As an International Medical Graduate (IMG), it is essential to apply for the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) certification to apply for a medical residency in the United States. In previous posts, we have described why it is so important to get certified and the role of ECFMG. In this post, we will focus on the actual application and the steps required for the application for ECFMG certification.
Please, use these posts to guide your application for the ECFMG certificate. If you have questions about the process or a particular personal situation, consider contacting ECMFG directly. This way, you will feel comfortable with the information you enter in your application. ECFMG agents are responsive and extremely helpful! We cannot take responsibility for any issues that may arise in your application but hope that this guide helps clarify some of the doubts about the process. The process may change every year and your application may not look exactly the same as we describe below.
The first and main step before proceeding any further is to verify that one’s medical school is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS), making sure that our school meets the requirements established by ECFMG. ECFMG includes a note on the “Sponsor Notes” tab of the school’s listing where it is mentioned if the school meets eligibility requirements or not. The ECFMG note also mentions the graduation years for which the school meets ECFMG requirements (your graduation year must be included here to participate). To check if your school is listed in WDOMS, please, go to the following link:
- Go to: https://search.wdoms.org/
- Select your country and the relevant data. For example, the country where I studied Medicine is Ecuador.
- Click on search. A list of medical schools will appear, and you can choose your medical school (in my case: Universidad Catolica de Cuenca).
- Then after selecting your medical school, the most important thing to confirm is if the school is listed as operational, as shown here:
- Once we have confirmed that our medical school is listed in the directory and active (operational), we can proceed with the application process.
Application for the USMLE / ECFMG ID number:
The next step is to get the very important USMLE/ECFMG ID that will be used as our identity for the two organizations. It should be assumed that every step from now on is extremely important, and we should carefully review your information for accuracy. If any mistakes are made, a correction will be required, and it can take more time and effort from you.
- Go to the website: https://secure2.ecfmg.org/emain.asp?app=iwa
- At the bottom of the page, you will find the following phrase: “If you have never been issued to USMLE / ECFMG Identification Number and want to request one, click here.” Proceed to select this option.
- This will take us to a new window where we should carefully read the ECFMG’s instructions before proceeding. Please, do not skip this part since it is important information. Once you have read everything, select confirm: “I confirmed that I have read the above information and instructions,” and click next.
- In the new window, you will be asked if you have sent an application to ECFMG in the past. If you have done it, it is very important to choose “Yes” because selecting “No” when we have done it before may be considered irregular behavior, which could cause us to be permanently excluded from this process. Therefore, select “no” if this is the first time you apply, and then click Next.
- On the next page, we must write our data:
- Last name: Write it exactly as indicated in your official ID, usually the government-issued passport for IMGs. The only acceptable difference here is capitalization (If we write everything with capital letters or only with the first capital letter, for example).
- Rest of the name: Our first names. For example, John, Pedro, and Jose Gabriel. Some IMGs have two first names. You can enter your name exactly as shown in your ID.
- Date of Birth: Remember, in the US, the month goes first, and then the day (for example, April 11, 1990, would be 04/11/1990).
- Birth Country.
- Gender: Optional.
- NBME Issued USMLE ID: USMLE identification assigned by NBME, only if you have applied for it previously. Usually, that is not the case. If that is the case, you can leave it blank.
- US Social Security Number: If you do not have it, leave the field empty.
- Medical school Country: Select the country where the medical school in which you are currently studying or have graduated is located.
- Choose our medical school: When selecting the country, a list of medical schools from the selected country will be displayed. Choose the correct school, and the information will automatically appear.
- Country of Residence: the country where we currently live.
- Street Address.
- Email address: This email is very important because it will serve as the primary communication tool for ECFMG to contact us. A recommendation here is to use your personal email rather than an institutional email, as you may lose institutional access in the future.
- Verify Email Address: Confirm the email.
- Telephone number.
- Confirm that you have entered the information and that it is accurate: “I certify that the information in this ECFMG On-Line Authentication Process is true and accurate and provided solely by me.” Then click on next.
- Verify that all the data is accurate before applying, especially your name. Once you have reviewed that everything is accurate, you can proceed.
The time it takes for ECFMG to send you your ID is approximately five business days. We must wait until we receive the email from USMLE/ECFMG with the ID number with which we can begin the application for the certificate and USMLE exams.
Application for the ECFMG Certificate:
After obtaining your USMLE/ECFMG ID and password in your email, you can log in to ECFMG and start the application. Remember, in case of doubt about how to fill something in your application, do not hesitate to contact ECFMG directly via email or phone call. You can save the application at any time and come back later when having doubts about the data you are entering. These are the application steps:
- Go to ecfmg.org, “online services,” “for physicians,” then “use the Interactive Web Applications (IWA).
- Here, we must enter our ID and password to log into our ECFMG account. Most of the applications will be made from here in the future.
- Once inside your account, click on the option: “Submit an application for ECFMG certification.”
- It will send us to an introduction page where we must read the instructions and continue.
- Fill in your name (or confirm).
- Birthdate.
- Gender.
- Email or email address
- Medical Education Status:
- Choose Graduate or student.
- I confirm that I have graduated from medical school.
- I confirm that the medical school from which I graduated is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools (World Directory) as meeting eligibility requirements for its students and graduates to apply to ECFMG for ECFMG Certification and examination and that my graduation year is included in my medical school’s World Directory listing (we confirm that our medical school is on the list of the World Directory of Medical Schools – WDOMS, which we already checked before starting).
- Then we simply confirm that we agree with everything that ECFMG requires and proceed.
- Finally, we will be prompted for the payment section. You will be prompted to pay the fees. Once payment has been received, we will encounter a confirmation page.
- We will have the opportunity to confirm that everything we have filled is appropriate. It is important to review all of our data before applying.
- Finally, we have concluded this part of the application. You will receive an email confirming that the application for the ECFMG certificate has been received. The email will look similar to this:
Dear Doctor:
We are pleased to confirm that your Application for ECFMG Certification has been completed and received by ECFMG. A summary of your Application for ECFMG Certification can be accessed using the On-Line Applicant Status and Information System (OASIS), available from the ECFMG website at www.ecfmg.org. You may now proceed with the Interactive Web Applications (IWA) for the USMLE examination (s). Please do not submit inquiries to this mailbox. Messages sent to this e-mail address will not receive responses.
Sincerely,
Registration and Credentials Services
That is all! You have applied for your ECFMG certification and now can proceed to apply for the first USMLE exam (usually Step 1). When you apply for the first exam, there will be an extra step which is the certification of identification. We will describe this process in the next post. The USMLE application comes next, and we will cover it in our next post. Please, use the link below to continue.
We hope this information has been useful for you. If you have any questions or doubts, please, do not hesitate to comment or contact us. We will try to answer you as soon as possible.
Good luck!
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