Visa Categories
Electives/Rotations/Clerkships
For Current Medical Students
If you are currently a medical student at a non-U.S. medical university and you are interested in participating in an elective or rotation at Jefferson, you must apply by completing the Visiting Student Clinical Electives online application as managed via the Jefferson Registrar's Office.
If you have any questions on the application itself, please contact the Registrar's Office directly:
University.Registrar@jefferson.edu
215-503-8734
The International Office DOES NOT place students in electives, rotations, or clerkships. You must contact the registrar's office to apply.
- If you are accepted for an elective or clerkship at Jefferson, you can apply for the B-1 visa at your nearest U.S. consulate. According to the Department of State, the B-1 visa status has a specific provision for medical students who are interested in participating in clerkships at U.S. institutions. You may print this page and bring it with you to the consulate should you have any problems applying for the B-1 visa.
- If you are eligible for the visa waiver, you may also do your clerkship in the visa waiver status.
- Jefferson does not issue the F-1 or J-1 documents for medical electives or clerkships.
Authority Cite
The Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual recognizes the use of the B-1 category for students pursuing a medical degree at a foreign institution, who are coming to the United States to engage in a required clerkship (unpaid). The use of the B-1 for this purpose is limited to medical students, and does not extend to alien physicians who have already completed medical college.
Practice Note: The "medical clerkship" use of the B-1 is reserved for medical students. Students who have already graduated are not eligible to use the B-1 in this way. For example, foreign medical graduates might seek an externship to gain clinical experience in order to increase the likelihood of securing a medical residency in the United States. But if the individual has already graduated from his or her medical college abroad, he or she cannot use the B-1 for this purpose, since it does not constitute "an approved part of the alien's foreign medical college education."