US medical doctors ability to practice in Canada

[DrNakLeng]

Hi, I'm curious about the process of practicing in Canada for US doctors who have completed their residency and are practicing in the United States. Do they have to undergo an additional residency in Canada ? Are they acknowledged as having completed viable residency programs in the United States and is there an additional process they must take to become certified to practice in Canada? Is it the same for doctors in Australia as well? I appreciate any responses or information that can be provided in regards to this inquiry. Many thanks 🙏

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[Redpancreas]

Spoiler alert...it's much harder than Canadian citizens to come here to practice.

 

[DrNakLeng]

Spoiler alert...it's much harder than Canadian citizens to come here to practice.

Thanks for the reply! Do you have any experience going through the process?

 

[Redpancreas]

Thanks for the reply! Do you have any experience going through the process?

No just hoped I’d bump the thread for you. Good luck! Some of your initial questions are probably easily investigated online.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

US and Canadian training is equivalent. Sometimes the exams are also considered, but sometimes not. Some fields are longer in Canada than the US -- IM is 4 years in Canada. If you already have a US license, and board certification, that might make it easier.

Getting a visa in Canada is often quite difficult.

 

[YCAGA]

US and Canadian training is equivalent. Sometimes the exams are also considered, but sometimes not. Some fields are longer in Canada than the US -- IM is 4 years in Canada. If you already have a US license, and board certification, that might make it easier.

Getting a visa in Canada is often quite difficult.

The skilled visa process for Canada is amazingly merit based and you can go calculate how many points you would have through their immigration website. An attending with 1-2 years of experience should have enough points to get a visa, as long as things don't get significantly more competitive. Interestingly, a PhD gets more points than an MD or PharmD or PsyD, which I find a little insulting haha. If you really want to go to Canada, take the 2-3 years to learn French to a B2-C1 level, and have plenty of points to get a visa (not just Quebec, they have a different visa system entirely). Even if the competition increases in the next few years, the vast majority of applicants don't have a professional doctorate AND speak French, so you will have enough points.

If you really want to practice in Canada, your best option for specialty by far is to do a US family medicine residency. You don't have to take any extra exams to get FM training recognized in Canada, it is extremely easy to match into as a US MD/DO grad, and most importantly, FM is in high need in Canada. Most specialties are over-saturated in the major and minor Canadian cities. For example, the ortho match rate in Canada is 100% or better for Canadian grads (better as in spots go unfilled in the first round of the match). This is because there are no attending jobs in ortho, even though they keep cutting residency spots year after year. Even with less spots every year, the match rate still stays near 100%.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Heck, I know Canadian citizens who trained in the US and couldn't get jobs in their respective specialty in Canada. The job market there is quite restricted.

 

[YCAGA]

Premed 101 Forums

This is the Canadian version of SDN, but don't be misled by the name, it is not just for premeds. There are a ton of active medical student and residency sub-forums and attendings give advice too. The crazy thing is that they live up to the Canadian stereotype of being polite. It is like the nicest internet forum I have ever seen, and then on top of that, they are neurotic premeds and med students and still nice! There must be something in the maple syrup up there...

 

[YCAGA]

Can you do an Ortho residency in Canada and practice in the states?

You need to get permanent residency first and then do 5-6 aways during 4th year. PR is only possible through marriage or if you had another skilled career before medical school and have 1+ years of full-time work experience. Even then it will be tight points-wise to get a visa. You really would need to speak B2+ (CEFR scale) French to ensure a spot. You also need about $10,000 in cash or liquid investments (not real estate) to prove you can support yourself in Canada. Finally, you have to time your PR application perfectly, because if you don’t live in Canada for 2 out of the 5 years once you get your PR visa, you get it taken away. So getting PR at the beginning of M1 wouldn’t work, but PR takes 12-18 months to process so it’s a delicate balance.

Also, the ortho match rates are near or at 100%, but they keep cutting spots pretty much every year.

Fortunately, as American medical graduates, we can apply to all of the same residency spots as Canadian medical graduates and as long as you crush your aways, you theoretically shouldn’t be discriminated against heavily for being American. IMG’s are blocked from certain spots unless they go unfilled, even if the IMG is a Canadian citizen.

So technically someone could do this, but practically it is almost impossible.

Edit: I realized you might have meant can a Canadian do ortho residency in Canada and then practice in the US. Yep, you can. Probably will want to do an ACGME fellowship just like almost all US ortho residency grads do.

 

[bearded frog]

Also, the ortho match rates are near or at 100%, but they keep cutting spots pretty much every year.

Not to be pedantic, but in 2020 the success rate for CMGs with ortho as a first choice was 91% (41/45). Two matched to something else and two didn't match.

 

[YCAGA]

Not to be pedantic, but in 2020 the success rate for CMGs with ortho as a first choice was 91% (41/45). Two matched to something else and two didn't match.

That’s fair, but ortho spots also go unfilled in the first iteration, which means either people didn’t apply to every program, which is insane compared to the US competitiveness, or programs didn’t match some CMG’s which probably means they had a red flag. Maybe not, I’m not Canadian. Regardless, ortho in Canada is one of the least competitive specialties when it comes to applicants vs spots.