Question about Canadians attending US Med School

[highclass]

Hello,

I am a Canadian citizen but did my undergrad and grad school in the US and now I am in med school in the US. I am going to be applying for my greencard through my husband, but it will probably take over 5 years for me to get it (he is a permanent resident). I am a first year at a US med school and I am thinking about competative residencies, either surgery or radiology. How realistic is it to obtain a competative residence given my situation? I heard that graduating from a US medical school helps a lot, is this true? What steps do I need to take now in order to prepare for the MATCH process and avoid any problems? Thanks to anyone who can help!!

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[Nof55]

Looks like you have done all the right steps. Basically it helps to do medical school in the US. The only other thing that helps is to become a permenant resident prior to your applications getting out/match - see if there is anything you can do to speed that along. I was a US med school grad and a permenant resident at the time of my application process and match and the fact I was a Canadian citizen was only something interesting to talk about during interviews, didn't factor in either way.
Nof55

Hello,

I am a Canadian citizen but did my undergrad and grad school in the US and now I am in med school in the US. I am going to be applying for my greencard through my husband, but it will probably take over 5 years for me to get it (he is a permanent resident). I am a first year at a US med school and I am thinking about competative residencies, either surgery or radiology. How realistic is it to obtain a competative residence given my situation? I heard that graduating from a US medical school helps a lot, is this true? What steps do I need to take now in order to prepare for the MATCH process and avoid any problems? Thanks to anyone who can help!!

 

[CanuckRazorback]

Hi there,

I am also a Canadian citizen with US permanent residency. Also did undergrad and grad school in the U.S. I will be going to med school in the US starting next fall. Your best bet to get your green card fast is to have your husband file for naturalization (N-400). I was in the same situation not too long ago. I had to wait to apply to med school in the US until I got my green card. My husband had been a permanent resident for a while (over 5 years) so he finally filed for naturalization. Our timeline was:

End of October 2002: Filed for naturalization
December 2002: Fingerprinting
April 1st, 2003: Approved for naturalization
June 18th, 2003: Swore in and received citizenship certificate
December 5th, 2003: I applied for green card.
Early May 2004: Received my green card.

My process was a real pain because we got married in Montreal so all the paperwork was in French and in need of translation. I probably could have gotten my green card sooner, but I had a work permit until December of 2003 so I didn't feel the need to hurry the process. Also, these time periods are not too bad considering that all of this was filed post 9-11. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to email me. It is not that complicated, but it can be tricky at times.

Good luck to you!

Hello,

I am a Canadian citizen but did my undergrad and grad school in the US and now I am in med school in the US. I am going to be applying for my greencard through my husband, but it will probably take over 5 years for me to get it (he is a permanent resident). I am a first year at a US med school and I am thinking about competative residencies, either surgery or radiology. How realistic is it to obtain a competative residence given my situation? I heard that graduating from a US medical school helps a lot, is this true? What steps do I need to take now in order to prepare for the MATCH process and avoid any problems? Thanks to anyone who can help!!