Returning to Canada after Australian Training

[redshifteffect]

As I get a few PMs everyday about how to return to Canada post Australian training I thought it might be good to create a thread (and moderator willing) possibly a sticky.

The answer I suppose varies from Family medicine (GP) to Specialty program and from province to province.

I thought I'd start with the two most reasonable provinces, and let you guys fill in the rest:

Saskatchewan:

Link: http://www.quadrant.net/cpss/registration/register.html

Important note:
Certification with the College of Family Practice is not a requirement for full licensure in Saskatchewan. Very important as this makes the national licensing body useless. Some provinces however do require it for a full license.

Family medicine

As an Australian graduate you'd be eligible for a Temporary and Provisional License. The temporary license would be a locum license that would allow you to work in Saskatchewan and would let you get an idea of whether or not you liked living there.

The Conditional license would let you work in the province for > 12 months and would eventually lead to a full unrestricted license.

From Paragraph 3:
"These are available to physicians who have 24 months of approved postgraduate training and either full licensure with the country in which their training was taken or a pass standing in the MCCEE"

You could be licensed by simply completing an internship and RMO year and having done the following rotations:
8 weeks General medicine
8 weeks General Surgery
8 week Paediatrics
8 weeks Obs/Gynae
8 weeks Psychiatry

You would then require:
MCCEE - 2 years
MCCQE1 - 4 years
MCCQE2 - 5 years

This gives you the designation of LMCC or "Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada" which would allow you to get full registration.

You could also pursue this pathway if you were a member of the FRACGP. It would probably provide no added advantage, but it would always allow you to practice medicine in Australia. Leaving Australia without the FRACGP would mean you could only ever return to work in a hospital based setting and you would not be a GP.

Advantages:
No requirement to write a single exam (initially)
Eventual full registration without having to complete the CFPC (College of Family Physicians of Canada) exams.

Disadvantages:
"A physician must make a commitment to remain in a named Saskatchewan community for 3 years in order to obtain a provisional license"


Specialists:

Special Licenses exist for
a. Psychiatrists
b. Oncologists
See webpage for details

Key point:
If such physicians are certification-eligible with the Royal College

According to rcpsc.medical.org all specialty programs from Australia are certification eligible, however you still must submit a list of your undertakings while training in Australia and they will match that with what a Canadian trainee would do in that specialty.

Steps:
1. You can choose to complete your LMCC (EE,QE1,QE2) before or after you apply for certification eligibility with the RCPSC. However Saskatchewan does not require it to start practicing.

2. You have 3 years to obtain your specialists qualification from the RCPSC

3. You have 5 years to obtain your LMCC

If you obtain both you are eligible for full licensure.

Advantages:
Again not a single exam to start working
However you will eventually be required to write an exam in your specialty as well as complete the LMCC. Though the time frames are very generous.

Disadvantages:
Further 3 years of commitment in a "named" community

Newfoundland

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[Daemos]

Manitoba

will do research and edit later.

 

[mrsomerset]

many thanks redshift. could you advice me? please
Am Indian medical graduate working in UK FOR 6 YRS working at PGY2/3 in general surgery. Have completed MCCEE, MCCQE1 and have got dates for MCCQE2, CE1/CE2 aswell(provincial for ontario). Have finished USMLE1/2/3 AND CS exams but not matched for surgery in USA. Obviously am not canadaian citizen, have indefinite leave to remain in UK THO. How to get Canadian surgical residency??? am simply taking all the exams under the sun. Dont know how exactly to get into the system??

your kind advice would be appreciated

 

[shan564]

If you couldn't match in the US, it'll be nearly impossible to match in Canada. Canada is much harder than the US.

 

[redshifteffect]

Yeah Shan is right. Unfortunately you can't even apply to Canada without a PR or Citizenship. My only advice would be to complete a residency in a country that is recognised in Canada's jurisdiction approved list if you want to work in Canada.

 

[mrsomerset]

many thanks shan and reshifteffect for your advice.
NOw that i have paid the fees for CE1 exams for Ontario province and also for SWE AND CE2.
Any forums or groups to advice on the study material for these exams please.
I think i am going to take some surgical assistant or some post in Canada to get the necessary visa. For the time being just to focus on the exams. Wish i could do something about the visa
cheers
shiva

 

[JanikeyDoc]

If you couldn't match in the US, it'll be nearly impossible to match in Canada. Canada is much harder than the US.

Very true, Canada is well known to be extremely harsh to foreign physicians. Its little secret that many IMGs in Canada wind up going south of the border.

 

[park0235]

I'm a PGY-3 Internal Medicine resident in Baltimore. I went to a job fair recently and Ontario are recruiting IM physicians and only require 3 years. IM residency is 3 years in the US and 4 years in Canada. It used to be in the past that you had to do an extra year of residency in the US to apply for jobs in Canada. But Ontario has changed that requirement, I'm not sure about the other provinces. But your 1st year back in Ontario will be a supervised year working with a physician, but you are paid the usual salary. Like a probation year. After that you can do whatever you want. Good Luck!

 

[redshifteffect]

I'm a PGY-3 Internal Medicine resident in Baltimore. I went to a job fair recently and Ontario are recruiting IM physicians and only require 3 years. IM residency is 3 years in the US and 4 years in Canada. It used to be in the past that you had to do an extra year of residency in the US to apply for jobs in Canada. But Ontario has changed that requirement, I'm not sure about the other provinces. But your 1st year back in Ontario will be a supervised year working with a physician, but you are paid the usual salary. Like a probation year. After that you can do whatever you want. Good Luck!

thanks for the info!

Do you have details of any of the people you spoke with at the recruitment? I'd be interested to see what sort of changes they have implement for Australia.

 

[redshifteffect]

I realise information is now a secondary use of this board, but I thought I'd throw some out just in case. AWESOME NEWS for you potential FRACGP grads:

http://www.cfpc.ca/English/cfpc/education/examinations/EQUIVALENT TRAINING/default.asp?s=1

Looks like Australia and the FRACGP is now recognised by the CFPC. Apparently Ontario is working on letting you come straight back now that the FRACGP is on the CFPC list.

I'm pretty shocked since I never thought this would happen.

Just a word of advice though do O&G, Paeds and Psych in your RMO years to make it as equivalent to Canadian GP training as possible so you have zero hassles.

 

[Transition]

Wow, that's incredible news! Looks like the Canadian government is actually starting to get a move on IMG recruitment. It's nice to hear that Australia is where they're starting.

So does this mean that someone that fulfills the GP reqs in Aus, fulfills them in Canada?

 

[redshifteffect]

Wow, that's incredible news! Looks like the Canadian government is actually starting to get a move on IMG recruitment. It's nice to hear that Australia is where they're starting.

So does this mean that someone that fulfills the GP reqs in Aus, fulfills them in Canada?

Yes, essentially this allows you to use your FRACGP to apply directly for a CFPC certificate without having to undergo the CFPC exam.

The traditional barrier to entry with Ontario was previously that you needed to be a member of the CFPC, to gain a full license, which many other provinces do not require. To get the CFPC without being a Canadian graduate you were required to have 5 years of GP experience, 2 of which needed to be in Canada, plus you had to write the CFPC and be registered in a Canadian province. So this has essentially shaved 5 years of GP experience from Australian grads, and eliminated an extra exam while making one of the most difficult provinces (Ontario) open essentially right after graduation.