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This article is the first in a series designed to provide “foreign medical graduate” or international physicians in the United States with an overview of their immigration options. This particular article will focus on the status of international physicians completing residency, fellowship, and other medical training programs in the United States. The information provided below describes the visa categories most frequently used to sponsor their stay in the United States by hospitals and other training institutions while providing an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each category.

J-1 Status: The vast majority of international physicians completing residency and fellowship programs in the United States do so in J-1 status. Hospitals and other sponsors of residency programs often prefer this option as it is the least burdensome from a compliance standpoint and cheaper than the most likely alternative, the H-1B visa. Physicians entering the United States on a J-1 visa must understand that its major disadvantage, the two-year Home Residency Requirement, automatically applies to any physician in the United States on a J-1 visa for graduate medical training. Upon completion of the J-1 program, this condition requires an international physician to return to his/her country of nationality or last permanent residence before being allowed to change to another immigration status or to apply for Adjustment of Status (“Green Card” application). This condition substantially disrupts individual career plans, which is further exacerbated by a Congressionally-mandated restriction on the availability of certain waiver options to international physicians. Specific waiver options do exist for international physicians in J-1 status subject to the Home Residency Requirement, but an international physician who has not yet acquired J-1 status is advised to consider and suggest alternative visa categories to his/her program sponsor. Compared to the H-1B visa, the major advantage of this visa category is that it is not subject to a quota and is therefore available throughout the year.

H-1B Status: Some institutions will sponsor international physicians in H-1B status for their medical training programs. The major advantage to an international physician of holding H-1B status is elimination of the two-year Home Residency Requirement, allowing the physician to continue his/her career in the United States after the training program without disruption. Hospitals and other institutions, however, are often unwilling to sponsor an international physician for H-1B status because of its additional compliance burdens and costs compared to the J-1 visa. Another challenge with acquiring H-1B status is the quota, which is the Congressionally-mandated annual cap on the number of newly available H-1B visas. While some job offers may be quota-exempt (specifically, job offers from institutions of higher education and their related/affiliated nonprofit institutions such as the University of Chicago), other institutions are subject to the H-1B quota. Although the trend in the past two years has been for quota slots to remain available until late in the year due to weak hiring across the United States, the more consistent trend has been for the quota for a given fiscal year to fill up as soon it becomes available (between April 1 and 5). Therefore, international physicians seeking an initial grant of H-1B status to complete their training programs should prioritize their discussion about the timing of this application with the sponsoring program to ensure that they do not lose a spot in the H-1B quota.   

O-1 status: This is another employer-sponsored status whose major advantages include no quota, unlimited extension, and no Home Residency Requirement. The limitation of this category is that is only available to a limited number of physicians who have demonstrated “extraordinary ability.” To qualify, a physician must show that he/she has received substantial “acclaim” through original contributions, publications, invitations to review medical manuscripts or conference publications, and/or other forms of evidence. Due to the selective availability of such classification, O-1 status will be an option for a limited number of physicians. 

The author of this article is a licensed attorney in Illinois and New York and a member of AILA. Since May, 2008 at Zhang and Associates, Mr. Shah has represented numerous professionals seeking permanent residency in the EB-1A, EB-1B, and NIW categories, including professionals in industries as diverse as medicine and financial services. He is the chair of the AILA Library Committee in Chicago and the Cyriac Kappil Pro Bono Legal Clinic at the Indo-American Center of Chicago. Mr. Shah also specializes in the representation of international physicians, and will be presenting a free seminar about temporary and permanent visa options for international physicians at the Chicago Offices of Zhang and Associates on Saturday, Jan. 22, from 12-2 pm. A light lunch and refreshments will be served. To contact attorney, please contact him at info@hooyou.com.

Please note that this article is not intended to provide specific legal advice and is informational only. No attorney-client relationship is intended or is created. Since each situation is different, you are encouraged to contact a qualified immigration professional for guidance on your specific circumstances. 

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Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nationwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled thousands of immigration cases.

At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, and I-485 cases. In the past fourteen years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.

Zhang & Associates, PC.

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Tel：	1-800-230-7040, 713-771-8433
Email：	info@hooyou.com
website：	http://www.hooyou.com

 

(12/21/2010)

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