How to Work in the US WITHOUT RESIDENCY | Alternate Path for IMGs

hi there Dr Rajiv a here from IMG Secrets coming with the experience of guiding hundreds of International Medical graduates like you and now we have guided imgs from more than 50 countries with this extensive experience in this video I'm going to tell you how you can transition to the USA through the alternate entry path program bypassing residency and start practicing in the US let's do this together there are two ways an IMG can become a fully licensed physician in the USA one is completing residency or coming through the alternate entry path program of course here

we are completely focused on the alternate entry path program now this is an option provided by American Board of Medical Specialties that let outstanding imgs now that's the keyword outstanding imgs to bypass residency and either enter through a fellowship or directly as an attending physician and become part of the US Healthcare System now how is this going to work an outstanding candidate is someone who has finished their post-graduate training in their home country and ideally have worked for a few years in that particular specialization or ideally a sub specialization now beyond the clinical work there

are two other things that are important the one is research hang up if you're still not active in research that's fine there are other options I'm going to tell you now for those imgs who are excelled in research the programs are looking for how much extensive your involvement in research is have you submitted and presented abstracts in conferences have you had Publications in high quality journals now all this in combination along with your clinical experience makes an outstanding candidate now what happens if a candidate has not done any research at all in that case the

candidate can focus on a completely different area this is called educational impact now what this means is now this candidate in addition to all the clinical work they've been involved in the education of their specialty ideally not always ideally this candidate would have finished a Masters in Education or they've been involved in curriculum development of postgraduate traines teaching their students in their home country this could be medical students postgraduate students followers and they've been an invited speaker in their home country if you come from a hospital in your home country that is really well known

nationally or internationally then you're at an advantage to apply for for alternate entry path programs to the hospitals the next question is should you be applying for a fellowship or directly as an attending physician this depends on your country of training and how extensive your background is I encouraged some candidates based on their training to apply directly for an attending physician position and some of them to a fellowship and we've had success applying to both fellowships in attending physici positions for imgs from a few different countries you send an email to the hospitals along with

a strong CV a cover letter you do need strong letters of references your credentials and then ask them for a position now when we help candidates we actually leave it pretty open we let the hospital make the choice whether they want to hire the candidate as a fellow as an attending physician if they want to choose the candidate as a fellow sure but my preference is always them choosing the candidate as an attending physician because this actually is going to make your life a lot easier in in the long run instead of doing fellowship and

then transitioning but for many people Fellowship might be the only option and that is completely fine all right you apply to the hospital the hospital likes you they call you for an interview the interview is going to be virtual for some candidates can be in person they talk to you they like you sure they can offer you a position which is very exciting and once this is done they work on transitioning you into the us into their hospital they work with you so you successfully get a Visa if they offer you a position does the

hospital guarantee you a Visa no they cannot but they do help with the VISA paperwork using which you can apply the US Embassy for a Visa that can help you transition to the USA if you're a green card holder or you're a US citizen that is obviously not something you need to worry about the next step would be the license the hospital would also work with you so you become successful to obtain a license to practice medicine all right so once you finish the requisite years in the alternate entry path program which is different for

different Specialties for example in Radiology the expectation is you come in either as a fellow or as an attending physician in anesthesiology it's the same we have seen candidates either come as a clinical fellow or as directly as an attending physician in Internal Medicine it's slightly different the expectation is you must be an attending before you apply to the American Board of internal medicine to seek permission to be board eligible in the case of Orthopedics the expectation is you must complete quite a few fellowships in order to be eligible to apply to the American Board

of orthopedic surgery so every specialty is designed differently but ultimately the outcome is the same for an IMG which is going through the alternate entry path program without any residency training and then become board eligible and then finally become board certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties subsequently you would be having a full unrestricted license and you would be good to practice in the USA making sense how this fantastic thing works the other question imgs frequently have is am I treated differently because I am now certified through the alternate entry path the answer is

no an example is me I am certified through the alternate entry path in anesthesiology I know quite a few candidates who have been successful through the alternate entry path program and I haven't seen anyone complain that they have been treated differently because they have come through the alternate entry path program so if you get in this is a fantastic option and you should be good to go and once certified you can practice your specialization anywhere of your choice all right now that you know all about the alternate entry path program I encourage you to check

this video out where I explained how exactly to move forward with the application of course if you want to use all expertise to help you with your application you can always go to our website IMG secrets.com and book an appointment from there with me are one of our experts and we will be more than happy to guide you and help you with your application we put all our experience and expertise to help you succeed with your application any questions you can always Post in the comments below take care stay safe I will talk to you

soon