u/hellnawhbraah

Hello everyone, hope you're all doing fine. I'm a 4th year MBBS medical student from Pakistan who wants to pursue the Canadian medical licensing pathway. For the first few years USMLE was my top priority but it looks quite unrealistic for me due to my financial circumstances and saturation/competition of American pathway. One of the many reasons i'm choosing the Canadian pathway is that I have an extended family in Canada who are willing to help me in the visa process and living with them which would greatly reduce my costs. The thing is I'm not quite familiar with how the licensing works for imgs there, few things I know are Canadians prioritise their own grads and the only residency spots available for imgs are family medicine which I'm completely okay with, I like family medicine. I'm starting the preparation for MCCQE and it will be tremendously helpful if anyone who has gone through this pathway explain it and how easy/hard is it to get into residency there or link me up with someone who is familiar with this topic.. Thank you for your help in advance.

Hey everyone, IMG here, nearing graduation and trying to decide between pursuing residency in Family medicine in Canada or the US. I've done my research but would love to hear from people who've actually lived this.

CANADA:-

Pros: I have family there so I wouldn't be completely alone. Could save significantly on living costs early on. Better work-life balance, immigrant friendly, safer, more stable politically.

Cons: Very few residency spots for IMGs, each province has different rules, pathway is complicated and expensive

USA:-

Pros: Clearer and more straightforward IMG pathway, more residency spots, best physician pay in the world, tons of USMLE resources, freedom and opportunities.

Cons: I know absolutely no one there, extremely expensive (need ~6 months of runway(clinical experience) before applying), visa is hard to get, less immigrant friendly, current political climate is concerning, and competition is still fierce despite more spots.

Personally, I think I'd enjoy living in the US more long term. But Canada feels like the safer, more practical choice for someone making their first move abroad.

Has anyone done one pathway and wished they'd done the other?Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!