skilovernat

Hi to the forum!

I'm really hoping some GPs who have made the move out to Canada could help me. Thank you so much for the thread "Calling-canadian-family-practitioners-ex-uk-general-practitioners" which has proved a great thread (made really good notes from all the info there - including looking up a billion acronyms!)

My situation:

My husband and I have decided to leave the UK and have decided on Canada - particularly somewhere in the interior of British Columbia, ideally in the mountains.

What I really need to know is an idea about timelines... We're living in London at the moment, but desperate to get out of the toxic smoke as soon as possible (our lungs literally hurt after going for a run these days). The tricky thing is I'm the GP and the girl - so at some point we want to start a family - sooner rather than later...which makes things tricky. So I wanted to have an idea about time frames. I'm a full time locum, so I'm not bothered at all about maternity pay - but just wanted to find out from your expertice how long we should be thinking it'll take.
An agent told me 6-8 months... but I find this hard to believe from what I've read so far.

Where am I in the process?:

Mid-February 2015 - submitted my MRCGP, CCT for source verification. My MBBS certificate was already verified in 2007 to sit the MCCEE.

MCCEE passed in 2007

HealthMatchBC: I've chased all my employers over the past 3 years for letters to prove my compentencies. I'm still waiting for 2 of them, but luckily I have paeds/A&E experience, and fulfill all their requirements.

My Question:

Could people share their experiences of time frames?

(1) How long for source verification on average? (I'm chasing the GMC and RCGP but they have not received any requests yet from the ECFMG yet, and physiciansapply told me they have sent my documents to Philadelphia already).

(2) Once HealthmatchBC have all my letters and my pre-screening summary assessment is complete - how long did it take people to have the preliminary assessment by the college? Is it really 8-10 weeks, or can it be less or more?

(3) Immigration: once I get a job that I'm happy with - how long did this bit of the process take?

(4) Would it be sensible to apply to more than 1 province for licensure at the same time - and for example locum elsewhere until BC came through? We wouldn't mind living in Calgary for instance.

Many thanks to everyone in advance. Would love to make the leap - but NOW - not in 2 years!

skilovernat

withabix

You may be surprised to find that there are areas of the interior with relatively poor air quality, both natural and man-made.

When there are forest fires (every year and will be getting worse as the climate changes), the air quality in the interior can suffer considerably. Smoke gets funnelled along valleys and can get trapped during temperature inversions. Your air quality can be affected by a forest fire hundreds of kilometres away.

There are also problems with airborne dust in the interior in dry weather and also straight after the winter.

Some of the industries in the interior are fairly high air polluters.

You also get temperature inversion in valleys, which traps the dirty air at ground level.

Vancouver Island or the Sunshine Coast might be your best bet...all the pollutants move East...

There may well be opportunities for GPs in the interior, but are you really looking for the remoteness? It has its downsides too...

Hasan78

Hi Skiloverant!
welcome!

I moved to Ontario and it took me 1-1.5yrs but that was just because I wanted independent license not restricted license so had to do all the exam prior to relocation. it is different for BC i believe!

really? did BC college ask for letter of competence,mmm....i never needed that for Ontario!

1) SVR: I believe took about 2-3 months but it can take up to 6months. i did email GMC/RCGP/medical school to ensure it is processed asap.

2) I think HealthMatchBC is a recruitment agency which can help you out.
you need to contact the college for BC - equivalent of GMC for BC - see below:
https://www.cpsbc.ca/for-public/bc-health-regulators

3) immigration:
quickest way of relocation is TWP-temporary work permit. so read on on this website on requirement of TWP and cic website.

You may want to consider applying for PR as soon as you arrive in Canada too.

for TWP - i gathered all the documents (police certificate/letter of eligibility to work/LMIA/copy of contract/upfront medical) and got the work visa at airport in Pearson international and the officer only look at TWP and asked if i had medical done....easily really... so it won't take you much time.

however for PR - you will need many documents like english exam - IELTS which you can do it in UK as it is valid for 2yrs. You also need previous work letter for PR for the last 10yrs (see PR FSW check list on cic website for what details to be included). - as you are Locum like me, it will take time and a lot easier to do it while you are in UK so gather them now.

4) Applying to more than 1 province is not going to make it any quicker. It won't take much time to get your approval once SVR done.

i had to register with CFPC-equivalnet of RCGP as part of registration with regulatory body. is it not the case for BC?

good luck...

skilovernat

Thank you so much for your reply Hasan. Up to 6 months for SVR alone possibly.... Yikes! Well done on making the move to Ontario! How has anyone else found the process?

P.S. We're thinking of moving to Nelson, BC. We love the outdoors and the mountains/snow sports. Any opinions?

DrDom

Hi,

I moved here 3 weeks ago, from Hertfordshire to BC, as a GP. It took me 18 months altogether, but a lot of that was due to my own issues, not BC's or CIC's. I stayed on at work for an extra 5 months while we found a replacement. Then I had to do 2 months paeds as I hadn't done that as an SHO. After that it was only 4 months or so.

HealthMatchBC were really helpful. There is a programme called PNP - Provincial Nominee Programme and the forms are formidable. Not that what they ask was inappropriate but it was repetitive and they were locked PDF forms which were horrible to deal with. BC would ask if I could "just" change one answer. They didn't realise that I couldn't "just" change one thing - I had to redo the whole form which could take a couple of hours of more.

However, HealthMatchBC really helped, as once they said the forms were ok, BC accepted them and processed my nomination. Mine was held up as it was in late November, and they had used up their allocations for 2014. It got processed quickly in January though.

There was a holdup between the college in BC (CPSBC) and the Health Authority here, but both of those acted pretty quickly once they realised.

SVR was quick for my MBChB - about 3 weeks. I have since submitted my MRCGP - about a month ago, and haven't had that completed yet so maybe it is variable.

We did have a hiccup at immigration though. The health authority had not completed a new form that came into force on 22nd Feb, which was to do with a labour market opinion. As with everything there was a fee - but this time for the employer, and only about $250. The border team were really helpful though, and let us in! I just didn't get my work permit until this had been sorted - about 2 days. Now that it has been in place for a month that shouldn't happen.

I work down in the Fraser Valley, which is very different I suspect from Nelson, but feel free to email me if you I can give any more help.

So far, despite the immigration paperwork I am SO pleased to be here. The more I hear of the NHS the more sure I am to be better of out of it.

Best wishes,

Dominic

Gowest

I got a reply from CPSBC about 6 weeks after I applied. They had a few questions which I answered from my cv and they have said once source verification comes through I will be eligible for provisional registration. My documents landed in Ottawa in mid feb and I've heard nothing yet. I've emailed ecfmg to see where I am with the process and will start nagging RCGP and gmc once I've survived the March end of year madness.
I'm not yet sure where we are going to but Okanagan or vancouver Island seem likely. We hope to arrive in June 2016 so haven't the time pressure of the OP but we are visiting this summer and hope to be able to manage a few site visits.

skilovernat

Hi Dr Dom. Sounds like it was lucky with the immigration! Fantastic that you're enjoying it over there so far. I've finally got the coveted Paeds experience letter which I'm sending over tonight to HealthMatch - so hopefully they'll start doing the "pre-assessment" soon.

Provincial Nominee Programme: do you know if this is something that everyone has to do - and is it before applying for any jobs via HealthMatch?

skilovernat

Hi Gowest! Thanks for the info. I'll apply to the CPSBC now then. It looks like the ECFMG are supposed to send out the source verification documents to the RCGP/GMC by post within 48 hours of receiving the stuff from physiciansapply. I got an email in the physiciansapply account telling me they had sent the documents over to the USA in late February. I called the GMC last week - and they didn't have any record of letters arriving yet... I'll try again this week.

Vancouver Island a lovely place to work - I spent part of my honeymoon there (definitely would recommend the kayak tours for orca spotting in the Johnstone strait). Bloomin amazing!!! We're checking out Nelson mainly because of the skiing/artsy scene - but I guess there are many areas with skiing close by - so let's see what kind of jobs are out there... ! Good luck with the application. I'll let you know if there are good contacts in either the GMC or RCGP to get hold of re: source verification.

skilovernat

It was only meant to be a helpful post for others who struggle with bureaucracy within these large medical institutions in the UK.... where it takes ages with every phone call/email to finally get to someone who knows what on earth you're on about...!

christmasoompa

I know, but I'm sure you wouldn't like it if people gave out your phone number, email address etc, on a public forum where it would be picked up by every spambot out there, so hopefully you understand why we can't allow you to post it.

The thing to do is to post saying that you have the info if needed, and then anybody interested can PM you directly for it, so that it's being kept private.

HTH.

prairiechicken

If you like artsy and skiing, consider the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. 30-40 minutes drive from downtown Courtenay to Mount Washington (for skiing - although admittedly it was a bit lacking in snow this winter), and loads of music and arts type stuff going on all year. Also very affordable houses, and a very lovely place for kids (although there are lots of retirees in the Valley, there are also lots and lots of families with young kids, and it's not like Parksville/Qualicum which seems to be much more driven by the needs of the older population)

We seem to need more GPs here too.

akramshik70

Hi All, sorry for deviating from the original subject!

Just a quick question, does anyone know what are the prospects of securing a job as a specialist in Obs & Gynae in Canada for British trained physicians? I mean is their a demand for such jobs??

Thanks in advance,

skilovernat

Check out the Healthmatchbc website and you can see how many O&G jobs there are all over the province to get an idea.

Mantoux

I know that you're enquiring about BC, so this may or may not help. I moved to Alberta in September. I had a site visit in Feb 2014. All paperwork, including (then) LMO and work permit by end of July, 2014. CPSA sorted by end of August. LMO took 7 days to be approved and work permit 9 days. Don't know how that happened but it did.

skilovernat

Thanks Mantoux! I just got a letter from the CPSBC saying they're going to nominate me for provisional registration. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to start looking for jobs... and then do a site visit in July. Very pleased today. One step closer....