Postdoc-ing in the US: A cautionary tale

UPDATE: I got my waiver today, it took much less time than expected. Now just the processing of the new visa and I'm good to go! I guess I should probably start prepping my lectures now that it looks like I'll be legal to teach come August...

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Greetings! It has been a long time since I last posted, for two reasons: 1) preparing to move and start a faculty position while attempting to wrap up postdoc projects is an insane amount of work, and 2) I am currently in US immigration hell due to the two-year home residency requirement attached to my J-1 visa. It is this last issue that I thought I would write about today, as I think it is an issue that potentially effects a lot of people and I would like to save others from the stress and anxiety that I am dealing with now (knowing is half the battle!).

For those who don't want to read my whole story, you can scroll straight to the take-home message at the end.

There was an underwhelming supply of postdoctoral positions in my field within Canada, largely because most Canadian research grants are not large enough to support postdoc salaries. So, like many others, I found myself a position in the largest, most prestigious lab in the US that I could. In some aspects, this strategy worked out very well. For example, I was able to obtain a postdoctoral fellowship from a Canadian granting agency (NSERC) to pay for the 2nd and 3rd years of my postdoc. Sounds great, no? No. It turns out, there is a huge down-side to being good enough to get fellowships or grants - your life will probably turn into a giant bureaucratic nightmare.

Most foreign postdocs in the US work on a J-1 visa. If you obtain funding from a fellowship or grant funded by a government agency, either your own home government or the US government, you immediately become subject to a 'two-year home residency requirement' (whether it is indicated on your immigration forms or not). That means, at the end of your J-1 visa period you are required to return to your home country for a minimum of two years before you can work in the US on any other visa. Why does this matter, you ask? Don't I want to return to my home and native land?

I would love to return to Canada, but there just aren't enough faculty jobs available there. This past year there were only two tenure-track positions in my area in Canada and far more than two Canadians looking for faculty positions. On the other hand, the job market for tenure-track positions in the US was the best it's been in many years (although still not great), and I was able to secure myself a great faculty position. As a Canadian, however, I have to apply for a new visa to work in a tenure-track position, as the J-1 visa is only for temporary workers. Aaaaaand, that's where sh*t gets complicated.

I found out 99 days before my new job starts that I am subject to this two-year home residency requirement and that before I can obtain a new visa I have to obtain a waiver from the US Department of State (at the bargain-basement price of $215, plus hours and hours of paperwork). Oh yeah, before the DoS will process the waiver application, they need a diplomatic note from the Canadian embassy indicating that they have no objection to me not going back to Canada (which requires even more money and paperwork). The whole waiver process typically takes around 2-3 months, if things go well, meaning there will be very little time to process my visa before I am supposed to start work. There is a real possibility that I will not be legally able to work by my start date, causing all sorts of other headaches.

For me, the most discouraging aspect is that it seems like one is being punished for being at the top of their field. Essentially, all this extra time, effort, and money is only required because I was good enough to obtain a fellowship. If I hadn't been awarded this funding I would have saved myself a solid week of paperwork, hundreds of dollars in notary, courier, and application fees, and a lot of stress. Given that I already had a postdoc position and a PI that could afford to pay me a salary, if I could go back in time and decline the funding I probably would. Lesson learned - I will always look into the long-tern consequences of grants before I accept them.

Take-home message: for many Canadian (and other foreign) academics it will be necessary to go to the US to find postdoc and faculty positions, and many will be subject to the home residency requirement. The two-year home residency requirement can be dealt with, but not without much time, effort, and money. If you know that you will be applying for faculty positions in the US and will need a waiver if you get a job, start putting together your application materials early and submit your waiver application as soon as you've signed your contract. This should give you enough time to get the waiver approved before your new visa needs to be processed. Plus, there is always the possibility, albeit slim, that the Dept. of State will not approve your waiver, so the extra time will allow you to get the help of an immigration lawyer if you need to.

Also, never EVER throw away any of your paperwork from past visas, as you will need every single one of them for your waiver application (I had to include copies of every DS-2019 I've ever been issued). If you don't have the necessary paperwork all your applications will be delayed and you will likely have to go through the long, arduous, and expensive process of obtaining copies. And keep your old passport if you get it renewed - for some of the applications you need to include copies of every stamp in your passport related to entering the US.

I hope that someone out there now has a much easier time of things because they read this and can prepare in advance for the onslaught of paperwork that accompanies getting a faculty position in the US as a foreigner.