USA Specialist Physicians

Governing Bodies

College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC or the College); Registration (Licensing) – The College is the licensing body and regulator for specialist physicians in BC.

Medical Council of Canada (MCC) – The national organization responsible for establishing and promoting the Canadian licensing qualification known as the LMCC.

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) The national organization responsible for setting standards and certification for specialties in Canada and granting designation as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) or Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC).

USA Medical Graduates

– Specialist Physicians

Specialist physicians who have completed accredited postgraduate training in the USA, may be eligible for licensure with the CPSBC in the full – specialty class.

Applicants must have:

a medical degree, and
successfully completed accredited postgraduate training in a program accredited by the ACGME, and
achieved certification with an American Board of Medical Specialties, satisfactory to the College.

NOTE: Continuous certification must be maintained through the ABMS, AOA, or National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) until licensed with CPSBC.

Physicians who qualify for full licensure may submit an Application for Medical Registration in Canada (AMRC) directly to the College via physiciansapply.ca.

NOTE: If you are a medical resident in the United States but your program is not accredited by the ACGME, you may qualify for the RCPSC Practice Eligibility Route (PER) upon completion of your training.

Details of the CPSBC’s requirements for registration and licensure in the full – specialty class, can be found here.

View job postings in all specialties

Clinical currency in practice

All applicants (except newly graduating residents) must have practised clinically in their field for a minimum of 960 hours over the preceding three-year period (24 weeks full-time) to be considered current in clinical practice.

NOTE: Physicians looking to obtain or regain clinical currency must contact the College directly.
English Language Proficiency (ELP)
The College requires that physicians provide evidence of English proficiency. Physicians are considered to have met the English proficiency requirements if:

The primary language of medical education was English, and the primary language of patient care was English, or

The applicant holds a current and valid medical licence in any province or territory in Canada, and the applicant demonstrates that they practise primarily in English.

The College may require physicians who do not meet the requirements above to take one of the following examinations:

IELTS Academic examination

Minimum score of 7 in each component.

OET Medicine examination

Minimum grade of B in each component.

CELPIP General examination

Minimum score of 9 in each component.

The test results are valid for a period of two years from the date taken.
Source verification of your qualifications

The College requires physicians who have completed medical education outside of Canada, and are seeking licensure in BC, to have certain credentials source verified.

The MCC maintains a website, physiciansapply.ca, as a centralized electronic repository of a physician’s core medical credentials, and offers a national standardized approach to source verification of credentials. Source verification is the process by which the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) sends your credentials to the issuing institution (the source) and requests that they confirm that they issued the credential and that it is authentic, accurate and valid (verification).

USA trained physicians may complete source verification through the Federation Credentials Verification Services (FCVS) or physiciansapply.ca. Once the CPSBC accepts an AMRC application, the CPSBC will assign the applicant a file manager. An applicant’s medical degree must be verified as “Passed” before licensure can be approved by the College.

The College utilizes the AMRC; a centralized online portal through physiciansapply.ca for submitting applications for registration.

Physicians who may qualify for full licensure may submit an application to the College via the AMRC portal.

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants are encouraged to first register with Health Match BC for an initial review of their application before submitting an AMRC application.

Vacancies

Current specialist physician vacancies can be viewed here.

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