June 22, 2015 — Dailyrounds

USMLE surgery residency program: Why should you choose H1B over J1 visa?

This is a very important fact for surgery residency and it affects residents in the long term. Think before you apply for specific type of visa. If you are aiming for surgery residency then go through this article.USMLE preparation and aiming for surgery residency: Facts, myths and a detailed strategy

J1 visa:

There is a two year home country rule associated with it, means after finishing your residency, you need to return to your home country for 2-3 years or you can apply for a waiver to work in an underserved areas of United states. Either way, you will be behind your colleagues and you will be an old graduate for your fellowship application.
Even if you marry a US citizen and apply for a green card, even then, this two year home residency rule will apply. You can’t escape from it.
Also, in surgery, no matter how good you are, you will prelim first (most of the case) and then you get converted to categorical either next year or next to next year. If you are on J1, you can’t repeat a prelim year, so after PGY-1 prelim you need to be PGY-2 prelim or categorical. After your PGY-2 prelim, there is no other option than to get categorical. If you don’t get categorical after your PGY-2 prelim, you have to go back to your country (I have seen many people doing that).
Every time you come back to your home country, you will need to apply for visa again to go to USA again.
There is only one advantage of J1 visa; after you are done with your two year home residency rule or waiver, the fellowship opportunities are higher on J1 visa as compared to H1 visa.

Also note, the best iOS app for USMLE preparation – Dailyrounds.

H1 visa:

There is NO two year home country rule. Once you are in, you are in. This is a safest kind of visa for surgery people. Even if you don’t get categorical after two years of prelim, you can apply for spots (out of match) and can wait for any spot to open. This gives you liberty of waiting without any responsibility to work in your home country.
You don’t need to apply for visa again and again whenever you visit home.
The only downside is that only few programs offer fellowship on H1.

There are only few residency programs that offer H1 because they need to pay the lawyer for your sponsorship about 2000-3000$. So, only big programs offer H1 and majority of community programs go for J1.