Greencard for Fellowship

Beztmed

Registered Users (C)
Iam currently in H1B and I matched for fellowship to begin July 2006.The program strictly refuses to accept me in H1B and insists on J1 or join as permanent resident.Iam wondering if I can request them to sponsor GC,as the PD is supportive,its just the strict policy of uniersity because of NIH funding.Also Iam afraid if EB2 retrogression expected will affect me in joining on time,if so is there any way to predict the delay.Please show some light on this.Thanks.
 
Are you in IM ?

Could be difficult. Fellowship is not 'permanent employment', so it is not really eligible for a greencard. The only way this can be done, is if the hospital/university fashions the petition somewhere along the 'instructor' level academic grade.

Consider getting yourself a hospitalist position where the hospital is willing to sponsor you. Do that for 2 years or so and move on to do your fellowship. Additional experience won't be held against you if you are otherwise a competitive fellowship candidate.

I am not sure whether there is a NIH policy against sponsoring H1b. There might. More likely, the hospital is just cheap. The H1b costs them about 4k these days. A J1 costs them zilch.
 
But how is that some of the residency programs are doing greencard for their residents.Hope residency is also not a permenant job.
 
> But how is that some of the residency programs are doing
> greencard for their residents.Hope residency is also not a
> permenant job.

Residency doesn't qualify for GC sponsorship. By its nature it is a temporary employment. I haven't heard that any residency programs would sponsor residents for GC's.
(That doesn't mean that it is impossible. Many things fall through the cracks at the DOL and USCIS, their left hand doesn't know what the right hand does. So, there might be someone out there who managed to get a GC through his residency program.)
 
Hi, I am in a similar situation. Could you please shed some more light on green card sponsorship by fellowship program- 'hospital/university fashions the petition somewhere along the 'instructor' level academic grade.
Would greatly appreciate any input!
 
The hospital can sponsor residency graduate while he/she is doing fellowship by offering permanent job for which the applicant would qualify at the time of filing.

For example, they can offer hospitalist position and apply for labor certificate for such while the person is doing GI fellowship. The minimum qualifications cannot be more than BC/BE in IM. Obvously, upon approval of GC, the applicant would have to start working as hospitalist, or else, the fraud issue may arise.
 
Yes, they can do that, but they can't sponsor for the fellowship itself is what I meant.

If they sponsor for 'physician internal medicine', you can do whatever you want afterwards. However it might get a bit more difficult to get a labor cert through, depending on the market you are in.
 
Thanks everyone for the information.I heard some of the residency programs had got GC for their 2nd year residents by calling them as Physician Internal Medicine.Iam confused about Hadron's - "it depends on the market" please explain me about this.Thanks
 
> I heard some of the residency programs had got GC for their
> 2nd year residents by calling them as Physician Internal Medicine.

If a hospital does that, they are committing immigration fraud as they are promising a permanent position for the purpose of immigration while in fact there is NO permanent position. I doubt this story.

> Iam confused about Hadron's - "it depends on the market" please
> explain me about this.Thanks

In the labor certification process, the employer has to advertise the position and offer it to any american or permanent resident who applies and fulfills the 'minimum qualification'. If you advertise a 'physician internal medicine' position in Rugby, ND, nobody will apply.
If you advertise a 'physician internal medicine' position somewhere in california, you will get a good number of responses from people who are genuinely looking for work. Yes, you can still lie to the labor department and state that nobody suitable applied, but that again would be fraud.
So, in that regard the success of a labor certification is dependent on the market (the labor market for physicians in that particular area).
 
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From the discussions I understand getting greencard through fellowship is difficult.Whats the chance of changing from J1 to O1 after fellowship,say you have about 2 publications by the time fellowship is completed.Also can O1 be eligible to work in small hospital/clinic setting rather than university.
 
This has been done but is not advisable. You should generally be in an academic setting on an O1. Besides, you still have the two year home country return requirements that does not go away without a waiver.
 
You CAN switch to O1, if you have the credentials to get it approved. With 'pull' from a major university behind you, it is usually possible to get an O1 approved. But as the previous poster mentioned, this does not relieve your HRR. However, if you travel back to your home country frequently and for extended periods, you can fulfill your HRR piecemeal. (people in 'regular' academia outside of medicine do that at times. They will take 3 months off every summer to write some papers, go to conferences around the world while traveling through their home country etc. That way, you can get your HRR through in maybe 5 years. If you are a physician with the typical 4 week annual vacation, it will take you 24 years......)

What people at academic medical places will frequently do, is to switch a promising fellow to O1 and have him hang out for a year or two until a position at the affiliated VA hospital becomes available. The person transfers to the VA and serves out his sentence. After 3 years, a green-card is waiting at the main university hospital.
 
I am a PYG4 H1B visa holder applying for a 3 years fellowship.
I've thought that it might be possible to complete the fellowship by seeking an employer by the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd year of fellowship that would sponsor green card for a job fellowship. This should allow for a visa extension to complete the third year of fellowship while the green card is in process.
Anyone know if this scenario is possible? is it risky?
 
I am a PYG4 H1B visa holder applying for a 3 years fellowship.
I've thought that it might be possible to complete the fellowship by seeking an employer by the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd year of fellowship that would sponsor green card for a job fellowship. This should allow for a visa extension to complete the third year of fellowship while the green card is in process.
Anyone know if this scenario is possible? is it risky?

Correction: *for a job after fellowship
 
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