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You would have to find a University that offers Pharm D degrees to foreigners. There´s information about this on this forum. Look up and I am sure you will find it.

Hi, No the equivalency certificate is not equivalent to the Pharm D. Between the two, an American employer will always go for the second. As for the SSN, this is not so straightforward, most employers ask for an intern license or permit and most States request this SSN in order to issue the document. According to several recruiting companies this document is needed for H1 petition. Hope this helps.

Judging by the professionalism of their Recruiter, I doubt it...

Hi, What email did you use and what do you mean by bounced back?

This topic is most interesting. I am sure many could share their opinions here as to why many of the major chains are not hiring. Rite Aid has offered H1B sponsorship this year. As for other other chains, I wouldn´t know.

This topic is most interesting. I am sure many could share their opinions here as to why many of the major chains are not hiring. Rite Aid has offered H1B sponsorship this year. As for other other chains, I wouldn´t know.

Sirinaplex, Your question is most pertinent and worthy of a topic by itself. It would seem that despite the national shortage for pharmacists in the US, when someone approaches the big chains and is willing to go anywhere like you say you are, they will just ignore you. Either there is no shortage at all or these people just don´t want to have the hassle of sponsoring a visa. Good luck to you.

It is difficult.

yup, time is running...The thing is, I don´t know if those guys at the Board will process anything in one week. They like to take their time.

I would guess doing anything contrary to what a contract says is breaching it. Rite Aid offer.

Not in Texas. At the time, I sent an email to TSB and she was the one who answered ( Lisa.Ake@tsbp.state.tx.us ). I don´t know if she has a direct number.

Good luck to you. Lisa Ake seems to be the person in charge of these matters at Texas Board. She is pretty upfront with her replies.

Pitara2006, Are you signing off some kind of contract with Eckerd for those 2 years? Are you required to stay in that same town during that time ? Thanks.

Could you explain those 320 hours ?? Thanks. Is 35 $/hr the top salary that you will reach with Eckerd ?

And after the NAPLEX ?

Pharm 8, Your friend who told you that, was he referring to American interns or foreign pharmacists who need visa sponsorship?

Hello there, Not necessarily, however you will need to have the name of the pharmacy and the name of the preceptor for the intern application. You might want to call Texas State Board for more details. By the way, may I ask what company offered you this position?

TOEFLIBT, It´s a good thing you brought that name up. According to this lady, if you do not have the name of the assigned pharmacy for the internship and the name of the preceptor you might want to consider another state (other than Texas). Was I the only one to get this reply?

Pitara2006, My congratulations. May I ask for how long did Eckerd require that you commit to them?

I honestly don’t believe that this sort of flea bites the elephant-action will produce quick results in the short term, at least not for everyone. I hope to be proved wrong about this. Let us not forget that these guys like to play rough and they even have the nerve to tell you that if you want to take legal action, go ahead and do it. They like to think they are above the law and since they are dealing mostly with applicants who can dispose of limited resources and most of them are not even on US soil, they can do as they please. Call it discrimination, call it whatever you want, the fact is that at one time this year, sixteen thousand applications had been received by the FPGEC. If you multiply that for the cost of each application, well if you got this far, you can do the math and see how many millions of dollars are pouring in. And from where I come from that is a ****load of money. I do however think that there ought to be someone in the US (reporters, attorneys, whoever) who would like to know how a big elephant like the NABP is squeezing money out of people by doing things like sending them ridiculous deficiency letters one year after their application. What sort of people do they think they are dealing with? Just because you didn’t pay 50-100k for your pharmacist education and you come from a so-called third world country (discrimination? no, no, no, there’s no such thing going on here), that doesn’t mean you should be treated like a moron which is exactly how the folks at the NABP are treating a lot of applicants. It’s just that if the NABP allowed all those applicants in and if all of them were given the opportunity to take the exam and pass, then the market would be flooded with pharmacists, at least according to them and well, you can figure out what would happen with salaries, working conditions and the rest. And if this happened, a considerable source of income would be lost by the NABP. It seems obvious now why many applications take months or years to review; I mean how long can it take to review a few sheets of paper? The fact that some people get their ATTs in 4 months while others have to patiently and passively wait for 2 years is sufficient proof of the lack of seriousness from whoever is doing these evaluations. One would think that with the invention of telephone, these sort of things would be quicker, but no. Rather than calling institutions and asking if “John Doe” is a registered pharmacist and verifying the authenticity of the documents you submitted ( Oh yes, did you forget to have you School seal the envelope ten times and a put a chain and lock around it? Then sorry, you´ll just have to wait another year!), no!! They just like to do it the other way: when someone picks a stack of applications one morning and decides: Hey look! These guys have been waiting forever to get their ATTs, let’s give them an opportunity. The official reply for not using the phone: We tried to do that but there seemed to be a language barrier, so we have had to do it “our” way. Now they are not calling you a moron, they are labelling as morons the Institution that taught you. In conclusion, I think this type of thing will continue to happen until major changes take place. And since everyone seems to want to go to America and fulfil his American dream, regrettably there will always be some unscrupulous ones willing to exploit that and have their share of the profits. After all, this is America, the land of opportunity and opportunists, of course.

Has anyone ever thought that the NABP is making a pile of money out of people who send out their applications in good faith and then are kept in the dark for months or years until despair and frustration get a hold of them? I´ll say, judging by the number of applicants whose files wait to be reviewed by the FPGEC, this is a multimillion dollar business that is so convenient for some people, except of course for the applicants. And the more people apply the more the machine is fed and the more money goes for the NABP. Sad thing that in country that prides itself of values such as justice, freedom of speech and all those lovely values that everyone likes to hear and make you want to take the first plane to America, this sort of thing goes on with absolute impunity. Let us not forget that this is a "reputable" organization. An organization that won´t give out the names of anyone working there (even a mere customer representative) in the interest of "security". An organization that does not respond to letters, faxes, emails and when they seldom do, they take the extra precaution of not signing the letter, again in the interest of security. Hell, in the end they can almost make you feel guilty for calling! I just wonder how many more people will have to go through all this until something changes, then again it could change for the worse.

Hi, Don´t hold your breath waiting for a quick response from the people at the NABP. There are people who´ve been waiting for 2 years for their break.

Hi, When did you first apply for the FPGEE? How long did you have to wait to hear from them? :hmm: