The Physician Immigration Handbook

Now in its third edition, authors Greg Siskind and Elissa Taub provide the most up-to-date information regarding immigration for foreign physicians.

Physician immigration is perhaps the most complicated area of U.S. immigration law, but The Physician Immigration Handbook, 3rd Edition, simplifies that process in a way that is easy to follow and understand.

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 25 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 --Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest --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.

Greg Siskind is a founding partner of Siskind Susser PC and is one of America’s best-known immigration attorneys. Siskind Susser has one of the largest health care immigration practices in the United States and represents many of the nation’s largest hospitals and health care systems, as well as smaller health care employers, individual health care professionals, and other medical institutions.

Because of Greg’s expertise, he has authored many pieces of immigration-related legislation and has testified as an expert before Congress. He has authored as well as coauthored several books, including the Society for Human Resource Management’s Employer’s Immigration Compliance Desk Reference, LexisNexis’s J-1 Visa Guidebook, and The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook.

Who’s Who in Corporate Immigration Law listed Greg as one of its top 10 most distinguished lawyers in North America, and Chambers and Partners listed him as one of the top 25 immigration lawyers in the United States.

Greg is the current chair of the International Medical Graduate Taskforce (IMG Taskforce). He is one of the founders of Visalaw International (www.visalawint.com). Greg also serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Greg received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his law degree from the University of Chicago.

Elissa J. Taub is an attorney in the Memphis office of Siskind Susser PC, where she practices primarily in the area of physician immigration. She has extensive experience with J-1 waivers, H-1Bs, O-1s, EB-1 extraordinary-ability petitions, National Interest Waivers, and labor certification–based green cards, as well as a variety of other types of immigration processes, including cases for individuals in the sports, entertainment, and fashion industries.

Elissa has authored many articles, spoken at conferences related to physician and health care immigration, and is regularly invited by clients to present on immigration matters. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and has served on its Health Care Professionals Committee. She also is an active member of the IMG Taskforce.