Canadians Who Are Denied Statement of Need

The Canadian Ministry of Health is going to cap out how many Canadian citizens are allowed to get residency positions in the US.  I don't understand the reason behind it because Canada needs doctors, but it's important to know all the facts if you are Canadian citizen.  For those who plan to get a J-1 visa, you have you re-new your work visa every year but you need Statement of Need one time for ECFMG.

Get US Citizenship If You Can
If you are in basic sciences or in clinical rotations, do your self a favor and find a way to get US green card or citizenship. A strong factor for applicants to get residency is their visa status. Residency programs do have the ability to sponsor you but they will choose not to if they can avoid it because the fees and paperwork is overwhelming; also they don't have the staff to do all that.

What if you are denied Statement of Need (SON)?
In a last post, I wrote that Statement of Need from Canada will be limited for the upcoming year.  To recap, SONs are needed to get ECFMG sponsored J-1 visas to start residency.  Unfortunately Canada sees the SONs as a whole for the entire country and the numbers are not correct, according to my research.  One way to get around this and get a SON from the Health Ministry is to call hospitals from your residential province and ask them if they need doctors for the specialty you are seeking to get residency in.  If they say yes, which is most likely, then get an office letter from them or an email, and send that to the Health Ministry. I'm sharing this because Canadians who were denied SONs in the past use this method.  I strongly recommend you stay away from specializing and focus on Internal medicine or Family Medicine to increase your chances to get an SON.