The Physician Immigration Handbook

Updated annually, and now in its seventh edition, authors Greg Siskind and Elissa Taub provide the most up-to-date information regarding immigration for foreign physicians in The Physician Immigration Handbook.

Physician immigration is perhaps the most complicated area of U.S. immigration law, but The Physician Immigration Handbook, 7th Edition, simplifies that process in a way that is easy to follow and understand. Updated annually, The Handbook explains what foreign physicians need to know to apply for graduate medical training at American teaching hospitals in the United States and how they can remain in the United States to pursue their careers.

The Physician Immigration Handbook follows the typical American journey for the international medical graduate (IMG). First, the Handbook reviews the application process through which physicians receive ECFMG certification, eventually leading to admittance to U.S. graduate medical training programs. Then it discusses the two major immigration pathways open to IMGs who want to come to the United States for graduate medical training: the J-1 visa and the H-1B visa.

The Handbook walks the IMG through training to post-training work, then on to permanent residency (the “green card” process) and ultimately to U.S. citizenship. It even delves into employment issues, such as layoffs, mergers, and acquisitions, while also discussing special benefits available to foreign physicians in the U.S. military.

The Physician Immigration Handbook was written as a guide for IMGs, recruiters, human resource professionals, and even government officials who need to know how the U.S. immigration system works and the special rules applied to physicians within that framework. The Handbook includes 24 chapters in an easy-to-follow, question-and-answer format:

• Qualifying for Graduate Medical Training in the United States;
• The J-1 and the H-1B Visas; Seeking a Visitor Visa to Pursue Graduate Medical Training;
• J-1 Visas for Graduate Medical Training;
• The J-1 Home-Residency Requirement;
• Conrad 30 Waivers;
• ‘Public Interest’ Waivers;
• Hardship and Persecution Waivers;
• J-2 Status for Family Members of a J-1 Exchange Visitor;
• The H-1B Visa Process;
• Cap-Exemption Strategies for the H-1B Visa;
• H-4 Family Members Accompanying an H-1B Visa Holder;
• Consular Processing of Nonimmigrant Visas;
• Lawful Permanent Residency;
• Obtaining Permanent Residency Through PERM Labor Certification;
• National Interest Waivers;
• Other Paths to Achieving Permanent Residency;
• Obtaining U.S. Citizenship;
• The Impact of Employment Termination;
• The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions;
• Immigration and the Locum Tenens;
• The Role of Physician Recruiters;
• Special Issues Affecting Canadian Physicians;
• Hiring an Immigration Attorney.

The Handbook also includes numerous helpful appendices and charts, plus sample questionnaires:

• Resources and Websites of Interest;
• Physician Licensing Requirements by State;
• Physician National Interest Waiver Chart;
• Preliminary Immigration Questionnaires for Physicians and Physician Employers;
• J-1 Interested Government Agency Physician Waiver Flowchart;
• Flowchart for Physicians on Training H-1Bs;
• Conrad 30 State Chart.