Hi there, Dr Rajeev Iyer, here with more secrets on how you can be successful as an international medical graduate doctor in Canada. Here I'm going to tell you four pathways on how you can move to Canada as an IMG. Let's do this together. The first pathway is a traditional pathway where you apply for Canadian permanent residency from your home country and then move to Canada to do residency. Here's how this is going to work. The first step is you have to complete your medical school or Medical College and get your degree. This degree has to be from a college that is recognized by the World Health Organization. This is easy to check you go on a website called World directory of medical schools. You click on search the medical directory and then you see all these options now because I am an IMG from India, I’m going to say India in the country and I'm going to say New Delhi in the city. The very first thing that opens is all India Institute of Medical Sciences now I click on it I go to sponsor notes I see two options one is Canada the other is USA this means if I'm a graduate from all India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi India, I am good to move to Canada. You can check your medical college or medical school wherever in the world similarly. The next step is your medical degree should be verified by medical Council of Canada. Now for this you have to submit all your degrees on this website called physiciansapply.ca. So, you have to submit all your credentials like medical degree, internship certificate, if you have completed your PG training then you submit that. Now medical Council of Canada using a third party will verify all these documents and say they're actually authentic. This does cost a lot of money but it's part of the process. The next thing is checking of your medical knowledge, so this takes the form of two different exams – one is the medical Council of Canada qualifying examination part one or the MCCQE1. This is a computer based one day examination that checks your medical knowledge based on MCQs. The other exam is called the NAC or the national assessment collaborative. This is again a one-day OSCE based exam this is similar to USMLE Step 2 CS which does not exist anymore. Thankfully USA has gone away from this, but Canada is still stuck with this. So, the expectation is you do pass this examination. As you're working through all this process simultaneously you have to apply for your permanent residency. Canada offers PR on a point-based system. You could start your application right from your home country. Now let's assume you get your Canada PR and you're through with all the examination processes and you're through with all the steps I mentioned before, the next step is you apply through a website called CARMS c-a-r-m-s in order to be eligible for matching in a Canadian Residency program. So, you completed your training in your specialization, you have passed the Royal College Canada examination. Congratulations you're now a fully certified doctor in Canada. The next step is you need to obtain a license to practice in any province of your choice where you want to work. During your residency training your license will be called a training license and it comes with a lot of restrictions, but once you have a full license you can work as a consultant in your specialization. Is this making sense how the system works? It is long, it is complicated it takes a lot of time, but this is how the process is. Once you're certified by the Royal College of Canada getting a license is pretty straightforward. Now you could either do a private practice depending on what your specialization is, or you could decide to go in a small clinic or you could work in a big hospital, ultimately this would be your choice. if you're a medical student and listening to this, make sure you turn out to be an outstanding student in your medical school because this is valued when you apply for a residency either in Canada or in the U.S. or anywhere else as an IMG. You start early the better it is. The second pathway of moving into Canada is by applying in Canada for a job. This is the option I personally suggest IMGs take because this will make your life easier in the long run. I understand this is not easy this is a complicated lengthy process but at the end of the day it's worth it. This job can be in healthcare in research or if you're willing there are a lot of job opportunities IMGs can take if you're interested in any of those. Bottom line this has to be a paid job, and this has to be a job that satisfies the requirement of giving you a Canadian experience class because this will help you get Canadian permanent residency quick and easy. Is this making sense how you move with the job and then apply for a Canada PR. Once you move into Canada or during the process of moving into Canada you take the same steps. You make sure your medical college is recognized by World Health organization; you get all your credentials evaluated, you still take the MCCQE1 exam, the NAC exam, and then apply for CARMS. You still have to be a Canadian permanent resident. The benefit of this approach is, you're already in Canada, you understand the Canadian system you can also make some connections and even do some voluntary work in hospitals and get to know Canadian Consultants who can actually write a letter of recommendation. All this will help you match into Canadian Residency program much more successfully than the first option. This is why I personally suggest IMGs take this route rather than applying for a Canadian permanent residency directly and then come to Canada and struggle. Is this making sense? Any questions post in the comments below I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Once you match into your specialization of choice the rest of the process is still the same. The third pathway for fresh IMGs is the Atlantic immigration program. This is where IMGs focus to go to four Atlantic provinces in Canada. These are New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador Prince, Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. This is called the Atlantic program because these provinces are located right next to the Atlantic Ocean. As an IMG you can apply for jobs in these provinces, establish yourself, obtain Canadian permanent residency, and then simultaneously you can start applying to CARMS matching and because of all the connections you've made and because you're so much focused on staying in one of these provinces, you can apply for matching into the programs in these provinces. So, this will help you be competitive for your application because you have a focused approach to where you want to be. See how all this comes together and then this will get you a Canadian permanent residency, specialization matching of your choice, and finally Royal College certification, full license, and then be a consultant. Although these three Pathways sound similar you see how different they are in terms of how you can approach them and be successful with your application. if you're an IMG who's good at French then a fantastic option would be Quebec province. Finally, option four is for those fresh IMGs who are interested in doing postgraduate residency training in their country or have already joined the postgraduate residency training. In this case what you can do is, finish your postgraduate training in your home country and then apply for a clinical Fellowship in one of the top 17 universities in Canada. For your application to be successful, make sure during your residency training you turn out to be a candidate, do voluntary work, be involved with research, and try to publish manuscripts, all this will help you get into a clinical Fellowship. Once you come to Canada as a clinical fellow you can take two different approaches one is you can apply for matching in into a specialization of your choice and then repeat residency all over again. Many IMGs I have seen have done this and this clinical Fellowship will help you be successful with your residency application because you have Canadian experience, you have hopefully made some connections in Canada and you now have letters of recommendation from Canada Consultants. All this makes a big difference. There is another opportunity for you if you come in as a clinical fellow. You could explore the options of alternate pathways in Canada through this you directly function as a consultant in Canada without repeating residency all over again. I have seen IMGs do this and be successful in Canada if you come through this route. You still have to be certified by one of the medical colleges which are recognized by the World Health Organization, and you still have to verify your credentials, but you do not have to write the MCCQE1 exam, you do not have to apply for matching, or you do not have to repeat residency. Now how exactly to do this? I have a video right here for you where you can watch how to become a certified physician in Canada without a residency and without citizenship, I hope this made it clear to you about the four Pathways that exist in Canada through which you can come in as a fresh IMG and become part of the Canadian Health System. Any questions post in the comments below. I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Take care, stay safe, I will talk to you soon. Behind the Scenes Four pathways on how you can move to Canada as a fresh IMG and let's do this together. We will talk to you soon, hold on I personally suggest IMGs take this option because this is going to be, well Nova Scotia, these are called Atlantic provinces. This is called the Atlantic program