caribbean school visa requirements

[ikaj]

To start the clinical years in the US, Canadians need to apply for a visa? What happens if you are unable to get this?
And the J-1 visa allows you to return to Canada and write some board exams which allow you to practice up here?

I haven't applied to medical schools in caribbeans yet...is this something I should be worrying about now?

Is it better to start applying for these visas early?

thanks.

[cradlecrotch]

Doing clinicals in the US is easy, it requires a simple student visa which is easily obtained at the border with a letter from your school stating that you are required to do clinical rotations in the US as part of the curriculum.

Doing residency is a different story. There are 2 visas, J1 and H1-B. J1 does NOT allow you to return to Canada to practice, it requires you to return to Canada after residency for 2 years, but you will not be automatically eligible to practice - though it may be possible. H1-B allows you to apply for permanent US resident status while doing your residency in the states, and does not require you to go back to Canada - thus it is the better visa to have but harder to obtain. Furthermore, due to the yearly cap on H1-B visas, you may be forced to wait a year after medschool before being able to secure one.

You cannot apply for these visas until you have secured residency at a US hospital. I recommend doing a lot of research now to determine exactly what you're getting into.