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I think we both know that even if I was willing to go to any lengths to get in, admitting to fraudulent intent in an online forum is a bad idea haha. Even a pseudonymous one.
I think it's nigh inevitable that we're all unmasked by AI doing stylometry. My OP-sec is far from perfect, and there's enough unique information about me out there that a determined human adversary could manage. I even nurse minor ambitions of becoming a Proper Blogger some day, and that just increases the attack surface.
In all honesty, I want it to be as legal as I can make it. I could certainly afford a flight to Guatemala or Nicaragua and find a mule, but I don't want to live the life of an illegal immigrant. The medical profession in UK might not be ideal, but it beats that as far as I'm concerned!
As for finding a legitimate American wife, the easiest way is to be in America. Most Americans are sensible enough not to move to either the UK or India. Most of them would also prefer that their husband be gainfully employed.
To practise as a doctor in the States requires me to be eligible for the USMLE and then pass it. I've been keeping a close eye on the recent trend of many individual US states waiving the residency requirement, but to my dismay, there isn't one that does away with the USMLE altogether, not even if I were a senior clinician who had finished their higher training in a peer medical system like the UK. They usually ask that such candidates work in under-served rural areas, but I can deal with that.
(This is true, the bit about being peers. The NHS is certainly poorer, but not to that extent. We've got the same things you do in your private hospitals, we just have to dole the expensive stuff out much more begrudgingly. And psychiatry? You can't get away with just a pen and paper these days, but it isn't a very demanding field in terms of equipment)
I'd strongly prefer to continue working as a doctor. I haven't entirely ruled out a pivot to something that is non-clinical, which would let me work in the States, but many options take additional degrees and loads of time. Time I don't think I have, with the pace of progress in AI.
A friend of mine, from the same med school, ended up doing a PhD in Public Health in Texas and now works with the big names, but the ideal time for me to have done that would have been 3 years in the past.
If I did so now, not only would I be taking up educational debt, I'd be losing out on several years of earnings. This wouldn't mean shit in India, but since I'm already in the UK..
You can see how complicated things are. If I had to rank my options:
1.5) If that USMLE issue is fixed, I would also be able to go to countries that are better off than the UK and pay doctors well. Think Canada or NZ, the same obstacle blocks all of them. Slightly lower payoff than the States, but I'd be happy with it.
Continue training in the UK and resign myself to life here. It beats India. This is more or less something I can count on.
Discard clinical medicine and do something that doesn't have so much regulatory red tape, and try to get into the States that way. Uncertain odds, massive opportunity costs if I have to quit my job and training program.
Now, if some lovely lady becomes so enamored by my hobby of arguing with strangers online that she wants to marry me, I might not say no haha. If I was a US citizen, then I could apply for jobs that think that even if my medical credentials aren't directly applicable, it's proof of general competence.
Thank you. I'd have linked to the same post on the Motte if I wasn't too tired to dig through my profile. If you were one of the people who had said it back then, I appreciate you, and I do now.
I think I'd be a fine American. Let's see if that pans out, my life hasn't been entirely terrible outside of it.
You also have the option of completing training in the UK and then moving to a country like Australia that wants to poach British-trained doctors.
I would if I could! The same American NGO that certifies international doctors as being eligible for the USMLE, is also relied upon by other Commonwealth countries to vet applicants.
The UK still has delusions of grandeur, and has their own certification pathway without entirely outsourcing that bit to an American org. Unfortunately, this doesn't provide a way to side-step the issues with my original med school, even if my higher training is recognized by Australia and New Zealand.
Otherwise I'd probably be replying back at an awkward time zone, as soon as I was safe from drop bear attack.
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