Physicians Immigration Guide

The Physicians Immigration Guide is for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) and Canadian physicians seeking temporary work visas, J waivers, H-1B visas and permanent residence in the United States.

Our law firm has helped over 2,000 international medical graduates (IMGs) and Canadian-trained physicians immigrate to the U.S. during the past two decades. We specialize in obtaining J visa waivers, H-1B status and permanent residence for physicians located across the U.S.

The numerous articles and links listed below demystify the J waiver procedure, the process of obtaining an appropriate offer of employment, how to determine whether your offer of employment is located within a medically underserved area, etc. We link to the government agencies that sponsor physicians for J waivers including almost all of the Conrad State 30 programs.

 

“I work with Merritt Hawkins & Associates, the largest physician search and consulting firm in the United States. For the past 20 years, we have relied on Mr. Shusterman and his law office to assist us in cases where we have recruited international physicians on behalf of our clients…we have found the results that Mr. Shusterman and his firm have achieved for us to be uniformly excellent.” (More client reviews…)

 

The Physicians Immigration Guide is divided into the following subtopics:

 

• General Information
• Success Stories
• Physician Video Seminars
• Licensing
• Medical Residencies & Fellowships
• Reports & Articles Regarding Physician Shortage

 

Related Pages:

 

• IMG Organizations
• Medically-Underserved Areas
• National Interest Waivers
• J-1 Waivers
• M.D. Employment Opportunities

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

 

• Immigration Guidelines for Foreign-Born Physicians
• Physician Immigration FAQ
• Physicians and Immigration FAQ
• The Conrad 30 and Physicians Access Act (S.616) (3-19-13)
• “The Conrad State 30 Improvement Act” to Provide Incentives for Physicians to Practice in Rural/Medically Underserved Areas (S.1979) (12-13-11)
• Physicians and Immigration FAQ – NEJM Career Center (9-14-11)
• International Medical Graduates Key to Solving the Physician Shortage by Carl Shusterman (10-08-09)
• Revisions to Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) Regarding Certain Alien Physicians (6-17-09)
• A Legal Primer for International Medical Graduates and their Employers – ACP Hospitalist (October 2008)
• Carl Shusterman’s Testimony Before the Senate Advocating an Expansion of the Conrad Program For Physicians (5-22-01)
• Physicians: Test Your Immigration IQ

 

SUCCESS STORIES

 

 

• Helping a Physician Achieve Permanent Residence (April 2010)
• A Hardship Waiver for a Physician (April 2006)
• Repairing a Broken Immigration Case (March 2006)
• Physician/Researcher: “Who is Extraordinary?” (February 2005)
• Physician: Exceptional Hardship – Mexican Immigrant: Alternate Chargeability (October 2004)

 

PHYSICIAN VIDEO SEMINARS

 

• Physician Immigration: A Step-by-Step Guide
  Attorney Shusterman discusses how International Medical Graduates (IMGs) can come to the U.S. for medical residencies and fellowships and explains how they can obtain J waivers, H-1B status, and green cards.

 

• J Status for IMGs: The Consequences
  This video segment discusses the laws which subject IMGs and Canadian physicians who complete their medical residencies and fellowships in the U.S. as J exchange visitors to the two-year foreign residency requirement.

 

• Physicians: J Waiver Requirements and O-1 Visas
  This segment explains how IMGS can obtain J waivers through (1) Interested Government Agencies, (2) Exceptional Hardship and (3) Persecution, and how physicians of Extraordinary Ability can obtain O-1 status.

 

• Conrad 30 Waivers for Physicians
  This segment explains how IMGS and Canadian physicians can obtain waivers of the two-year home residency requirement by being sponsored under the Conrad State 30 program.

 

• Physicians: Federal Interested Government Agency (IGA) Waivers
  This segment explains how IMGs and Canadian physicians can obtain J waivers through Federal Agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Veterans Administration, and the Delta Regional Authority.

 

• Physicians: Hardship and Persecution Waivers
  This segment explains how IMGs and Canadian physicians can obtain J waivers through by demonstrating exceptional hardship or persecution if they were forced to return to their home countries for two years.

 

• Physicians: Permanent Residence Using PERM and/or NIWs
  This segment explains how IMGs and Canadian physicians can obtain permanent residence in the U.S. through family-based immigration, the green lottery, investment and a variety of other means.

 

• Physicians: Permanent Residence Other Than Through Employment
  This segment explains how IMGs and Canadian physicians can obtain permanent residence in the U.S. using PERM or National Interest Waivers.

 

LICENSING

 

• Federation of State Medical Boards
• United States Medical License Examination
• National Board Of Medical Examiners

 

MEDICAL RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS

 

• Reporting Step 2 Clinical Skills Results (2-26-13)
• Medical Residency Program Requirements (AMA)
• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
• Association of American Medical Colleges
• Applying for a Medical Residency in the U.S.
• Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduates
• Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)
• Frieda Online: Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database
• MD Link – Residency Application Links
• National Resident Matching Program

 

REPORTS & ARTICLES REGARDING PHYSICIAN SHORTAGE

 

• Immigration Restrictions and America’s Growing Healthcare Needs (November 2012)
• Doctor Shortage Likely to Worsen With Health Law (7-28-12)
• When the Doctor Doesn’t Look Like You (8-13-10)
• Medical Schools Can’t Keep Up (4-12-10)
• Doctor Shortage Looms as Primary Care Loses its Pull (8-18-09)
• No Relief: Shortage Keeps Older Docs on the Job (6-24-09)
• Shortage of General Surgeons Endangers Rural Americans (1-1-09)
• Weighing the Evidence for Expanding Physician Supply (11-2-04)
• Immigration: Foreign Physicians and the J-1 Waiver Program (6-17-04)
• A Coming Shortage Of Foreign-Trained Doctors?
• The Shrinking Pool Of International Medical Graduates
• “Physicians: What Glut?” – by Senator Kent Conrad