This has been a very clarifying post!
However, I couldn't find all the answers I was looking for. I hope someone here can help me out!
First, let me start by explaining to you all where I stand.
Me and my GF are both MS4 in a 6-year med-school in South America and we are both planning to match IM through couples match (probably around 2018-19). Well, at the moment I really don't know what subspecialty I would enjoy doing the most, maybe ID/CCM, and she likes cardio/endocrine/pneumo. The thing is that we are more interested in practicing medicine and living in the US than in choosing and doing a fellow. What I'm trying to say is that we'd rather work as hospitalists after IM residency in order to get GC than doing a fellowship and having to return to our home country for 2 years.
So what I want to know is, in case we can't both match in a situation in which both of us get h1b visa, would It be better if only one of us got h1b or if both of us got j1 (always having in mind that we want to live in US afterwards)?
If we both get j1 and do the waiver pathway to get GC, is it feasible for us to work relatively close to one another?
And finally, supposing we both got j1, finished IM, did a fellow, and returned to our home country, how can we, after working 2 years here, get a job in US and apply for a GC?
I'm sorry if it was confusing, I really tryed my best. Thank you all!