Overview

Visa-requiring residents comprise a significant proportion of the internal medicine residents across the country. The laws, policies, and procedures related to visas are complex and nuanced but ultimately have significant impact on a residency program. Additionally, visa-related issues are often an important consideration as residents consider post-residency career plans. Not all residency programs are fortunate enough to have immigration attorneys available to provide guidance for complex visa scenarios. Absent formal education about these topics, program directors and administrators without ready access to legal expertise may struggle to appropriately advise residents and manage these situations that their programs may face. Compounding these challenges is the uncertainty revolving around anticipated changes to visa programs and immigration by the federal government. In this workshop, the presenters (two program directors and a senior vice president from Intealth) will provide a framework for program directors and administrators to understand key components of the visa and immigration process. We will begin by describing an overview of the current state of the immigration and visa process for resident physicians, including comparing and contrasting H1b visas and J1 visas, including the requirements to obtain and maintain them as well as post-training implications of each visa type. With that discussion as background, we will present a series of common and challenging case scenarios related to visas and immigration for attendees to work through in small groups to illustrate effective approaches to collaborating with a multidisciplinary team to manage these situations.

Speakers

Kacie Saulters, M.D.
Tracy Wallowicz, MLS
Robert Pargament, MD

Content Track

Administration

Audience

GME

Program Type

University-Based, Community-Based

Additional Information

Year Published: 2025 - APDIM Fall Meeting 2025