US Military to hire IMGs & grant faster citizenships

Does serving as a Doc in the US Military Service excite you? A couple of days ago, the Pentagon announced that it fell short of about 1000 people in the domain of medical services and foreign language support. Previously only green-card holders were hired for uniform-jobs, but now legal visa holding people with various work and student visas will be considered too - doctors, dentists, nurses and foreign language students, workers.

Details are yet to emerge about the kind of visa deals, but these will be post-residency docs (does include J1 holders too) - As of now the US Military website says this:

"The pilot program provides successful applicants with a way to accelerate achievement of U.S. citizenship, with the proviso that they’re willing to serve in our time of need to fulfill a vital national interest. Applicants are required to commit to specified periods of military service." and "Those volunteering to serve the nation by joining the military during a time of war would be eligible for accelerated citizenship – as are all others who serve in the military – by virtue of the Jan. 2, 2002 executive order which allows expedited naturalization for those non-citizens who serve in our armed forces."

Commitment needed = 3 years of active duty or 6 years in a selected reserve

Download Eligibility Requirements Here [pdf]

Read Newsweek story Here


Also Read:

- Pay for Canadian MDs in Afghanistan = $155,000 a Month !
- On Call In Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story

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No Drivers Licenses for new IMGs in Michigan

ALERT: The a new rule to reverse the foolish rule has been signed by the governor 5 days ago - it will only be a matter of few weeks / months until immigrants start getting Drivers Licenses Issued too.

Thanks to alert readers to point that out to me !

Read Reversal News here

So read the post below as an archive instead ;-)


"
Some laws are exasperating, some ridiculous - while some qualify for both the epithets like the new law effective Jan 2008 in the state of Michigan does not allow issuing new driving licenses to visa-needing immigrants on student (F1), exchange(J1) and work visas (H1) - only citizens and permanent residents may get new licenses !
Thus, the law is not targeted specifically for IMGs as such -rather for any visa needing non-resident alien in general...but since it effectively does include visa needing IMGs, the cheeky title of this post is justified ;-)


So if you were ranking Michigan residency programs high for the 2008 Match - you might wanna rethink - Unless of course you don't mind walking or biking (cycling) out in the cold, or have a hopefully good public transport system to carry you to work or have someone else drop you......

Hehe......well I did not mean that you should be altering rank order lists coz' am sure this law will be amended soon and Michigan State Medical Society is working on that - if not this year, then the next - but for this year, do not forget to carry an International Drivers Permit (IDP) with you from your home country , which will allow you to drive for a year in any U.S. state - like I covered here. That should have you covered, since the ban is on issuing licenses and not on driving per se.

But then again, Michigan state does not recognize IDPs from all countries - like it accepts them from India but not Pakistan - Click here to check out the list of countries whose IPDs are accepted in Michigan

Read Michigan State law announcement here

Read AMA news article Here



Also Read:

- Visa Basics for International Medical Graduates in USA

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"Desperate Housewives" Insults Filipino Medical Graduates

Teri Hatcher's character on "Desperate Housewives", Susan, after being shocked at a physician's diagnosis of Menopause says - "OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines ?"

This was in pretty bad taste, you would agree. Obviously drew a lot of angry phone calls and an apology from the ABC studios.

As per the 2006 AMA IMG workforce discussion paper [pdf] , International Medical Graduates make up abut 25% of the physician workforce in America. Indians make up the highest percentage at about 24% of all IMG-physicians and Philippines comes next with as many as 10 to 11% of those physicians.

The comment only reflects ignorance on the American laymans part about medical education abroad in countries where IMGs come from, which may not always be with the latest technological aids, but certainly rich in clinical diagnostic and management experiences. Furthermore IMGs in America don't just arrive in tankers or cargo planes and start practicing - they have to undergo the same residency training as the American Medical Graduate do and in fact need to have higher than American national average board scores to enter residencies.

Here's a good article by a Physician recruiter in US, who says', "Don't worry if your physician wasn't born in the US", in response to a friend who wanted a doctor "without a funny name" :-)


Read the news here

And check out this Youtube Clip to judge for yourselves:








Wonder if ABC is smiling a bit after the initial embarrassment - coz' any publicity is good publicity right ?

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