on a J1 something like 20 or 30 days before the start of your residency. I don't know how they handle it with a COS request and whether you have some 'grace period' after the end of your F1 to carry you over.
By the way I haven't started working on the my visa document so I know nothing about the DS2091 form ...etc. I only heard from my friends that change of status for H1 is possible without going to a US embassy and for J1 one is required to go to an embassy before starting the program.
ANd you need a psychiatric counseling for the frustation you are going through because of your visa status.
And if the Psychiatrist suspects an intracranial pathology you would need a neurologist for further work up......psychiatrist won't be of much help then.
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I am new to this community but I have been reading the messages daily. Don't woory about Hardon. He means well. I am also on a J1 waiver and will soon be done with it in 2 months. I fortunately landed on a wonderful area in Washington State. I love my staff and patients, (I'm a Pediatrician) and I am blessed to have such a wonderful and loving group of Pediatricians here. One would even offer to take my call because I was busy the night before. NOw, who would do that?!
I am sorry, I didn't want to imply that you are nuts.
I just want to make sure that you understand the gravity of your decision to take a J1 for your training. Similarly, if you told me that you wanted to donate 50% of your gross income for the first three year of practice to charity, I would ask you to make sure that you are of clear mind (and that is in effect what you are doing. By taking a J1, you resign yourself to helping to patch up the gaping holes in the US medical system for 3 years at a discounted salary).
I am actually not that frustrated about my J1. In the meantime I have found a waiver job that pays me almost market rate for my specialty and allows me quite some professional freedom.
If you are 'in status' on your F1, you can change to H1b or J1 while staying in the US. My brother in law just did that (and I told him to get his head examined. The alternative for him would have been a green-card.)
Some people do find good J1 waiver jobs, but most don't. I have been around here for a while and most of the people who had to make the deal with the devil (J1) went through hard times.
addendum:
Just for illustration purposes this very typical case posted today on immigrationportal:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=164728
P.S.
Most of the frontal lobe masses going through our hospital come indeed from psychiatry or ophthalmology. Not infrequently patients are picked up on their routine psych admission head CT. Or they are referred for optic nerve edema or abducens palsies.)
I just want to make sure that you understand the gravity of your decision to take a J1 for your training. Similarly, if you told me that you wanted to donate 50% of your gross income for the first three year of practice to charity, I would ask you to make sure that you are of clear mind (and that is in effect what you are doing. By taking a J1, you resign yourself to helping to patch up the gaping holes in the US medical system for 3 years at a discounted salary).
I am actually not that frustrated about my J1. In the meantime I have found a waiver job that pays me almost market rate for my specialty and allows me quite some professional freedom.
If you are 'in status' on your F1, you can change to H1b or J1 while staying in the US. My brother in law just did that (and I told him to get his head examined. The alternative for him would have been a green-card.)
Some people do find good J1 waiver jobs, but most don't. I have been around here for a while and most of the people who had to make the deal with the devil (J1) went through hard times.
addendum:
Just for illustration purposes this very typical case posted today on immigrationportal:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=164728
P.S.
Most of the frontal lobe masses going through our hospital come indeed from psychiatry or ophthalmology. Not infrequently patients are picked up on their routine psych admission head CT. Or they are referred for optic nerve edema or abducens palsies.)
Last edited by a moderator: