Are doctors from other countries allowed to work in the U.S.?

Question

Are doctors from other countries allowed to work in the U.S.? Or can be gradutes of pre-med and medicine study in the U.S.?

Answer 1

yes as long as they are citizens and have the proper education. A lot of students study to be doctors in other countries because it is easier to get into med school.

Answer 2

yes as long as they are citizens and are certified by US standards.

Answer 3

it depends...if they are from south america or other countries that aren't as far a long as we are medically than no. however, if they come from countries that have similar medical standards than they can!

Answer 4

yes of course, this is why we can't understand them, mostly indians

Answer 5

Are you kidding?  Go into any large teaching hospital & check out the residency program - there will be a ton of doctors from other countries enrolled.

Answer 6

A lot of the preceding information is simply wrong.  

A doctor from a foreign country cannot just come here and get a license or practice.  To practice in the US, it is required that a doctor complete a US or Canadian residency.  It is possible to get into a US residency from a foreign medical school--people do it all the time--but they must complete the USMLE Steps 1 and 2 CK/CS, which are standardized exams that all US medical students take.  There is also a separate certification called the ECFMG--the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates--that they must obtain.

Foreign medical graduates do not have to be citizens.

It does not matter if the physician is already qualified to practice in another country, generally speaking--they must still do a residency here to qualify for a license.  Exceptions are occasionally made for  particularly eminent or spectacularly qualified physicians, or those who have been invited to take positions as medical school faculty.

Having said that, foreign medical graduates are a valuable part of the residency system in the US.   I have learned a ton from interns and residents who have come here from various other countries, including Asian countries and the Phillipines.  They do face some challenges that are different from US medical students, but I'm glad they chose to come here.

Here is an AMA site with the basic steps to practice in the US:  http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category...

Answer 7

Yes you need a work visa to work here or an education visa to attend a university here.

Answer 8

A coworker of mine from Russia has two sons in Russia who are doctors. She said that they must be licensed in the U.S. to practice here.  What that involves I am not sure.

Answer 9

They take the board tests for their  specialty if they are already doctors. If they have only graduated from medical school, they need to pass the USMLE step 1, step 2 clinical skills, and step 2 clinical knowledge to be accepted into a residency. If they are pre-med, they have to be accepted into an accredited medical school. After these steps, they can be a doctor here. The tests show they have the same base level of knowledge as any other doctor/student at their level.

There are foreign doctors/residents/students here from everywhere. They do NOT need to be citizens to work here. But they need to have a work visa (not hard to get for doctors), or a student visa. Or they can be brought over from another country as a consultant on a case, in which case there is special paperwork done by the hospital or clinic they are consulting for.