American Doctors, also known as  MDs, practicing medicine in Europe is a common topic for people who have been living in the US and want to move or have already moved back to Europe. In this guide, we will provide valuable information on how to get a European Medical License  as an American MD, what specialties are in demand in Europe, licensing information by country,  and much more.

The valuable information given in the article below on whether American doctors practice in Europe, best countries for American doctors to work & foreign doctors in U.S. by country is highly important and quite useful. All you have to do is read on to know more.

You will also find related posts on whether American doctors practice in Switzerland, whether American doctors practice in UK & whether American doctors practice in Netherlands on Collegelearners.

Can American Doctors Practice in Europe

Applying to medical school can be a daunting task in any part of the world. The admission process is, however, quite varied both among and sometimes within countries. In the United States, medicine is most often a graduate program that requires a prior undergraduate education during which medical school prerequisites are fulfilled. The criteria used by U.S. medical schools to select prospective students combine academic (undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores) with nonacademic factors (e.g., personal statement, interview, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities). A similar mix of academic and personal criteria is used for placement in residency.

In Europe, where medicine has traditionally been a 6-year undergraduate degree, some universities have recently launched 4-year graduate medical programs, like those in the U.S. In Portugal such programs are controversial; the Portuguese Medical Association has publicly criticized them as “having controversial quality and being absolutely unnecessary”.

The criteria used by European universities vary from exclusively academic to combined academic and nonacademic criteria to the interesting “waiting period” in Germany. Such heterogeneity is also present in placement of medical graduates in residencies. The European countries that employ exclusively academic criteria for admission to medical school and residency contrast sharply with the U.S. While some criticize this purely objective system, there are also strong arguments in its favor.

Admission to European Medical Schools

Most European countries use exclusively academic criteria to select students for the majority of seats available in medical schools. This is true in Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain [2-6]. According to information provided by Denmark’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, three out of the four medical schools in Denmark use students’ GPA from upper secondary education to place them in 90 percent of the available seats. The remaining 10 percent are admitted based on consideration of individual qualifications (personal communication with author, November 9, 2012). In the countries listed above, admission is granted to the applicants with the best combination of high school GPA and grades in the national examinations, normally in biology, chemistry, physics, and math. These examinations have little resemblance to the SAT or MCAT, inasmuch as they consist of fewer, longer, and more complicated questions than the U.S. exams.

France uses an interesting variation of the described academic criteria. After high school graduation any person can enroll in medical school. All students take a competitive examination at the end of the first year, and those who perform best on the exam are allowed to proceed to year 2 of their medical studies and “are considered to be heroes, the victors of a ‘war’ that has defeated 9 out of 10 of their classmates.

Other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, combine academic and nonacademic criteria to select their students. A 2006 study conducted by Parry et al. on 23 medical schools in England found that all medical schools combined academic and nonacademic criteria and only two did not interview candidates for admission.

Some countries, Germany and the Czech Republic among them, employ both exclusively academic and combined academic/nonacademic systems. In Germany, 20 percent of the seats are reserved for students who are in the top of their high school classes, and 60 percent of all seats are reserved for students selected according to the university’s own set of criteria, even though “universities are required to resort to final grades from school as the predominant admission criteria” [8]. And there is an interesting third path to medical school in Germany that “rewards the waiting time of an applicant”: the last 20 percent of the available seats are reserved for applicants who have waited a long time from high school graduation to get into medical school [8]. In this case, at least in the first stage, grades are not important as long as the student has a high school diploma. However, if the student decides to study another subject at a German University, “the years of study are not accepted as waiting time” .

The Czech Republic, in a procedure it shares with Hungary and Bulgaria, uses academic criteria for admitting citizens and both academic and nonacademic criteria for admitting international students, in order to attract foreign students who were not granted admission to universities in their home countries. For this purpose, some universities, such as the Czech’s Republic’s Charles University First Faculty of Medicine, offer medical programs taught in English, for which, unlike the programs taught in Czech language, students pay tuition (personal communication with author, November 1, 2012).

Residency

Selection methods for residency also vary. Most European countries, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, do not require an examination for admission to residency. The selection of “future medical specialists is made locally and by medical discipline depending on internship vacancies (or equivalent) in hospitals”. Students are encouraged to apply to a hospital and are admitted to the available spots based on assessment of their skills, enthusiasm, and so on. In Belgium, specialization is restricted to a limited number of candidates. To be eligible for specialization, students must have a training plan approved by the licensing commission for the specialty concerned. In France, Portugal, and Spain, medical graduates sit for a vast national examination, after which they can choose their area of specialization. While Spain’s Examen Medico Interno Residente (MIR) can test any aspect of medicine, France’s Epreuves Classantes Nationales (ECN) and Portugal’s Exame da especialidade (EE) are restricted to certain preestablished topics. The latter only tests internal medicine topics.

Strictly Objective Systems

Access to medical education in countries such as France, Portugal, and Spain, in which both admission to medical school and residency are based exclusively on academic criteria, differs greatly from access in the U.S. It can be said that the quantitative nature of the system does not allow universities to evaluate skills other than excellence in theoretical knowledge. The critique is that the practice of medicine requires characteristics such as motivation, interpersonal skills, and the capacity to work under pressure that are better assessed in interviews, personal statements, and letters of recommendation.

The merit of using such nonacademic criteria to predict the suitability of prospective candidates for medical school or residency is, however, uncertain. The argument that medical schools should be able to select students with certain characteristics is weakened by the fact that “there is no absolute consensus on the characteristics medical schools should be seeking among future doctors—indeed, in a review of admissions processes in the U.S., Albanese et al. noted that 87 different personal qualities relevant to the practice of medicine have been identified.

The reliability of nonacademic criteria such as interviews, personal statements, and letters of recommendation for the purposes of selecting the best candidates is also questionable. Research suggests that “unstructured interviews, characterized by a conversational, informal style, questions that are not specified in advance and a lack of objective scoring criteria, appear to be most commonly used among medical schools. This preference is quite surprising in light of the susceptibility of unstructured interviews to a variety of biases” . In 1990, Edwards et al. noted that “studies of interviewers show that they are often biased in terms of the rating tendencies (for instance, leniency or severity) and in terms of an applicant’s sex, race, appearance, similarity to the interviewer, and contrast to other applicants. The few existent data on the value of personal statements and letters of recommendation reveal that they have no predictive value in subsequent achievement.

The strictly objective systems are based on previous academic performance, which is traditionally regarded as a “good, but not perfect, predictor of achievement in medical training. A study conducted in Canada challenged this established idea. Its results indicated that the “traditional cognitive predictors have the most utility in predicting future academic and clinical performance,” which were assessed by the results in part II of the Medical Council of Canada’s Licensing Examinations (LMCC), a sound measure of clinical skill.

A stronger argument against the sole use of objective systems, especially in the admissions to medical schools, is that it is only truly just in countries where major disparities in secondary education do not exist. On the other hand, an objective system such as this can be used as a tool to diagnose regional disparities in education—not just among those applying for medical education. Because tackling these problems requires time and major financial investments, one possible transitory solution to ensure equity is to establish quotas for the most problematic regions where the students who have the highest grades within those regions are granted admission.

Overall, provided that there are strict policies regarding confidentiality and student identification and that there is special consideration for disparities in education, this is a clean system in which the best students are awarded with the best academic opportunities. The selection process is fully transparent, merit-based, and with no room for subjectivity, which can eventually be used as a justification for biased or corrupt decisions.

In A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway details his time in Paris in the 1920s, dedicating a section to his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this part, Gatsby’s creator is depicted as, among other things, a hypochondriac. In one of Fitzgerald’s dramatic fits, he insists on going to the American Hospital in Paris because, “I don’t want a dirty French provincial doctor.”

Nearly 100 years later, the American Hospital in Paris continues to thrive. On its staff are eight American doctors as well as 378 European ones. It is the only hospital in Europe where a doctor can practice with a U.S. medical license. American doctors hoping to work in Europe would normally have to re-do their residencies before practicing independently.

The United States also has strict policies regarding medical licensing—a doctor is only allowed to practice in the U.S. once he has obtained a license in the state in which he intends to work. The person must acquire a visa, pass the first two steps of the United States Medical-Licensing Exam (USMLE), then become certified by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), get into an accredited U.S. or Canadian residency program, and finally, go back and pass step three of the USMLE. Each of these steps could take multiple years, repelling doctors who are already able to practice in the country in which they were trained.

But is it really a good idea to deter them? By 2020, America’s doctor shortage is projected to reach 91,500 too few doctors, with nearly half of the burden falling on primary care. This means doctors will be overworked and citizens may have to wait longer and pay higher fees for an appointment.

Without all of these barriers, many foreign doctors would find the prospect of migrating to the United States appealing. Dr. Arun Gadre, an otologist originally trained in India and now practicing at the University of Louisville, explains, “Arguably [the U.S.] is the only country in the world where one can do cutting-edge research, practice cutting-edge medicine, and still make a decent living.”

Dr. Faris Alomran, a British-educated vascular surgeon working in France, says, “My first choice after medical school was to practice in the U.S. In fact, for most [English-speaking] people, in terms of language options, they are somewhat limited to Australia, Canada, and the U.S.”

But he didn’t end up crossing the Atlantic. “In the U.S. I would have had to do five years of general surgery and a two-year fellowship in vascular surgery to be a vascular surgeon. Seven years total. I got an offer in Paris to do a five-year vascular surgery program. They also reduced my training by one year since I had done two years in the U.K.”

Juliana, a physician originally trained in Brazil and currently in an American residency program, agrees that migrating to the U.S. could have been easier, especially if redundant training were removed. “Repeating the residency is not an easy thing, and many times it’s very frustrating. I do not think the internship [that I’m in] will add much to my future career. Having trained in America for the last four months has helped me understand cultural differences [between the U.S. and Brazil], but it has also made me wish I were allowed to skip some steps.”

Though re-doing her residency has been frustrating, it was an achievement to get accepted into a program in the first place. Locking up a coveted residency post is a significant hurdle for foreign-trained doctors. All U.S. states require at least one year of residency in an accredited American or Canadian program to qualify for a medical license. Though the number of students in medical schools has increased, the number of accredited residency positions has remained relatively stagnant since 1997.

American Medical Association President Robert Wah recognizes this residency bottleneck. “U.S. residency program positions have not increased at an adequate rate to accommodate the expanding number of U.S. medical graduates and the current IMG [International Medical Group] applicant pool,” he said in an email.

Even if the AMA were to magically produce a few thousand more residency slots, it would barely make a dent in 91,500 projected doctor shortage.

Whittling down the shortage will likely take a combination of measures. Three-year medical degree programs, reduced from the typical four years, already exist at NYU, Texas Tech, and Mercer. Ohio wants to expand the roles of physician assistants and nurse practitioners, allowing them to take on more of doctors’ responsibilities. Earlier this year, Missouri passed legislation allowing medical school graduates to work as assistant physicians and treat patients in underserved areas, a measure that is controversial because at least one year of residency is usually required to practice independently.

In addition to these strategies, reducing entry barriers for well-trained foreign doctors would be a way to immediately increase the U.S. doctor supply.

Those opposed to reducing entry barriers claim that the U.S. produces the best doctors in the world, and that bringing in more foreign physicians would reduce the quality of the country’s medical care. Gadre agrees that it’s important for the U.S. to maintain its high standards for medical practitioners. “In large countries like India levels of education and competence can vary vastly between the big cities and smaller towns due to a lack of standardization, and sometimes even corruption, in the educational system… So the AMA is correct in ascertaining that certain minimum standards must be maintained ”

However, there are plenty of highly skilled, foreign-trained doctors. Basketball player Kobe Bryant opted to go to Germany to treat his knee. According to Atul Gawande, the best hernia surgeons in the world are at Shouldice Hernia Center in Ontario, Canada. QS, a company that does worldwide university comparisons, ranks Oxford’s and Cambridge’s medical schools second and third in the world, behind Harvard’s and ahead of Stanford’s.

Beyond diluting the quality of medical care, another fear is that more doctors coming to the U.S. would mean fewer talented doctors abroad. The Economist, however, disagrees with this reasoning, arguing that a chance to come to the U.S. would motivate more foreigners to study medicine, and most of them would stay in their home countries.

A third fear is that loosening regulations would negatively affect U.S. medical schools. If coming back to the U.S. were easier, Americans might be more likely to study in places like England and Israel because becoming a doctor would be both cheaper and faster overseas.

Further, an influx of doctors could impact a more sensitive matter—with an increased doctor supply, salaries among America’s white-coats would almost certainly go down.

“Nobody wants to share their pie,” Alomran says. “This is the same everywhere and is not unique to medicine, in my opinion.”

The moment you decide you want to pursue a career in Medicine you know you are expected to go through a lot of hard work and inevitably many hours of study. However, all your efforts will be worth it in the end. After all, being a doctor is one of the noblest and most rewarding professions in the world.

Applying to med school is not something you should do superficially. You have to choose your medical school wisely. To make your mission easier, we’ll present the most common entry requirements to medical schools from Europe, the US and UK.

How Foreign Physicians Can Work as Healthcare Practitioners in the US

The trend of globalization has made it easier for professionals in many fields to find employment opportunities abroad, but this does not necessarily apply to the medical field, particularly when it comes to foreign physicians in the United States. Foreign medical graduates, commonly referred to as FMGs in the American healthcare sector, are often required to take quite a few educational courses that may not have been part of their medical school curriculum overseas.

Where you earn your education as a physician will impact where you can practice medicine. For instance, the education needed to become a practicing physician within the United States (US) requires years of education and clinical hours. For foreign-trained physicians living in the US, they will need to undergo an additional amount of education on top of the degree that they’ve already earned.

The Physician Formation and Education System in the United States
In general, students who wish to practice medicine in the U.S. must first earn a college degree that includes at least three years of what is known as pre-med education. Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry and biology usually fit into the pre-med mold, and some schools offer programs that are straight pre-med with an eye towards gaining admission into medical school. Once admitted into medical school, the next four years will be spent in pre-clinical and clinical education periods that culminate with graduation and the granting of a Doctor of Medicine degree before heading into internship and residency. How Foreign Physicians Can Work as Healthcare Practitioners in the USLong Description

Why Additional Education?

It said that the US has high-quality standards when it comes to medical licensing. While foreign physicians may have gone through an exceptional amount of quality training overseas, the American medical industry has taken extra strides to confirm that foreign physicians looking to practice medicine in the US go through the educational training that’s set by American standards.

If you are a foreign physician interested in practicing medicine in the US, then you’ll need to prepare yourself to pass the US Medical Licensing Exams, get certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign-Trained Medical Graduates, enroll in a residency program, and then take a third licensing test.

Foreign physician, Abdelsalam Elshaikh of Sudan, reported to MPR News that all of the first year pre-med courses such as physiology, biology, etc. weren’t taught to them. This is because the curriculum for some overseas education usually focuses on what the physician will actually have to deal with when treating patients—fieldwork. US standards require that physicians are fluent in the English language and have a basic understanding of the science field in general along with understanding the core requirements set by accredited universities such as:

• Introduction to Chemistry
• General Biology
• Anatomy and Physiology
• College Algebra
• Physics
• Calculus
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Human Embryology
• Epidemiology
• Biochemistry
• Research Writing
• Principles of Genetics
• Educational Differences in the American Physician Training System

Unlike physician training programs in other parts of the world, there is no foundation training in the U.S. because medical students can choose to specialize, or not, upon getting their M.D. degree. The Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programs often taught in Asian colleges, for example, are unheard of in the U.S. It is not uncommon for an American pediatrician to have earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology plus a Master of Health Sciences before qualifying for medical school.

US Medical Licensing Exam Requirements

With the above in mind, it is more likely for an American doctor to be able to practice overseas than for a foreign counterpart to work in the U.S., and this is a matter of licensing and education. FMGs in the U.S. must deal with the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.

So how can foreign doctors practice in the US? These are the US medical exam requirements for any for foreign medical graduates and practicing physicians to obtain ECFMG Certification:

• Certifying that the FMG obtained a degree listed on the World Directory of Medical Schools
• Completing missing education requirements
• Medical Science Requirements – You must pass both the USMLE Step 1 and USMLE Step 2 CK (Clinical Knowledge)
• Clinical Skills Requirement – To practice medicine in the US after graduating from med school in another country, you must also pass the USMLE Step 2 CS (Clinical Skills)
• Going through a residency program
• Obtaining final ECFMG certification

Once you pass all three of these US medical licensing exams, you’re eligible for ECFMG certification. You don’t have to wait until you graduate from medical school to apply. Feel free to apply as a med student. However, you won’t receive confirmation until you provide graduation confirmation.

After you receive ECFMG certification, you can begin your residency in the US. But be sure to apply for your residency long before graduation and certification. The application process may take some time.

While it is true that many foreign physicians work and train at U.S. hospitals, they are often enrolled in special cooperation programs that may be sponsored through diplomatic exchange channels or the U.S. Agency for International Development. FMGs who may have already worked at an established practice in other countries will find the equivalency, licensing and certification program to be particularly arduous.

Starting All Over

So, while many foreign physicians will have years of experiences diagnosing, treating patients, and administering medicine, in order to practice as a US doctor, it essentially requires them to start all over again academically, especially when the curriculum differs from overseas qualifications.

FMGs whose medical education is deemed to be insufficient in areas such as algebra, biochemistry, physics, molecular biology, and research writing are bound to feel as if they have to start all over again in the U.S. Many become disillusioned and end up taking other jobs totally unrelated to the medical field, and this is when the movie trope of highly skilled professionals driving cabs in the U.S. becomes an unfortunate reality.

However, experts expect a shortage of both primary-care doctors and specialists to continue in the coming years. By 2025, the American Association of Medical Colleges projects primary care shortfalls ranging from 12,500 to 31,100 doctors, and shortages of non-primary care doctors between 28,200 and 63,700.

Foreign-trained doctors are critical to addressing these shortages, accounting for important shares of primary-care physicians in the United States. Nearly a third (31.8%) of all physicians specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics—three specialties associated with primary healthcare—are foreign-trained.

These 128,099 foreign-trained physicians are among the primary-care doctors recognized by fellow healthcare professionals as “the first line of defense in the healthcare system.” As a result, primary-care physicians deliver most of the country’s preventive and routine services, such as checkups, initial acute-care, and initial diagnoses guiding patients to the appropriate level of care.

For a model of how this would work, in Canada, the government only requires an estimated half of its foreign-trained doctors to get fully retrained. The other half can be rapidly certified to practice medicine by proving that they received their medical training from a list of vetted medical schools in countries such as Algeria, Nepal, Argentina, and Macedonia.

Thankfully, FMGs have better career options to keep them connected to the healthcare industry while pursuing their dream of becoming American doctors.

What Type of Specialties Can Foreign Physicians Practice?

BioExplorer reports that there are approximately 44 different types of doctors, but as the medical industry continues to evolve, more specializations arise. As a foreign physician, this gives you at least 44 different career options to pursue as a US healthcare practitioner. Here is a short list of just a few of these specialties:

• Family Medicine Physician – This type of doctor is most general type of practice that can treat a wide range of patients of all ages. If this kind of doctor finds anything too serious, he or she usually refer their patient to a specialist.
• Gastroenterologist – This kind of doctor focuses on the health of the stomach, the small and large intestines as well as the pancreas and liver.
• Endocrinologist – Studies internal medicine related to the human body’s hormone levels.
• Neurologist – Studies the brain.
• Ophthalmologist – Specializes in the surgical treatment of the eyes.
• Orthopedist – This type of doctor will specialize in the disease, injuries, and treatment of the foot that involve the muscle, nerves, bones, etc.
• Pediatrician – Pediatricians treat children. Since these patients are still developing and growing, this kind of doctor not only focuses on the physical health, but also the emotional and mental well being of children.
• Periodontitis – Studies the health of the mouth.
• Surgeon – While most of these kinds of doctors may be involved in surgical procedures, to pursue a career as a practicing surgeon will keep you heavily involved with removing and/or transplanting body parts and organs.
• Veterinarian – Not all doctors are involved with treating human beings. Veterinarians specialize in treating animals. In this profession, you can specialize in treating farm animals, domestic animals, or exotic animals. Some veterinarians treat all kinds!

Options for Foreign Doctors at Florida National University

Whereas many American doctors can practice in Europe and other places abroad with fewer hurdles, many foreign physicians come to the US on a working Visa. They work as Patient Care Technicians, Medical Assistants, or Registered Nurses. Some might even cross over onto the technical side of the healthcare industry and work as a lab technician. Even with these jobs, a certain amount of education is required.

Most foreign physicians are determined to practice medicine in the US, so the first thing they have to do is earn their pre-med degree. While it is possible to earn your undergraduate degree in Nursing and go on to become a licensed US physician, Florida National University (FNU) challenges you to enroll in our Bachelors of Natural Science program.

We also have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. While our BSN program will certainly guide you toward a rewarding career in the healthcare industry, the Bachelors in Natural Science will better prepare you to pass your exams and get your physician’s license. You’ll study under the instruction of the professional board of faculty members who have years of experience in the field. The wide variety of courses offered also prevents you from pigeonholing yourself into one particular field of study. With the undergraduate program in Natural Science, you’ll earn a well-rounded degree in a variety of subjects that can catapult you into a licensed doctor practicing in a specialty of your choice.

When the ECFMG determines that a foreign physician living in South Florida must complete the equivalent of a pre-med degree before challenging the USMLE, a smart option is to keep those healthcare skills sharp by means of getting a suitable job within the industry. Florida National University is a private college duly accredited to grant health sciences and technology degrees such as:

• Nursing
• Advanced Respiratory Therapy
• Medical Laboratory Technology
• Physical Therapy
• Radiology
• Patient Care Technician
• Echocardiography

The accreditation entities that recognize FNU as a degree-granting institution include:

• Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing
• Florida Board of Nursing
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Florida Commission for Independent Education

FNU recognizes diversity in its student body and the South Florida community; for this reason, the school has an agreement with the National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of the Bahamas. As a school that truly cares about the professional development of international students, FNU recommends the following paths for FMGs:

• Enroll in a healthcare certificate program and work as a technician in this sector. A radiology technologist, for example, can earn an average of $56,000 per year in Miami. This is better than driving a taxi and will allow FMGs to continue working with the ECFMG for final certification or licensing. For more information on this program, contact one of our counselors today.
• Complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, which can be turned into a graduate degree without leaving FNU. The scope of registered nurses in Florida has greatly expanded in recent years, and a few choose to become nursing practitioners and even doctors because of their advanced knowledge in healthcare.
• Complete the Bachelor in Natural Science program, which has many similarities to a straight pre-med degree, and continues to work in the health sciences sector as a skilled FMG. The South Florida region is home to a thriving and very lucrative health sciences industry where employers are constantly looking for job applicants with medical experience. This degree will make it a lot easier for FMGs to pass the USMLE and obtain ECFMG certification.

Countries Where American Physicians Can Practice Medicine Abroad

A handful of countries accept American medical credentials and training. Typically, they require the physician to have attended an allopathic or osteopathic school recognized by the World Directory of Medical Schools and to have board certification through the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). This results in a more direct medical registration/licensure process, often without additional medical exams.

Here is a preliminary list of countries where American Physicians Can Practice Medicine Abroad. – a list that will grow as we research and learn from our group members. In time, we will elucidate how US-trained physicians can move and practice medicine in these countries.

Australia

American training inclusive of medical school, residency, USMLEs, and board certification is recognized by the Australian Medical Board. US-trained physicians can apply for medical registration without further examinations.

The American Family Physician Board has a reciprocity agreement with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). This enables US-boarded Family Physicians to directly seek certification by the RACGP.

Belize

American medical school, residency training, and USMLE examinations are recognized by the Belize Medical Council for all specialties. Further examinations are not needed. Only Belize Citizens can obtain a full medical license, non-citizens can obtain a temporary medical license.

Bermuda

The Bermuda Medical Council accepts registration from physicians who are board certified in their specialty.

Canada

The American Family Physician Board has a reciprocity agreement with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CCFPC). This enables US-boarded Family Physicians to directly seek certification by the CCFPC often without needing additional exams.

Other specialties, depending on the province, may require further examination. Check out our Practicing in Canada: General Fact Sheet for more information!

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands medical board accepts board certification by the American Board of Medical Specialties. You also need a current US medical license and at least 3 years’ work experience after completing postgraduate education to be eligible for medical licensure.

India

The Medical Council of India accepts American Board of Medical Specialties qualifications in Internal Medicine, surgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, cosmetic surgery, family medicine, hospice & palliative medicine, ENT, psychiatry, thoracic surgery, colo-rectal surgery, ophthalmology. For those who have not completed residency or board certification, the Medical Council of India also recognizes medical degrees from several US medical schools.

Check out our country spotlight for Practicing Medicine in India.

Israel

American credentials are recognized for medical licensure. You must be an Israeli Citizen, a permanent resident, or eligible for either immigration status to practice medicine for the long term. For Non-Israelis, the Visiting Physician pathway is a wonderful volunteer opportunity to experience the Israeli Healthcare system and culture.

For more information check out our country spotlight for Practicing Medicine in Israel.

New Zealand

The Medical College of New Zealand recognizes board certification by the US allopathic or osteopathic boards; eligible specialties include Anesthesia, Cardiothoracic surgery, Dermatology, Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, NeuroSurgery, OB/GYN, Orthopedic Surgery, ENT, Pediatrics, Pediatric Surgery, Palliative Medicine, Pathology, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry, Radiation Oncology, PM&R, and Urology.

The American Family Physician Board also has a reciprocity agreement with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This enables US-boarded Family Physicians to seek certification in New Zealand.

Check out our Country Spotlight for New Zealand for more information!

Singapore

The Singapore Medical Council accepts American Board of Medical Specialties certification in Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Diagnostic Radiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Neurosurgery, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, and orthopedic surgery, ENT, pathology, plastic surgery, psychiatry, radiation oncology, and urology. Check out the “Ultimate Guide to Practicing Medicine in Singapore” for more information.

United Arab Emirates

The Department of Health Abu Dhabi, the Dubai Health Authority, and the Ministry of Health-UAE accept American Board of Medical Specialties Certification.

Check out our Country Spotlight for UAE for more information.

United Kingdom

The General Medical Council accepts the USMLEs parts 1&2 and the Certificate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Board of Radiology Diagnostic Radiology Exam as proof that the individual has the knowledge, skills and experiences to apply for full registration and obtain a license to practice in the UK. This typically means you won’t have to take the Physician and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) exams.