Incoming Canadian PGY1 looking to transfer into US Residency

[DrShock]

Hi everyone.

I am a Canadian MD who recently just matched to their specialty of choice at a Canadian Residency Program. Nonetheless, I have always had aspirations to pursue residency in the US - due to my particular interests in subspecialty training and clinical innovation.

Until now, I never had a full chance to explore the practicality of this, but going through the match process has convinced me that this is something I am motivated to do. From the information I have gathered so far, Canadian residency programs are LCME accredited - just like US programs - and there also seem to be numerous US Residency programs for my specialty which do regularly accept entry directly into PGY2.

Apart from that, it has really been difficult to find much information on here about the experiences of Canadians who tried to transfer as a PGY1 into a US residency - particularly in order to continue the rest of their training in the same specialty. If anybody does have experience with this, I would really appreciate being able to connect with them - as this is something I am really passionate about and would like to begin pursuing as early as possible.

Thank you!

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[Neurogeneral]

I think this would be quite rare to transfer from a Canadian to an American residency.

Don’t want to be a downer, but it would be quite difficult to do IMO. Don’t get me wrong, Canadian training is on par and I have heard even more rigorous/longer at times than American training. However, I don’t think it would be possible to transfer from a non-ACGME program to one that is in fact ACGME accredited. Certain specialties in the US are also actually very competitive and even filter out applicants who would require any kind of visa.

I would recommend finishing your Canadian specialty residency and then doing fellowship in the US. It is also possible to do more research-oriented fellowships down here to further your interest in innovation.

Its also definitely very doable to finish all your training in Canada and then come here to practice at an Academic institution with resources to pursue your research interests. I have seen this done quite often with specialities like GI, Cards, orthopedics, neurosurgery, neurology, etc.

Btw I am a dual US/Canadian citizen.

 

[shadowblade]

It is possible., but a huge headache.

For example Royal College Internal Medicine training in Canada is recognized by ACGME Internal Medicine programs in the USA.

Good luck finding a program director who wants to fill out all the paperwork to make it happen, especially if you need a work visa.

Long story short, if you really want to do it, certain specialties will allow it but you need to network and make a lot of calls to find a program willing to do the paperwork for you.