A U.S. employer can get Green Card (permanent residence) status for a foreign born physician. But employer must show that he or she is unable to locate a U.S. physician to fill the position.
To obtain the permanent residence (green card) for a foreign doctor, an employer must utilize following three step process:
- Applying for alien labor certification from U.S. Labor Department (DOL)
- Visa petition submission to US Citizenship and Immigration Service.
- Applying for permanent residence from US Citizenship and Immigration Services or U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad
1 – Labor Certification
If the physician is having extraordinary ability in the sciences or his employment is clearly in the national interest, then his employer must apply for the labor certification in order to obtain permanent residence on his behalf.
Though there is a difference of process among states, commonly it’s required that the employer place a job advertisement for a physician in an appropriate national journal. The ad must be having description about the terms of the job duties, salary, and the qualifications required for the job. It’s not required to mention the name of the employer in the ad. And offered salary should not be less than the prevailing wage.
The employer should review the received resume and the interviews of the candidate. The employer then will show to the Labor Department that no U.S. physician qualified to perform the job.
As compared to H1B visa, for green card, the employer doesn’t require that an applicant for permanent residence should have passed the FLEX exam for foreign physicians, or have obtained a medical license in the state of intended employment.
There is labor certification requirement exception for the physicians whose employment would be in national interest. Usually the physicians who have purpose to practice in medically underserved areas for a minimum of five years may submit petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to bypass the labor certification requirement. Those physicians who are independent practitioners are also eligible to apply for national interest waivers. Anyhow US Citizenship and Immigration Services rules restrict which physicians are eligible for national interest waivers, and how do they qualify for it.
2 – Visa Petition
When the alien labor certification gets approved by the Labor Department, then the employer will submit a petition to INS to classify the physician under the appropriate category for permanent residence. Mainly physicians qualify under the employment-based second category as professionals holding advanced degrees.
The employer needs to show that they are financially capable to guarantee the physician’s salary. They will also determine that the employment is full time with no definite termination date. The physician’s education and prior experience documents must be attached to the petition.
3 – Application for Permanent Residence
At the same time when the visa petition is submitted, physician and his family can apply for permanent residence at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office having his jurisdiction over his place of residence in the U.S or when the visa petition is approved then the physician and his family can apply for permanent residence at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the physician’s home country. The application made at the time of visa petition submission is known as an application for “adjustment of status”. When it will be made abroad, it is called an application for an “immigrant visa”.
At the same time when the application for the adjustment of status is submitted, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices permit applications for employment authorization and “advance parole” (a travel document) to be filed on behalf of the physician, his spouse and children.
The applicants must show that they are not excludable from the U.S. Grounds for excludability, which contain specific criminal convictions, immigration fraud, subversive activities and infection with certain contagious diseases.
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