From 1993-2001, trying to get the J-1 visa as a Canadian was really hard, sometimes even impossible. So it was quite discouraging. But things have changed. As of 2002, Health Canada has changed the policies a tad and it is now a little more open to get this visa.
Here are the steps. Basically, to get this visa you need:
1) an offer from a U.S. residency program saying that they have accepted you
2) your ECFMG certificate (of course)
3) to write and pass the MCCEE (write this in your fourth year of med school)
4) a letter from the Royal College of Canada stating that the residency you are doing in the U.S. is acceptable to Canadian standards
5) a "Statement of Need" letter from the Canadian Health Ministry
Huh? "Statement of Need" you ask? what is that? Well remember what the J-1 visa is. . .it is an EXCHANGE visa. Which means that after you finish your residency in the U.S. you must return to our home country (Canada) for a minimum of two years. So Canada has to tell the U.S. that they actually have a 'need' for you once you return. Pretty basic thing.
Anyhow, how does one get a "Statement of Need" letter? You need to write and pass a test: MCCEE, info about this test is at: www.mcc.ca , and then apply for the statement of need letter with Health Canada:
Judith Lewis (Judith_Lewis@hc-sc.gc.ca)
Program Administrator (Statement of Need) Health Canada
You will apply for the J-1 visa with the ECFMG (not the INS), read:
www.ecfmg.org/evsp/index.html
Now, if you DO NOT want to return to Canada for that ‘‘two year’’ requirement, then you CAN stay in the U.S. if you agree to go and work as a physician in a rural/underserviced area in the U.S. for three years. But unfortunately the J-1 waiver is not that easy to get, especially if your home country is a first-world country. Also if you do get a waiver you can’t choose where you go, the INS places you somewhere. . .so say hello to Granite Peak, Montana or Kearney, Nebraska.
In my personal opinion (not worth much these days it seems) this visa should be called the N-1 visa. ‘N’ for nightmare. Because as a Canadian, it means that you will most likely lose two years. Why? Because after you complete residency in the U.S. you must go back to Canada for two years. And when you return to Canada for that two years you cannot practice medicine.
Why? Because Canada does not accept the USMLE, Canada does not accept the ECFMG certificate. To work in Canada as a doctor you would have to do the entire Canadian certification process all over again. That's right, you would have to write MCCEE, MCCQE Part 1, MCCQE Part 2, and the board exams for the residency that you did in the United States.
Also you may have to do extra year(s) of residency training in Canada, for example if you did an Internal Medicine residency in U.S. you would have to do one more year of residency in Canada.
You might be thinking “yeah, but there is a doctor shortage in Canada, so I will be able to get a job”. Well this is not correct. Yes there is a doctor shortage in Canada, but the way Canada is solving it is by increasing the number of spots at Canadian medical schools and by opening up a new medical school in Northern Ontario which will produce 56 MD’s a year. Canada will certainly not offer jobs to Foreign Medical Graduates. David Hawkins of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges emailed me this response recently:
"Applicants should be aware that enrolling in dubious, proprietary, for-profit medical schools opened specifically to cater to rejected applicants to medical schools in Canada or the USA is highly unlikely to be a path to practising medicine in Canada."
Now after you finish this two year ‘return to Canada’ requirement, at this time you are free to go back to the U.S. to work as a doctor. Now what visa will you need to get at this point, to work in the U.S. you may ask? The answer is surprising simple à H-1B. Makes you wonder why you didn’t get it in the first place, doesn’t it?
I think you all should read the excellent summary, written by a Canadian (Val Ilivitsky) who graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa and then went to the Caribbean for med school (St. George) and he is now in PA, USA doing residency in Anesthesiology. Here is his link: http://www.csa-notes.com/rescan.htm
PART TWO: H-1B VISA
(1) Pass USMLE Step 1, (2) Pass the TOEFL, (3) Pass the CSA , (4) Pass USMLE Step 2, Finish all your clinicals.
At this point if you are a U.S. citizen you are DONE. If you are a non-U.S. citizen planning to do residency in the U.S. and need H-1B visa, then you need to do the following, in this order:
1) Call Saba and ask if your evaluation form from your last rotation has arrived. If so request your MD diploma. (It is wise to have requested your MD diploma 2 months in advance so that the school has adequate time to order it for you). If you have planned this correctly you should receive your MD diploma within 2 weeks of completing your final rotation.
2) Get your MD diploma in the mail from Saba, then send this original diploma to ECFMG immediately (overnight delivery) with 2 passport sized pictures and two photocopies of the diploma to: Attn: Credentials Department. ECFMG. 3624 Market St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-2685.
After ECFMG gets it, they will send it back to Saba for verification, then Saba sends it back to ECFMG stating the ‘yes the Diploma is valid.’ There is no way around this step, so don't argue the matter. This step takes around 2 weeks.
3) Once ECFMG gets it back from Saba, they will then send you the ECFMG certificate. This takes around 2 weeks.
4) As soon as you get your ECFMG certificate send a copy of it with the USMLE Step 3 application to FSMB immediately (overnight delivery). You must have your ECFMG certificate to apply for the USMLE Step 3. There is no way to expedite the process, I called and asked. The application form for USMLE Step 3 is at: www.fsmb.org , the fee to write it is $590. The test is done over two days. It consists of 500 (five hundred) MCQ's and 9 (nine) CCS cases.
Note: only 12 states in the U.S. allow IMG's to register Step 3 before starting residency. They are: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia. Contact FSMB for details.
5) 2-4 weeks later you will get your USMLE Step 3 scheduling permit. Call the Prometric testing center in the state you wish to write it in and schedule a date.
6) Take the USMLE Step 3
7) 4 weeks later you will get your Step 3 result, if you have passed (no one cares about your score, you just need to pass) then at this point you are eligible to apply for the H-1B visa. You must (of course) have an offer from U.S. residency program that is willing to sponsor you.
8) The H-1B visa application process takes 3 months. But if you pay an extra $1000 (one thousand) you can apply with 'premium processing' that will expedite your application to only 15 days. It is done by the hospital, immigration attorney and the INS.
9) Once you get the H-1B visa then you can proudly walk into your U.S. residency program and start your post graduate training.
Posted on Feb 28, 2003, 2:04 PM from IP address 66.72.211.103
