Initial Arrival

Offer Letter

• The Program Coordinator and the Training Program Liaison (TPL) for ECFMG will work together to get your offer letter created. 

• Once it is created, the TPL will send it to the Program Coordinator for approval and to get the Program Director Signature

• After the Program Director signs the offer letter, the Program Coordinator will send it to you for your approval/signature.

• The Applicant or the Program Coordinator will send the completed offer letter back to the TPL

Checklist Documents

• The TPL will send you a list of documents that they require to open your ECFMG appointment profile. It is important to send back these documents as soon as you have them available.

Statement of Need (SoN)

• You should start working on your statement of need with the Ministry of Health (MoH) in your home county as soon as possible. Sometimes you will need your offer letter (described above) to apply.

• The Ministry of Health should send the Statement of Need directly to ECFMG.

  • Instructions on how the MoH can submit the SoN

• Once your appointment profile is complete, ECFMG will send your DS-2019 form to the University of Minnesota Graduate Medical Education Office.

• Our office will retrieve your DS-2019, and will Internationally ship it to your preferred address.

• Once you receive your DS-2019 in the mail (or before if you anticipate it will be coming) schedule your visa interview with the US Embassy.

  • Check the Visa Appointment Wait Times in the city near you

  • Due to the Pandemic only "Emergency Appointments" are being taken. You would be considered essential.

As soon as you arrive in the US, email your initial arrival documents to the TPL by emailing them to gme@umn.edu. The documents are:

• • ECFMG Initial Validation of Arrival Form

  • I-94

  • Copy of J-1 visa page from the passport, if applicable (Canadian citizens do not have J visa stamp) 

Once the TPL received your documents, they will upload them to your ECFMG appointment profile

• • ECFMG will approved the documents and send them to SEVIS.

• • Step by step instructions on how to apply for a Social Security Number

J1 visa application process and timeline (India)

1. Work on your SON application even before you get the offer letter (because you do not need the offer letter for this).  

• complete the application (Pages 3-12 of the PDF - details about you, and your 2 sureties)

• work on your surety bond (on a non-judicial stamp paper of Rs. 100) – the first page of surety bond (page 7) on this stamp paper.

• Sureties – one, a relative who is responsible for paying the bond value if you don’t (you’ll need to affix their photo) and second, non-relative gazette officer who has at least 7 years of service left.

• This will have to be notarized

2. Keep a copy of the offer letter, a copy of your valid Indian passport (excluding blank pages), copy of your visa in connection to your present stay in the foreign country.

• • Prepaid return mailing envelope.

  • Keep them all (1, 2, 3) in a bigger envelope without folding and send them to the ministry of health and family welfare in India.

• You will receive the SON at the address you specified. There’ll be a sealed envelope containing the SON that should be sent to the ECFMG – DO NOT OPEN THIS. Take this to a FedEx office and have this mailed to ECFMG (the fastest way possible).

• ECFMG will provide your DS 2019 that will go to your Liaison, who will then send it to you. (ensure they send to the address you are presently at - home country or US).

•  In the interim, you should have all your J1 visa applications filled and ready. You can submit it as soon as you put the DS 2019 number.

• Schedule your visa interview appointment as soon as you are allowed to.

Timeline

• Completing the SON application: 3-4 days

• Ministry of health processing time for SON: 30-40 days

• ECFMG processing time for DS 2019: 2-3 weeks

• Completing your visa application to your visa interview: Variable – 10 days to 3 months

• Please allow time for the transportation and delivery of mails (5-10 days each).