I hear you. Just staying put is definitely more convenient but I also know practicing in Canada is less hassle in terms of insurances and the fact that you get to practice good medicine. My only concern is the job market say I jumped all these hoops eventually would it be easy to get a job as an internist?
The job market (like most things) depends on where you are in Canada. It will be pointless to talk about the "Canadian job market for internal medicine" in a general sense because Canada is a massive country bigger than the US, but with a population of 1/10th the US. The population distribution is far from uniform. Most of the population lives within 100 miles of the US border. If you went to our largest cities (e.g. Toronto, Vancouver), you might find a job, or you could face over-saturation, because the large cities are where all the specialists congregate.
In general, the further North you go in Canada, the greater the the need for medical care, the scarcer the medical resources and the easier you can find work and get paid an obscene amount for a relatively short amount of work. What I have noticed many specialists do is that they live in the major cities, doing something like part time work, then they spent a few months up North (wayyy north) to do a few weeks or months at a time. This is very lucrative, and potentially doing 4-6 months of work up north is equivalent to a full year's work in the large cities.
As for the exact job prospects for IM all across Canada, I cannot say because I'm a family physician with a clinic, my world is different than an internist's world. There are however organizations in all the provinces that can help settle, get your license, move, and work in Canada.
My suggestion: 1) Find out where you want to work in Canada. I'm going to assume Ontario, just because it is the largest province by population. Look into "healthforceontario", contact them, you might pleasantly surprised.
)
