Yes I'm a Canadian citizen but graduated med school in the UK and currently working as a full-time GP. My will be a consultant in August
From my understanding it is easier to move to Canada as a GP but not for specialties so was looking for more advice regarding this. Anything that can be done to increase chances of transitioning for an ophthalmologist?
If someone has done their medical education and training in a few select countries (US, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, HK, Taiwan, South Africa, Switzerland - believe I listed them all) and are a consultant there shouldn’t be significant barriers to getting licensed to practice in Canada. It will take time and the process needs to be updated because there seems to be a lot of paperwork needed and often duplicate paperwork but similar process for GPs and specialists from the UK. The processing speed seems incredibly long given what is actually being done but that is mostly related to the colleges involved and not IRCC. I would suggest getting licensed before moving to Canada if possible. The biggest obstacle for specialists who wanted to get licensed to work in Canada was the requirement to redo their residencies but as you must be aware there are rarely any leftover residency spots in many specialities. It is still difficult to secure a leftover residency for GPs after Canadian medical students go through the first round of matching but the majority of leftover residency spots are from GPs so there is a much better chance of securing a GP residency versus securing a residency ophthalmology where chances are essentially zero. It can also be difficult to secure a job offer in certain specialties and that is mostly budget issues for hospitals as well as very few physicians wanting to or able to retire. Also although jobs may be posted many advertised positions have already been essentially promised to a physician who may have trained at that specific hospital or who has a partner who is already working in the hospital or city. The fact that opthamologists have the option to work in private practice and are not all dependent on hospital budgets will likely mean more job openings than some other specialties. I’m not familiar with the job market for Opthamologists but given the smaller size of the residency program and Canada’s ageing population I assume that the job market is better than many other specialties. Due to differences in reimbursement rates between provinces there may also be more jobs available in certain provinces. There also seems to have been improvements in licensing times in certain provinces where there is such a shortage that provinces. Some provinces are trying harder than others to get foreign trained healthcare professional licenses faster than others. I would suggest both you and your partner pursue licensing in the province where you intend to live and practice. Although more provinces have reciprocal agreements don’t believe they all do at this point so something that needs to be considered.
