Halfway through my first-year rheumatology fellowship, I interviewed at a community hospital in southwest Chicago that was willing to sponsor my J-1 visa waiver. By April 2017, my contract with the hospital was signed and the hospital legal team submitted my application for visa waiver in October. In December 2017, I received a phone call from the lawyer informing me that because the number of visa waivers available in each state is limited to 30, my visa waiver application was unsuccessful. Too many aliens had applied for a visa waiver in Illinois in 2017, and I don’t speak Spanish. Yes, dear reader, my American dream is over, for now at least.
I find myself in a quandary: I will be qualified as a rheumatology attending in the U.S., but I will have no right to work in the U.S., & I have the right to work in the U.K., but I will not be qualified as a rheumatology attending/consultant. What’s an alien to do?
Now What?
To lose a job opportunity is stressful enough, but to add insult to injury, as an alien I face expulsion from the U.S. once I graduate from my fellowship. You would think the logical move after my rheumatology fellowship would be to find a job in the U.K. as a rheumatology attending (also called consultant). However, medicine is a highly regulated profession and accreditation in one country does not automatically qualify you to practice in a different country.
The General Medical Council (GMC) in the U.K. offers specific guidance on how to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration in Rheumatology. One has to demonstrate proof of equivalent knowledge, skills, clinical experience and competence as a rheumatologist in the U.K. The most challenging criteria to be accredited as a rheumatology attending/consultant by the GMC is that I would have to complete at least two years of internal medicine training followed by at least four years of rheumatology training. Because my rheumatology fellowship is only for two years, and funding for a third-year fellowship is not available to aliens, such as myself, this limits my ability to work in the U.K. as a rheumatology attending/consult immediately upon graduation.
I find myself in a quandary: I will be qualified as a rheumatology attending in the U.S., but I will have no right to work in the U.S. On the other hand, I have the right to work in the U.K., but I will not be qualified as a rheumatology attending/consultant. What’s an alien to do?
