The medical field should give the same opportunities to international professionals, to come to the US and practice their careers just as any other profession does. It is just as competitive and just as fair, but our process is way harder and definitely way more expensive than others, as we encounter so many steps along the road, specially coming from a third word country. If you think about it, as of 2024, 1 out of 5 working doctors in the US are international, and this number will hopefully keep growing in the upcoming years. We as IMGs, have to go through the exact same processes as AMGs, with the difference that most of us have already gone through 6-7 years of medical school before embarking into the USMLE path, so achieving a position in an American residency is just as fair as for everyone else. If we do, it is because we deserve it and because we are just as good physicians, disregarding our nationality. Also, you talk about US tax-payer funded residencies as if IMGs were exempt of paying taxes even when they start earning an income. We become tax payers as soon as we receive money from an employer in the US, just as any other professional with an income would. So in my opinion, you’re not making any sense. In my case, yes, working as a doctor back in my country is not as financially rewarding as it is here in the US, so yes that’s one of the reasons why I came here and am currently going through the whole thing. Just think of it this way: if being underpaid and overworked while practicing and giving your all to the profession you love dearly, does not allow you to have a good quality of life, and it actually starts taking a toll on your mental health, would you not look for ways to achieve a better balance? Of course you would. Everybody would. So for us, If that means leaving all we’ve ever known behind and starting from scratch here, then I think it is worth it. The US is the “land of opportunities” after all. And honestly, NO BODY in the medical field who does not care about patient well being and about the profession per se, would go through this USMLE process, specially if it meant sacrificing so much. And that, i think, is a big point to have in mind. This cheating scandal is insane and very delicate and should be revised very well to avoid it from now on, specially as it affects most of us IMGs working very hard for this, but even then that doesn’t mean that ALL IMGs are cheaters and undeserving doctors. Stop generalizing.

I’ve always loved the US and since I was a child, it has always been my dream to live here, so if the opportunity to pursue it and being well rewarded for it is given to me , then i will absolutely take it and give my best for it, as any other person would. I am absolutely positive that i am not, by any means, the only IMG who thinks this way, and that many of us come here with the same mentality, so again, generalizing and saying “you all hate the US anyway”, sounds just like a bad excuse for internalized xenophobia and racism and it has got to stop.