Working in Detroit and living in Windsor as a doctor

[GTP]

Hey everyone,

I'm really desperate for information and I would appreciate your input. I'm sorry if this is a repeat post. I did a search but the posts I found were so long ago that I didn't want to rely on inaccurate or outdated information. Anyway, here's my predicament.

I'm a medical student in new York city and I will be graduating in 2015. I'm a pr of Canada, and that pr expires in 2015. With all my holidays, the fact that I didnt actually leave Canada till 2011, and doing some elective courses in Canada, it turns out that I will be able to renew my visa from 2015 till 2020.

After graduating, I need to complete a residency. I haven't chosen a specialty yet, but whatever I chose will fluctuate around the 4-5 year mark. Assuming I have to complete a 5 year residency, I was thinking of getting a position in Detroit and moving to windsor. Some of you are probably wondering why I don't just get a residency position in Canada. This is extremely difficult to do from USA. Even Canadian grads are having to come to America for residency positions. Also, unless I'm interested in something that Canada really wants (like family medicine), I'm almost positive I won't get a position in Canada, at least in the specialty that I want. I don't want to be stuck doing a plan b specialty just to keep my status. I've done the "hating your job but earning good money" thing before and I was miserable.

Now, back to living in Detroit. The other problem is that most of these residency programs don't offer any visas to begin with, and even the chunk of the ones that do only offer a j1. You are required to leave the country after the j1, and I want to make sure I have somewhere to go back to. Fortunately, after completing residency, it's much more effortless to get a job as an attending physician in Canadian. So this is most likely what will happen to me.

I'm single and don't have anybody to worry about. So my question is if the Detroit/Windsor thing is feasible for 5 years? Residency is busy, and I see myself sleeping at the hospital 3 days a week and only crossing the border maybe every other day. My question is if you spend 6 pm till 5 am in canada, does this actually count as a full day? Obviously, I'll also make sure I fill the gap with other holidays here and there. I should get about 2-3 weeks off a year. If I do this for five years, I'm positive that I will meet the requirements to renew my visa again from 2020-2025. By then, the j1 would have expired, and I'll be able to come to Canada.

Does this sound like its doable at all? Any input would be appreciated. I'm soo lost.

Thank you

[thomachan72]

Originally Posted by GTP

Hey everyone,

I'm really desperate for information and I would appreciate your input. I'm sorry if this is a repeat post. I did a search but the posts I found were so long ago that I didn't want to rely on inaccurate or outdated information. Anyway, here's my predicament.

I'm a medical student in new York city and I will be graduating in 2015. I'm a pr of Canada, and that pr expires in 2015. With all my holidays, the fact that I didnt actually leave Canada till 2011, and doing some elective courses in Canada, it turns out that I will be able to renew my visa from 2015 till 2020.

After graduating, I need to complete a residency. I haven't chosen a specialty yet, but whatever I chose will fluctuate around the 4-5 year mark. Assuming I have to complete a 5 year residency, I was thinking of getting a position in Detroit and moving to windsor. Some of you are probably wondering why I don't just get a residency position in Canada. This is extremely difficult to do from USA. Even Canadian grads are having to come to America for residency positions. Also, unless I'm interested in something that Canada really wants (like family medicine), I'm almost positive I won't get a position in Canada, at least in the specialty that I want. I don't want to be stuck doing a plan b specialty just to keep my status. I've done the "hating your job but earning good money" thing before and I was miserable.

Now, back to living in Detroit. The other problem is that most of these residency programs don't offer any visas to begin with, and even the chunk of the ones that do only offer a j1. You are required to leave the country after the j1, and I want to make sure I have somewhere to go back to. Fortunately, after completing residency, it's much more effortless to get a job as an attending physician in Canadian. So this is most likely what will happen to me.

I'm single and don't have anybody to worry about. So my question is if the Detroit/Windsor thing is feasible for 5 years? Residency is busy, and I see myself sleeping at the hospital 3 days a week and only crossing the border maybe every other day. My question is if you spend 6 pm till 5 am in canada, does this actually count as a full day? Obviously, I'll also make sure I fill the gap with other holidays here and there. I should get about 2-3 weeks off a year. If I do this for five years, I'm positive that I will meet the requirements to renew my visa again from 2020-2025. By then, the j1 would have expired, and I'll be able to come to Canada.

Does this sound like its doable at all? Any input would be appreciated. I'm soo lost.

Thank you

I have seen PR holders from canada come here for residencies/other training and that period is counted towards their residency requirements for canadian citizenship application even though they dont cross the border as you are planning to. consult a canadian immigr attorney about the possibility.

[GTP]

Thank you. I posted in the attorney thread

[rajchadha]

I think you are going to be fine as long as you have a permanent address in canada, ontario driving liscense,ontarion health card etc.I guess you gotta be absent for more than 6 months. Only then they dont count it towards your citizenship requirement.

[GTP]

Yes thank you. You are right. Unfortunately, I will simply be renewing my pr over and over again. That's at least three renewals. I won't be able to even worry about citizenship till 2020

[GTP]

Thanks everyone. I've gotten more support here in a day than other places I posted in months. It's good to know this is doable if it becomes my last resort.