Visa complications snare physicians; hospitals scramble

Anecdotal reports indicate foreign physicians increasingly are getting hung up at U.S. entry points.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Sept. 15, 2003.

Shahid Mahmood, MD, has seen life return to normal since U.S. immigration officials let him return to his family practice in Roxboro, N.C.

What has not returned, however, is his sense of stability. It's unlikely, he said, to return any time soon.

Dr. Mahmood, his wife and 3-year-old daughter were denied re-entry to the United States last summer, following a two-week visit to relatives in Pakistan. Instead, they were forced to return to that country, where for six weeks of uncertainty they waited, while U.S. relatives, Dr. Mahmood's office manager and patients petitioned his congressman.

The experience has tempered his hopes and dreams about life in the United States.

"What if there's another [immigration] law down the road? What if later I want to invest and buy another office? I'll have to think twice," he said.

He is not alone. A small, but growing number of international medical graduates are finding their dreams threatened because they are unable to gain access to the United States. They are losing residency slots, missing opportunities to take the required U.S. Clinical Skills Assessment Exam and being denied permission to return to existing practices.

While no hard numbers are available, both the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates and immigration attorneys said they are seeing more visa delays and denials than in years past.

For IMGs trying to get a visa from a U.S. consular office in their home country, the process -- which now requires a one-on-one interview -- is time-consuming. Arranging the interview can take months. Paperwork must be in order and visa applicants must pass an FBI security investigation. Other barriers can arise along the way.