H1B for residency program

H

happy_always20

Registered Users (C)
I am currently a H1-B holder who is planning to take the USMLE exam. I got my MD degree about 8 years ago and mostly like I will still holding H1-B by the time I finish the exam.

Could someone please advise me of the feasibility of residency matching fro H1-Bs? I heard about some successful cases of underserved region. How difficult it would be? Am I worth to give a try? Thank you for your suggestion.
 
H1b and residency

How many years in H1b status do you have right now ?

As for residency on H1b:
-- Many residency programs will not sponsor you for a H1b or even file the paperwork to transfer your existing visa. Some are just to cheap to pay the filing and lawyers fees, others are afraid that one day somebody might bite them with the prevailing wage thing.
-- As for what programs wil sponsor you. I know of people at university programs who got sponsored, others went through small community places. There are no hard an fast rules, it depends on the institution.
-- 'Underserved' has nothing to do with your situation.
-- Generally it seems to be easier to get sponsored for an H1b in small unattractive medicine or family practice programs. They will do almost anything to have enough 'warm bodies' on July 1.

-- Do you have any way to file for a GC at this time ? It might get you an extension on the H1b or an EAD to work on.

-- By the way, you will need USMLE step3 if you want a H1b as a physician.
 
My 2 cents

You said you are on H-1b. What kind of a job are you in ??
Did you do US MD or MD from another country ? You need step3 USMLE cleared to be able to be sponsored for h-1b. Which USMLE exam are you writing. Normally universities prefer recent graduates...
You can browse websites of the programs to see if they sponsor for h-1b.

Can your current employer file for your Grren card. If so then you can get EAD. and after 6 monthws of getting EAD you can AC21 to work for another employer.
If atleast your labor is pending, you can get a year to year exntension of h-1bs until you get your EAD...
 
?

> EAD. and after 6 monthws of getting EAD you can AC21
> to work for another employer.

I believe AC21 is restricted to jobs with similar job requirements, I might be wrong on that. If he/she is here on lets say an IT job, invoking AC21 to change to a job as physician might be dicey.
 
H1-B for residency program

Thank you for the inputs. I am currently on my fourth year H1-B and working in medical research project in a university. Before that, I was in IT industry for several years. Unfortunately, my university won't file LC for me, therefore, the only way I can apply GC is through NIW. Since I have only been in the univ for about a year, I do not have too many publications. I only have two abstracts published and one second author paper is under its way. I am pretty worried whether I can be qualified for NIW.

I am kind in the cross road of either going back to IT industry for filing LC as my last chance. Or, try the NIW anyway and taking the USMLE exam during the mean time. If I am lucky enough, I can find a residency program later on. Could you please advise which way is more feasible for me? It is kind urgent and I have to make my decision very soon... Thanks a lot.
 
Difficult

> I am currently on my fourth year H1-B and working in medical research

So residency on H1b goes out the window right there. The shortest residencies are medicine and family practice. Both are three years. Unless you can get a H1b extension based on a pending labor cert, I don't see how any program would take you for only two years.

> I only have two abstracts published and one second author paper
> is under its way. I am pretty worried whether I can be qualified for NIW.

Unless your name was Crick and that second authorship is for the description of the double helix, I would figure it difficult to make a NIW or EA case out of it.
If you consider at all, to do a residency on a J1 (including all the waiver hassle that brings along), then don't file a NIW just for the heck of it. After you have filed an I140 you are ineligible for F1, J1, B1/2 visas.

> Could you please advise which way is more feasible for me?

Depends on what your priority is. If your priority is to work as a physician in the US, you should do anything to further that goal. If you want to immigrate ASAP, maybe the IT route would be the way to go.
Beeing out of medschool for many years before yo apply for a residency will definitely work against you. If you have to put in another 3-4 years in IT before you can start, I am not sure how realistic it is to get a residency.

Btw. it is not an either or. You can file a NIW (slim chance) and change into a job that can get you a LC. Maybe some pharmaceutical or biotech company in your research field would be willing to sponsor you. IT is not the only area people get their GC's through. In some respects it might even be easier to be sponsored by a biotech company. (There are less unemployed molecular biologists running around than unemployed programmers.)
 
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Hmm

Hadron is right in that if you file for GC from an IT company then you cannot use EAD for working as a doctor until you get your GC.
You have two more years on h-1b. Unfortunately no hospital sponsors for GC while you are in residency. So you need at least 3 more years on h-1b for that. also after that you can use NIW (for GC) and file for 140 or file 140/485 concurrently. Whether or not you can file concurrently depends on the priority dates at that time. If you can file concurrently then you will need probably another year of h-1b. Because after that you may get EAD and probably can use Ac21 at that time.
So one way I can think of is if some one can file a labor for you (may be as a IT person. But be careful though. INS(BCIS) may question why some one wants to hire an MD as a permanent employee in IT) in a state where you are not guaranteed to be approved for 2-4 years. California or New Jersey or Colorado might be few good states - only if you file as non-RIR category. Since the labor (non-RIR) is backlogged to april 2001 in these states, it will take at least 3-4 years for you to get approved and which eables you to extend your h-1b on a yearly basis.
But you have to act fast. you probably do not have a chance for year 2005. Because you probably cannot take Steo2 CS in time for this. So please talk to a lawyer and see what he can do.
An other option is to apply for Canadian immigration. You might get canadian immigration in a year or two. In the mean time you can finish your exams. Then you can go to canada and come back on j1 for residency or even nafta work permit. Or h-1. which ever is feasible.
Looks difficult but probably is not impossible.
 
this'n that

> Hadron is right in that if you file for GC from an IT company
> then you cannot use EAD for working as a doctor
> until you get your GC.

Actually, there is nothing on the EAD that would preclude you from using it to work as a resident. The problem might arise if you come up for AOS or an RFE along the way and they get doubts whether you genuinely intend to work for the IT company that sponsored you.

One of my residency colleagues (iranian) got his GC as a 'electronics repair man' during medical school, he had an undergrad in EE.

I don't know what country you are from, but would it be completely out of the question to go back there for a year in order to be eligible for another H1b for residency etc. This would spare you all the uncertainties of EAD's NIW' and the like.

Think about the canada option. I don't however believe that physicians are eligible for TN visas. (It has to be something industrial or trade related from what I remember). We had a couple of canadian residents, most of them were on H1b as J1-sponsorship from 'health canada' is apparently hard to come by.
 
also

Also I am not sure about the special rules/conditions (if any) applicable to non-proft h-1bs. I mean I know that a non-profit organization files for h-1bs then they do not count against the cap. But I am not sure if there any more special rules that might help/hurt your case. Please talk to a lawyer.
 
Yes

yes I do not mean that you cannot at all use EAD. But if you are willing to use EAD, then you have to file i-9 with the employer. But when you do that then you must be in a position to show AC21 eligibility which will not be possible.
Yes, as long as INS does not give an RFE then you are fine. But this is not some thing I would take risk.
 
Correct me

But the I9 just asks whether you have permission by the INS to work. The form gets filed away by the employer and kept for I believe 5 years. Unless USCIS raids the place (e.g. walmart) they never look at them.

AC21 only catches if you are at the AOS stage and you have changed employers 6 months after the I140 is through. With the new Ohata type processing starting to happen right now this might be a moot point anyway.

I heard the term 'labor market' EAD, meaning you can take any job anywhere with an EAD, as long as your employer continues to sponsor you and you can show that you will work with them after AOS.

Obs:
This is by no stretch of imagination legal advice. I am as clueless as the next guy in these issues.
 
I am not Mr Khanna...

...but I am not sure how you ended up in this thread.

You might want to retain a lawyer. If no charges were filed, this is in my (non lawyer, clueless) opinion irrelevant.

Maybe you guys should give each other some space. As you might have noticed it is advantageous to stay as far away from the police in this country as possible. Especially in domestic abuse cases, some states require the officer to file charges, regardless of whether you want it or not. One more 'quarrel' and your husband might indeed be in trouble.
 
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