Approved for 1-month unpaid internship at an American med school, 214(b) rejection at interview?

[bullandre 8]

Asking on behalf of a friend. She's Syrian, but she lives and studies medicine in Turkey, and is due to graduate this summer. We've been pen-pals for two years.

I helped her get approved for a one-month internship at a school over here, three months prior to graduation (she sent me her paperwork, and I delivered it to the university for her). This internship provides a great opportunity for her to speak to residency coordinators and get a realistic idea of her career prospects in the US after graduating.

With all due respect, she does not need a one month unpaid internship to figure out that information. If she's really serious about doing her residency here, I would tell her to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination, then apply to the programs and go from there. Even without you in the picture, her plan would still seem suspicious.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

You may feel badly but there's nothing you can do, and ultimately the decisions she made are hers. There's nothing quick about immigration and I can only guess she'll have other opportunities along the way to immigrate.

I find your offer of residency odd and it makes me wonder about your true intent and your actual feelings for each other. In addition, you don't truly know this person (and I know you've said you've been a pen-pal for 2 years) but she could very well get here and claim asylum, etc. You just don't know. There are so many stories here of people arriving on visas and things going terribly wrong.

Residency NOT as in living together. Residency as in educational process for doctors....

[KHas 0]

You may feel badly but there's nothing you can do, and ultimately the decisions she made are hers. There's nothing quick about immigration and I can only guess she'll have other opportunities along the way to immigrate.

I find your offer of residency odd and it makes me wonder about your true intent and your actual feelings for each other. In addition, you don't truly know this person (and I know you've said you've been a pen-pal for 2 years) but she could very well get here and claim asylum, etc. You just don't know. There are so many stories here of people arriving on visas and things going terribly wrong.

I'm not offering anything. A residency is a position at a hospital, like a fellowship. The competition for them is fierce, with higher test scores expected of foreign graduates than domestic ones to be considered in the first place. The testing would take a year of her time and several thousand dollars to complete. She wanted to try for it, but if it's out of reach, better to find that out now before making the investment - Germany and Turkey are both viable (and less demanding) alternatives.

With all due respect, she does not need a one month unpaid internship to figure out that information. If she's really serious about doing her residency here, I would tell her to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination, then apply to the programs and go from there. Even without you in the picture, her plan would still seem suspicious.

I fail to see how so. If she doesn't go back to graduate at the end of the internship, her career is over before it can start. Edited March 6, 2016 by KHas

[Boiler 45,872]

I would have thought the assumption was that an asylum application would follow baggage reclaim and she already has an interest in moving to the US.

[Boiler 45,872]

I fail to see how so. If she doesn't go back to graduate at the end of the internship, her career is over before it can start.

She would just pick up and carry on in the US, a temporary glitch.

[KHas 0]

I would have thought the assumption was that an asylum application would follow baggage reclaim and she already has an interest in moving to the US.

At the time the internship ends, she'd be three months from graduating medical school back in Turkey. Claiming asylum would mean abandoning that, leaving her here with a month's worth of money, nowhere to live, and no job prospects. She wants to be a doctor; that means taking the tests, matching for residency, and coming back on a different visa. The B1 is for the internship she was approved for, nothing more.

I don't get your last post. Walking out on six years of med school at the last second isn't a "temporary glitch." It's a career-killer.

Edited March 6, 2016 by KHas

[Boiler 45,872]

The chances of getting a work visa as a Doctor is there but a very long shot.

The chance of being able to successfully apply for Asylum is very high.

I know which one I would go for given the choice. I am sure the Consulate have a similar view.

[KHas 0]

The chances of getting a work visa as a Doctor is there but a very long shot.

The chance of being able to successfully apply for Asylum is very high.

I know which one I would go for given the choice. I am sure the Consulate have a similar view.

Better to flip burgers in the US than work as a resident doctor in Germany or Turkey?

I appreciate that if the COs didn't view these cases with suspicion then they wouldn't be doing their jobs. Syria is a scary place right now, to say the least, and there are going to be certain assumptions made because of that. I just don't see a request for asylum or overstaying her visa being favorable options considering where she currently stands, and what she stands to lose if she tried it.

If they're just going to take her money without giving her a fair hearing maybe it'd be best if she didn't apply again.

[KHas 0]

In all likelihood she wouldn't get approved in time to take part in this internship now anyway. It was supposed to last the month of April. Missed opportunity. All I was looking for was some good-faith suggestions to pass along.

Edited March 6, 2016 by KHas

[Super King 26]

Is it internship or clerkship(elective)? I don't think it would be an internship. Anyways if approved they usually give 10 year multiple entry visa or in worst case scenario they would give 6 month single entry visa. In either scenario CO would assume that there is a risk that she would end up claiming asylum after graduation (which is within 3 months). She can apply again without your letter, she might get approval. But if she really wants to do medical residency in United states, she should apply for visa after clearing at least one step of USMLE with good score.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Super King

[KHas 0]

Is it internship or clerkship(elective)? I don't think it would be an internship. Anyways if approved they usually give 10 year multiple entry visa or in worst case scenario they would give 6 month single entry visa. In either scenario CO would assume that there is a risk that she would end up claiming asylum after graduation (which is within 3 months). She can apply again without your letter, she might get approval. But if she really wants to do medical residency in United states, she should apply for visa after clearing at least one step of USMLE with good score.

Thanks for your reply. The school called it an observership. I'm not in that field, I don't know the distinction, I just gave her papers to the school and got CC'd on the emails between them after that. Pretty sure the idea here was a single-entry visa, she'd only be here for the one month and needed to go back after in order to graduate. Wouldn't she need to apply for a different kind of visa altogether if she got a residency position? She'd have no need for a multiple-entry B1.

I had floated the idea that she might apply for a work visa after graduating, that she might live and work in the US while finishing the USMLE - figured English immersion might help. She raised some practical objections to the idea, thinks cost-of-living would be too high here among other things (and now I'm thinking she'd face difficulties applying for a work visa as she has with this one). I think she plans to finish the USMLE while working in Turkey after graduating.

Edited March 6, 2016 by KHas

[Lemonslice 4,942]

Is she fluent in German? Tuition is free in Germany, that would be a big plus if I were to make that decision.

[KHas 0]

Is she fluent in German? Tuition is free in Germany, that would be a big plus if I were to make that decision.

She put more focus on English than German (she's fluent in three other languages, I have no doubt she could master it). She still speaks of Germany as a safe career path for her, but would prefer residency in the US if she can achieve it.

[HFM181818 750]

what exactly is a 'fair hearing?' An approval? Nope. The CO judged the situation, and made a decision...and that CO did ask questions contrary to the OP's slight that the CO 'didn't give her the time of day.'.

No document from anyone could guarantee her return to Syria...she could likely transfer a lot of credits after an asylum claim, and perhaps delay her career by 18 months or so....far easier than a boat ride across the Aegean..

I would not be surprised to learn that the hospital university has already contacted an asylum attorney (the lowest of low) to plan for her arrival.

As for the OP trying to get in between her and the embassy in a positive way, well, that is futile. There is nothing that the OP can do to change the decision nor enhance her chances of getting a visa in the future. Her current university cannot require that she go to the US to complete an internship before graduation.. as that objective requires a visa, one that the university does not regulate. I've heard that one thousands of times from people claiming that they 'have to work' in some US hospital, hotel or business before they can receive their diploma, which is utter nonsense.

Syria is just in too much turmoil for almost anyone to convince a CO that they will be the 1 in 5000 that might return....especially with the US online-BF and asylum beckoning.

[Boiler 45,872]

Better to flip burgers in the US than work as a resident doctor in Germany or Turkey?

I appreciate that if the COs didn't view these cases with suspicion then they wouldn't be doing their jobs. Syria is a scary place right now, to say the least, and there are going to be certain assumptions made because of that. I just don't see a request for asylum or overstaying her visa being favorable options considering where she currently stands, and what she stands to lose if she tried it.

If they're just going to take her money without giving her a fair hearing maybe it'd be best if she didn't apply again.

Why would she flip burgers?

I have seen a few threads from Doctors who have moved to the US, not that easy. She can not apply for a work visa, if it was that simple half the Doctors in the world would have done so, I do not know how much they pay Doctors in Turkey/Syria, reasonable to assume it is a lot less than in the US.

I do not see where she did not get a fair hearing, you have mentioned nothing to substantiate that.