The ECFMG certification (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) is probably the most important task to perform as an International Medical Graduates (IMG) planning to pursue a medical residency in the United States. Although it is not mandatory to have the ECFMG certificate initially to send your residency application, most programs will prefer that it is available during the application time and particularly before the rank order list deadline (usually around the first days of March each year). It is mandatory to have an ECFMG certificate by the beginning of residency.
ECFMG is the organization in charge of supporting IMGs in the U.S. It acts as the Dean’s office, regulatory organism, supportive service, and much more. ECFMG becomes a best friend for IMGs. It is in charge of the medical school education credential verification (which encloses grades, hours, curriculum, medical diplomas, and other documents). It is important to differentiate between ECFMG and the National Boards of Medical Examiners (NBME). Medical students/graduates from Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) or Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) in the United States and Canada apply for their USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK exams using NBME. IMGs must apply for their USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK exams through ECFMG. However, the USMLE Step 3 application is made using the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) for both US graduates and IMGs. ECFMG plays a major role during residency for IMGs becoming the visa sponsor (for J1 visa) unless the program grants the applicant an H1B visa (which would be sponsored by the program directly). For more information about the difference between the J1 visa and H1B visa for residency, please go to the following link:
J1 Vs H1B Visa for Medical Residency
Therefore, ECFMG becomes the “Medical School or Dean” during the residency application process. The objective of ECFMG is to ensure that an IMG holds the required accreditation, knowledge, skills, and aptitudes for practicing medicine under supervision (training in a residency program in the United States). The ECFMG certification is not a medical license to practice medicine. Residency programs can check the status of a candidate by asking ECFMG for information about their scores and certification using a tool called Certification Verification Service (CVS). We will describe more about this process in future posts.
Perhaps the main objective for an IMG seeking to apply for residency is to get ECFMG certified. For this reason, IMGs need to get familiar with ECFMG policies. To learn more about the ECFMG certification, please, check out the ECFMG Information Booklet below (updated yearly by ECFMG):
ECFMG Information Booklet 2022
After this introduction, we will perform a step-by-step description of the application for the ECFMG certification. We will cover the requirements and information that you will need to apply. Please, if you have any questions or concerns about the ECFMG certification, do not hesitate to contact ECFMG. Anecdotally, our experience contacting ECFMG in the past via phone and email was extremely beneficial. You can also leave any comments below or contact us, and we will try our best to help you.
Good luck!
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