Caribbean Immigration (Med School Discount! - Secrets - Shhh...)

[bjcheung77]

One of my cousins completed a BSc in Neuroscience from an all girls private school in Florida and was interested in going to St George for the MD & PhD in Physiology & Neuroscience, she's more than a dozen years my junior.  I've been researching universities for another few cousins in regards to Caribbean Med Schools and came across questions in regards to immigration as well.  Caribbean schools are on the rise (in numbers of schools and total enrollment) yet in some cases, a few schools have closed. 

Downsides to Caribbean schools - Unexpected Closures! Doh!  Here are examples of a few that closed in recent years:
1) Alexander American University - Prob the most affordable med school catering to clients from South Asia
2) Destiny University - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_University
3) Seoul Central College of Medicine - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_Cent...f_Medicine

Then there are the stories of Residency Matching for MD graduates, the "better schools from the Big 4" have the highest match rate at roughly the same as the US counterparts at 90-94%, but smaller/unknown schools have a dismal 54%-60% match rate compared to US counterparts.

Amazingly, an upside to Caribbean schools is Immigration! Oh yeah baby, with that comes inexpensive education!  Get this, for those who have Grenada citizenship, they get a 90% tuition discount for Med school at St Georges.  You must reside in Grenada for a year before starting school.  It costs $150 grand for a single application, $200 grand for a family of 4 plus extra fees...

Antigua anyone? University of West Indies, 1 year FREE for 1 member of the family, just $150 grand for a family of 6.  That's just insane, it's pretty cheap for a second citizenship and passport.  People get a second citizenship/passport for many reasons, I think it's more of a status symbol for the rich.  Going the route of Immigration might just offset the price... and you have a second citizenship for business/travel purposes, especially for those coming from "restrictive" countries.

Aruba, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis? Yes, if you apply to some of these medical schools, it is FREE if you get the scholarship.  Requirements aren't simple, GPA 3.2+, get admitted into the program and chosen from a long list of applications, etc... How much would it cost if you're not a Citizen/Resident?  Medical school costs range from under 50K for valedictorians because of scholarships up to $250K for the Big 4 - that's just the tuition itself.

I have a spreadsheet I created for myself as a Matrix/Reference, some schools provide up to 100% scholarship even to non-citizens.  The schools I am really interested in are schools that have a graduate school along with their Medical School, many of these don't have that option but the Big 4 and a few select others.

Time to check out some non Caribbean (ASEAN and Eastern European) countries and see what they offer, there are many schools in this region that also teach Medicine (MBBS) in English at a fraction of the price, I wonder how immigration works for them in that category!  Hmm, Oceania Medical School in Samoa... doh! Citizenship is 1 Million?!  Back to the drawing board for that one...

[akr680]

Thanks for the information regarding second passport.

[nyvrem]

Since you mention ASEAN and EU, i'm gonna list stuff I've randomly found over the years that I could recall just for kicks.

This is a centralize website for all university programs in China, they have quite a few MBBS that's taught in english and cost starts from 4k USD/year.

https://www.sicas.cn/DegreeListSearch.aspx

This is a list of medical programs in Italy that's taught in english, cost start from $5k USD and above i think.

https://www.medschool.it/medschools-ital...-rankings/

[anewmanx]

Oradea in Romania teaches in English and is dirt cheap.

[innen_oda]

Oradea in Romania teaches in English and is dirt cheap.

Which school is this? Oradea/Nagyvárad is a city.

[bjcheung77]

LOL - Hmm, I had the same question - I reviewed his message yesterday, should be this one.
Web Link: https://www.medlinkstudents.com/oradea-m...niversity/
Wikipedia Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oradea

[anewmanx]

LOL - Hmm, I had the same question - I reviewed his message yesterday, should be this one.
Web Link: https://www.medlinkstudents.com/oradea-m...niversity/
Wikipedia Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oradea

Indeed. Valuemd has great info on it.

[SteveFoerster]

With Ross having moved to Barbados, Dominica only has All Saints U. left, and that's probably not the best choice for someone who wants to practice medicine in the U.S.

[bjcheung77]

Two places to consider are Spain and Portugal; both have very straightforward options for people who might want to live there (even just temporarily) to obtain legal residency.
In short, you’ll need to demonstrate that you have sufficient cash, liquid assets and/or monthly income so that you won’t become a burden to local welfare programs.
Spain and Portugal are just two drops in an ocean of options.

Portugal’s “D7” visa requirements, for example, are based on the current minimum wage.
So if you have an income or cash savings of at least €7,620 (the annual minimum wage in Portugal, roughly USD $9,000), you can receive a temporary residency permit that’s valid for 1 year.
If you bring your spouse, you’d need an additional 50% of that amount, plus 30% for each child.  So a family of four would need about $18,000.

(This is the bare minimum, and of course it’s always best to show more if possible when you submit your application.)
And to be clear, this is YOUR money. It’s not like you have to pay it to the government as a fee or anything.
You keep it in your bank account, and spend it as you see fit.
The Portuguese government just needs to know that you have (or earn) enough to support yourself.

Spain has a type of visa that is very similar to Portugal’s D7. It’s called “residencia no lucrativa” or “non-lucrative residency.”
Spain is more demanding when it comes to showing savings or income, but their requirements are not outrageous.
This required amount increases slightly each year, depending on the Spanish minimum wage.
As of 2020, they want to see that the primary applicant has €25,560, and an additional €6,390 for each additional family member.
So, a family of four would need to show a minimum €44,730 of savings to qualify for residency in Spain (or almost $50,000).

[Lacedonia4]

On Collegescorecard I found a very cheap college in Puerto Rico.

For Spain, the $50k has to be in savings or in total yearly income?