US Trained Anesthesiologist Looking to Relocate to Canada

[MDtraveler]

Greetings,

I'm an anesthesiologist licensed and practicing in Nevada for the past 10 years. I also did a pediatric anesthesia fellowship, which I hope fulfills Canada's 5 year requirement. I'm looking to emigrate to Canada and hopefully someday obtain Canadian citizenship. (I'm a US citizen)

I'm US board certified. I'm flexible about where to work and I'm happy to start in an under served area. Eventually I'd like to move to a major metro region, but that can wait. I'm also prepared to do a fellowship in Canada (critical care) if that helps. I'm happy to take the Canadian anesthesia boards, but taking the equivalent of USMLE would be too much.

Someone in another thread posted a link to Health Force Ontario, which seems helpful but they say they are only interested in family medicine, ER and psychiatry at the moment.

Any advice would be most appreciated. Also, any advice on fellowship application would also be kindly received.

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[Biohazard1]

You have done a 5th year (presuming your fellowship was ACGME approved) thus you meet the minimum training requirements set out by the Royal college of physicians. Ultimately if you want to become board certified in Canada you have to write the anesthesiology written and oral exam, which you do so via the royal college of physicians, now you may or may not be able to write this, because IN MOST cases they require you to have LMCC in hand (meaning you have to do the QE1 {much easier than usmle 2/3} and QE2 {a little harder than step 2CS}). However there are many back doors in canada, in some cases doctors from other countries obtain provisional licenses in remote provinces such as New Brunswick and work for a period of time and the royal college waives the LMCC. Since you do have a wealth of experience in north America they may just do that for you. Otherwise you could always find a place to work by contacting provinces and work without being board certified by the royal college (this will not be problematic in terms or reimbursement).


In my opinion your biggest issue will be your visa status, I suggest you apply for PR asap, you are educated and in need, I know many people who have gotten PR card just by applying. Canadian PR is much easier to obtain than a green card.


Any how I suggest you start by calling the royal college and after start by calling each provincial physician recruiter (there are only 10 provinces).


This is my understanding on this, I am in the process of undertaking post graduate training in the US (anesthesiology) and will most likely have to come back to Canada as I am Canadian.


Also so note that many provinces have reciprocal agreements with bordering states, I.E if you are licensed to work in the state of Maine you should be able to work in New Brunswick.


Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[MadHopsMD]

Like the above poster said: You have done a 5th year (presuming your fellowship was ACGME approved) thus you meet the minimum training requirements set out by the Royal college of physicians. So you have nothing to worry about in that regard. PR is also easier to get than American Green Card.

Certain provinces require you to get license needing LMCC exams. see Ontario. Other will transfer your license from the US directly. see Saskatchewan. Each province is different. Best call government recruiters. I met this group: http://www.saskdocs.ca/work/ in FM Kansas City Conference. Check them out...if you wish to go to Saskatchewan

 

[MDtraveler]

Thanks so much guys! That's very useful info. I'm going to go ahead and apply for licenses in the main US border states (Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Maine) as it couldn't hurt and I may end up working locum there someday. I also contacted an online immigration service. Not sure how legit, but I'll find out.

Thanks, MadHops, for the link. I went ahead and created a profile there along with one for a BC recruiter and also the HFO. I figured it couldn't hurt.

I also wouldn't mind doing a critical care fellowship in Canada if that helps with long term employment prospects, or something to do while awaiting full licensing/board certification.. That obviously would have to be done in a major population center. Any info on how competitive they would be, and whether they strongly prefer Canadian citizens?

P.S. I was just at trip adviser looking at traveler pictures of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon. I had no idea it was that beautiful there!

 

[septoplasty]

Thanks so much guys! That's very useful info. I'm going to go ahead and apply for licenses in the main US border states (Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Maine) as it couldn't hurt and I may end up working locum there someday. I also contacted an online immigration service. Not sure how legit, but I'll find out.

Thanks, MadHops, for the link. I went ahead and created a profile there along with one for a BC recruiter and also the HFO. I figured it couldn't hurt.

I also wouldn't mind doing a critical care fellowship in Canada if that helps with long term employment prospects, or something to do while awaiting full licensing/board certification.. That obviously would have to be done in a major population center. Any info on how competitive they would be, and whether they strongly prefer Canadian citizens?

P.S. I was just at trip adviser looking at traveler pictures of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon. I had no idea it was that beautiful there!

You also have no idea how cold it is up there, might be a huge major drastic change in you're definition of winter haha.

Good luck to you!