An easier approach to get a Canadian medical license successfully for IMGs

Drshiva · #1 (**permalink**) 04-26-2007, 05:03 AM

It really upsets me the kind of roadblock Canadian medical institutions created for FMGs. Many well-trained physicians are wasting their professional training away and are stuck in low-end jobs. The major bottleneck is the great difficulty for FMGs to obtain qualifying Canadian clinical training.

There is an easier way to bypass the clinical requirements: United States.

Here I outline steps you will need to make.

Step 1: pass MCC EE

Step 2: pass MCC Q1. At the same time do USMLE part 1 and 2.

These can be accomplished with commercial study courses for American USMLE I and II with suitable study material (consult University of Toronto LMCC study Note and the First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2: A Student to Student Guide 2001 and their recommended study materials)

Step 3a: pass the ECFMG (OSCE-type) exam in US:

You need this to go to the US. Prep courses are available in the US.

Step 3b: get clinical experience

This is the key: Go to US to get this training. To do this in Canada is next to impossible at the current time. Make sure the training program is University- affiliated (so that it will be acceptable to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada). In order to go to US for training, you need the followings:

(a) that you can be matched to a hospital:

(1) you need to buff up your clinical experience by doing US clinical observership. With assistance, this is not very difficult.

(2) You need good reference letters

(3) You need to buff up your CV and personal letters

(4) Develop good interview skills.

(b) that you obtain US VISA

Dealing with US Immigration and the ECFMG is a big pain, but still less painful than what you will face in Canada. If you can you should get a H1b Visa. If not, J1 VISA is your choice, but this requires you to return your "home country" after the residency. If you plan to stay in Canada afterwards it is not a big deal.

The J1/ECFMG requires a sponsorship letter from the "home country". It is very difficult to get Canadian government to write this sponsorship letter, even for the Canadian graduates. Therefore, you should temporarily return your original country, list that country as your "country of residence prior to entry to US", and ask the country where you immigrated from to write the sponsorship letter. You do not have to return to your original home country after your US training, only if you plan to immigrate to US afterwards.

An US immigration lawyer is very helpful but not essential through this process.

Step 4: Write LMCC Part 2 and USMLE part 3 after first year in residency.

Again commercial courses are available for USMLE Part 3, which overlaps LMCC Part 2.

Step 5: Make sure you satisfy the Canadian Family Physician College or Royal College Requirement.

For internal medicine, a three year residency plus a year of subspecialty training would qualify you for the Internal Medicine exam in Canada. You may need special training for this exam as there is an oral/OSCE component. One approach is to go to the UK for one of the MRCP Part 2 clinical course.

Step 6: Return to Canada and fulfill whatever licensure requirement still needed.

In many provinces you will be OK by now. Ontario requires some Canadian clinical training, but this should be MUCH easier to obtain after you completed US training.

Keep in mind that if you are a Canadian landed immigrant, you need to somehow maintain that status. This would not be a problem if you were a Canadian citizen.

The above sounded difficult, but in practice it is not. Furthermore, you will be qualified to practice in both US and Canada. What about the cost? It will be expensive but you will be paid a salary during your US clinical training and you will be able to pay for these expenses easily. After all, medicine is a noble and exciting profession; don't waste your years of training.

(The writer accepts no legal responsibility for the accuracy for this document; you should verify what I write here before proceeding.)

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