FMG or IMG in Australia? Best path to take.

[GotToGetThatGPAUp]

I've been accepted into a US MD school that'll cost me ~100-125k for 4 years. My fiance, however, wants to move back to Australia for a host of reasons and I honestly agree with him. I would love to live and practice in his home city (Melbourne) where I've stayed for an extended period of time over the years. For a better picture of our relationship, I am currently 29 and we've been together for almost 7 years. He has an opportunity offered that if he took would have to move back to Australia in about 6 months - one that he can't really pass up and I would not want him to. If I want to practice medicine there, what is the best path under these circumstances? For the sake of the argument imagine my fiance HAS to go to Melbourne in 6 months and would not be coming back for any extended period of time.

• Do I finish med school here (a whole 4 years but cheaper) then apply for an internship there? How severely limited are internship positions if I apply as a US MD grad?
• Do I defer my med school offers and apply for med school there (say Melbourne Medical School), and attend at an increased price but get to be with my fiance? Is getting an internship still very difficult?
• Do I finish med school here and do residency (~7 years) then apply to work in Australia? This one hurts because... 7 years wow.

I'm interested in pediatrics if this helps.

Thank you <3

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[txm88]

option 1 - internship chances in Australia are zero straight out of a US med school, let alone wishing to practice in a metro city like Melbourne

option 2 - expensive and a shame you have to give up your US MD spot but probably is the simplest way to satisfy both your professional and personal situation - if you are good enough for american MD you probably have good enough credentials get into UMelb/Monash/Deakin MD

option 3 - possible (many threads on SDN about 'specialist pathway') but impossible to predict the climate for specialist IMGs in 7 years and is probably not worth gambling on as American specialist training is not directly equivalent to Australian training - all that time spent training could be all for nothing

From your comments about the tuition fees in Australia I assume you are not an Australian PR/citizen - if you choose to come to Australia whilst a US citizen you will be classed as FMG studying at an Australian medical school. In terms of internship allocations, generally international students who did MD in Australia are placed below domestic students and interstate domestic students on the priority list, however I believe Victoria is the only state that prioritises Victorian international students over interstate domestic students. I'm sure you know of the news of Americans studying in Australia who fail to get an internship - but this is definitely the minority ATM.

Being an FMG studying at an Australian med school also means you will be subject to the 10 year moratorium (19AB) which means for the first 10 years from date of first registration, you will need to work in a district of workforce shortage (essentially a regional/rural area) to be able to bill medicare. This is not applicable to the public sector as they earn salary (and hence don't bill medicare)

WRT option 1, it may be worth looking into the 'competent authority pathway' where you complete your MD in USA and do a 1 year internship/residency in America before coming to Australia to essentially 'redo' your internship and gain general registration - hospitals prefer hiring competent authority doctors rather than IMGs coming through the AMC exams. This pathway is very popular with UK doctors (and there are a ton of them in Australia) and but also open to US/Canadian doctors

But the doors for IMGs are closing by the day so its impossible to predict the future climate.
Good luck

 

[GotToGetThatGPAUp]

option 1 - internship chances in Australia are zero straight out of a US med school, let alone wishing to practice in a metro city like Melbourne

option 2 - expensive and a shame you have to give up your US MD spot but probably is the simplest way to satisfy both your professional and personal situation - if you are good enough for american MD you probably have good enough credentials get into UMelb/Monash/Deakin MD

option 3 - possible (many threads on SDN about 'specialist pathway') but impossible to predict the climate for specialist IMGs in 7 years and is probably not worth gambling on as American specialist training is not directly equivalent to Australian training - all that time spent training could be all for nothing

From your comments about the tuition fees in Australia I assume you are not an Australian PR/citizen - if you choose to come to Australia whilst a US citizen you will be classed as FMG studying at an Australian medical school. In terms of internship allocations, generally international students who did MD in Australia are placed below domestic students and interstate domestic students on the priority list, however I believe Victoria is the only state that prioritises Victorian international students over interstate domestic students. I'm sure you know of the news of Americans studying in Australia who fail to get an internship - but this is definitely the minority ATM.

Being an FMG studying at an Australian med school also means you will be subject to the 10 year moratorium (19AB) which means for the first 10 years from date of first registration, you will need to work in a district of workforce shortage (essentially a regional/rural area) to be able to bill medicare. This is not applicable to the public sector as they earn salary (and hence don't bill medicare)

WRT option 1, it may be worth looking into the 'competent authority pathway' where you complete your MD in USA and do a 1 year internship/residency in America before coming to Australia to essentially 'redo' your internship and gain general registration - hospitals prefer hiring competent authority doctors rather than IMGs coming through the AMC exams. This pathway is very popular with UK doctors (and there are a ton of them in Australia) and but also open to US/Canadian doctors

But the doors for IMGs are closing by the day so its impossible to predict the future climate.
Good luck

Thank you I'll definitely take this all into consideration. I suppose I should also be looking into the path to citizenship through marriage as I imagine that would make it easier but I'm sure that's a long and tedious process in itself.

 

[txm88]

Thank you I'll definitely take this all into consideration. I suppose I should also be looking into the path to citizenship through marriage as I imagine that would make it easier but I'm sure that's a long and tedious process in itself.

being a citizen means cheap tuition but is more competitive as the domestic student quota is tighter - but no issues about internship

keep in mind everything is relative to the date of entering medical school - for example you will still be subject to the 10 year moratorium and low internship priority even if you became a citizen the second day of medical school

 

[sean80439]

In QLD internship priority is based on your status when you apply for internship not how you entered medical school. We had some Canadians get PR prior to internship applications and ended up in the main priority group.

 

[GotToGetThatGPAUp]

In QLD internship priority is based on your status when you apply for internship not how you entered medical school. We had some Canadians get PR prior to internship applications and ended up in the main priority group.

Is this for Aus med graduates only or would it be the same for US MD grads if my status was to change by then?

 

[txm88]

if you graduated from the USA you wouldnt have a chance in the internship allocation process - they are at the very bottom of the list

Competent authority pathway would be the way to go

 

[GotToGetThatGPAUp]

if you graduated from the USA you wouldnt have a chance in the internship allocation process - they are at the very bottom of the list

Competent authority pathway would be the way to go

According to an above poster, I'd only have to do a 1 year residency/internship after receiving my MD in the US to qualify for the Competent Authority Pathway correct? I assume that's because the last part of our board exams are taken that year.

This seems to be the best and cheapest path then. Would the Competent Authority Pathway as an Australian spouse overall be "easier" than getting my degree in Australia? Especially if I wanted to at least stay in Victoria?

 

[sean80439]

If you want to work in australia without going down the pathway of already completing all of your training in another country you’re best chances are just to go to med school here. It makes everything simpler.

Most people that get hired to fulfil their 1 year preregistration year end up in rural regional Australia if you want to do the 1 year internship in the USA first. You don’t get hired typically at a major metro hospital.

 

[txm88]

According to an above poster, I'd only have to do a 1 year residency/internship after receiving my MD in the US to qualify for the Competent Authority Pathway correct? I assume that's because the last part of our board exams are taken that year.

This seems to be the best and cheapest path then. Would the Competent Authority Pathway as an Australian spouse overall be "easier" than getting my degree in Australia? Especially if I wanted to at least stay in Victoria?

The answer is yes or no - theoretically you would be easier to hire as you wouldn't need sponsorship(?) but that said you are still an IMG and the big thing to worry about that is the uncertainty especially we are talking about something a few years from now

Actually at the moment, many non-PR (UK) competent authority docs are able to find RMO jobs quite easily in non-rural hospitals, especially in the HHS i work (there are about 50 UK RMOs) - I am not from Victoria though

But I agree that the easiest way is to study where you intend to practice - no one can predict the IMG climate in 4-5 years time and IMGs will only be pushed more and more out rural as metro HHS become more saturated

 

[pointodr]

In QLD internship priority is based on your status when you apply for internship not how you entered medical school. We had some Canadians get PR prior to internship applications and ended up in the main priority group.

Sorry to bring back this thread

Is this still the case? Is it the same for other states also?

Thanks