my question is: is this right, this is all i have to do, or there is more?
if someone could help me, advice me, or just tell me what i have to do, i ll really appreciate it!
To apply for a Canadian residency, there are a series of
general criteria and
provincial criteria to meet.
As you already know, you need to be a Canadian citizen/PR graduating from a FAIMER school. You need to have your MCCEE passed and written the year prior - for example, if you wanted to participate in the 2010 match you'd need to write (and pass) the
MCCEE in 2009. TOEFL is also required by many schools (see provincial criteria). Also, if you can pass the LMCC part I before you apply and interview, this is a plus (though not necessary).
The
essential thing for landing a residency in Canada is to:
1) have done rotations at the program you'd like to match to
2) have letters of reference from Canadian programs
If they've never met you, they probably won't pick you - but if you did an elective, and they know you and like you, you're much further ahead. It goes without saying that you really need to do well in these rotations (e.g. great command of the English language both spoken & written, and good rapport with patients and staff, uncomplaining hard worker, etc. etc.), but if you
can do well, you will be remembered when it comes time to rank applicants. Good letters of reference from Canadian programs where you did electives are also very helpful.
IMGs compete in a separate stream (see the
right hand column*) than Canadian grads in the first round of the CaRMS match. There are approximately 2400 Canadian grads (competing for 2600 spots) and, in 2009, there were
1387 IMGs competing for
236 positions (ultimately
294 IMGs matched, including the handful that got spots in the second round).
So you can see that the odds aren't great for IMGs trying to match to a Canadian residency. Only a small porportion of IMGs get residency (about 21%). You would be wise to:
1) Apply widely. If you are thinking internal medicine, also apply for family medicine (assuming you would be happy doing family medicine). Be aware that switching is difficult (maybe very difficult) and so whatever you are matched to you are contractually stuck with. So DON'T RANK ANYTHING YOU DON'T WANT.
2) Apply in the US. Although the enormous surplus of US training spots is apparently decreasing over time, your odds of matching in the US are far better than your odds of matching in Canada. You can apply to both - if you match in CaRMS (which happens first) you are withdrawn from the US match; if you don't match in CaRMS, you can go on to try and match in the US. Be advised, though, that once you train in the US, returning to Canada can be difficult (ask
Monterey for the details).
One more important fact: the CaRMS IMG residency positions come with ROS (return-in-service contracts) attached to them. Most provinces give details about their ROS under
provincial criteria.
*It's still early days - the programs haven't all entered their data in this form yet.
