Canadian Family Medicine Physician Exploring Fellowship Options in California (or elsewhere in US)

[famphysicianincanada]

Hello,

I'm a family physician in Canada and have completed my (2 year family medicine) residency here. I need to relocate to California for personal reasons and trying to understand my career options as I try to do so. Specifically, my questions are as follows:

1) Eligibility for fellowship - Can I apply to fellowship programs (eg: geriatric, special people, family medicine programs) WITHOUT doing a 3rd year of residency from US? Which fellowship programs will I be eligible for? I'm open to the idea of exploring a fellowship outside California if it will make my transition into US (and eventually to California) easier.

2) What's the process for getting a 3rd year ACGME residency if I decides to go that route? Can I apply in fall for next summer or would I have to apply in fall for something 2 summers out? (eg: would if I apply in fall 2015, would I be applying for summer 2016 or summer 2017) have I missed the bus for applying for summer 2015 already?

3) If I find a family medicine fellowship program willing to accept me right away (anywhere in the US) WITHOUT doing the 3rd year ACGME residency, and I later decide to come to California to work, would Medical Board of California require me to do the 3rd year of residency again after having done a fellowship?

4) What other routes (other than fellowship) are available in California and most other States for me to establish my career there?

Thanks in advance for your time & help

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[styphon]

Have you looked into getting a VISA for this purpose? I had 2 canadians in my U.S. program who were accepted into fellowships (both into pallative care) and who the U.S. refused to extend their work VISAs.

Looks like you may have the pass the USMLE steps (1,2,3) - or apply to a process "that takes two years" as per these links - but they mention nothing about fellowships:

http://medicalemployers.com/us-immigration-for-canadian-physicians/
http://www.merritthawkins.com/pdf/physician-immigration-faq.pdf

 

[famphysicianincanada]

Thanks styphon. Not concerned about visa since I'll have a US green card through my family in foreseeable future. I'm more interested in learning about the process for fellowships/exploring other options to establish my career there. Any advice on any of my 4 questions would be greatly appreciated.

By the way, do you know whether the 2 canadians in your program were family physicians, and if so, whether they needed a 3rd year of ACGME residency before applying? And, if you're comfortable sharing, I would love to know what program it was. Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[styphon]

The canadians were in my residency in the U.S, they attended all 3 yrs of residency and had all finished USMLE 1, 2, 3 before applying to residency. I know one of the fellowship programs was in/around NYC, the other I am unsure of - but I think it was out of NY state. Both were accepted, but were forced to return to canada to practice. Both were on work visas which expired when residency ended. Both also took the canadian boards during our 3rd year of residency. Both took the AAFP(american family practice) boards.

If you look at the two links above, it seems you either have to take USMLEs or do a longer process without USMLEs.