Can a B-1 visa be issued for a medical clerkship?

The B-1 visitor visa is a dynamic visa, and the U.S. government will often issue the visa to individuals who plan to engage in permitted activities but do not neatly fit into other visa categories.

One potential use of the B-1 visa is for those in the medical education field – specifically, for those traveling to the United States for a medical clerkship, or those traveling to the U.S. to observe U.S. medical practices and to consult with colleagues. In this post, we will take a look at this little-known use of the B-1 visa.

A medical clerkship, or rotation, usually occurs in the latter portion of a medical student’s education, and occurs in a teaching hospital under the supervision of faculty physicians. The clerkship or rotation is meant to give the student hands-on experience in an actual hospital setting. The Foreign Affairs Manual, a publication of the U.S. Department of State that serves as the basic organizational directive for consular officers, defines a medical clerkship as being one that “affords practical experience and instructions in the various disciplines of medicine under the supervision and direction of faculty physicians at a U.S. medical school’s hospital as an approved part of the applicant’s foreign medical school education.”

According to the Foreign Affairs Manual, an individual who is studying at a foreign medical school can be granted a B-1 visa to participate in a medical clerkship at a U.S. hospital. 9 FAM 402.2-5(E)(3) describes the following as falling within B-1 visa classification:

An applicant who is studying at a foreign medical school and seeks to enter the United States temporarily in order to take an “elective clerkship” at a U.S. medical school’s hospital without remuneration from the hospital. The medical clerkship is only for medical students pursuing their normal third- or fourth-year internship in a U.S. medical school as part of a foreign medical school degree.

Note that not all consular officers are familiar with this use of the B-1 visa. As a result, the applicant should be prepared to clearly explain how they plan to use the visa, and to show the consular officer that, according to the FAM, this is a permitted basis on which to issue a B-1 visa.

There are a few limitations that are important to be aware of. First, the medical clerkship cannot be paid. Also, the applicant must be a student – if they have already graduated from a medical program, they are ineligible for a B-1 visa for this purpose. Also, the B-1 visa allows a maximum stay of six months, so the medical clerkship should ideally be for a period shorter than six months.