Barriers to the IMG race for a US Residency

Here's to enlisting some barriers that IMGs face en route to a residency spot

1. The Financial Barrier: All that Money for the USMLE Steps, for those expensive books, for the travel to and within USA - not every IMG's cup of tea :-(

2. The Exam-Visa Barrier for Step 2 CS and Step 3: It's ridiculous, you will agree, that IMGs are happily allowed to take the Step 1 in their own countries, but often blatantly rejected visa the Step 2 CS and/or Step 3 - "We sold you a movie ticket - Awrite! enjoy ! ..........Oh did you say you wanted to see the movie too ? Hmmm...bummer...we didn't think of that !" .lol

3. The Program-Visa Barrier: Now we really understand that one, but its funny when you sometimes see "We do not sponsor visas" and "We are an equal opportunity employer" statements on the same website of a residency program ;-)

4. The "IMG-Friendliness" Barrier: Not all Programs accept International Medical Graduates. And on the funny side, there are some that accept IMG applications but not the IMGs themselves ;-) Another Money maker for the ERAS-ECFMG folks, you will agree ;-)

5. The "US Experience" Barrier: You need a residency for US experience...but you need US Experience for residency ..Catch 22 eh ?

6. The Language barrier: "Well...we IMGs know English - we just speak it differently" ;-)

7. The Cultural barrier

8. The Specialty Barrier: Let me quote my friend here = "The 'hard cash' specialties are for American Grads - the 'hard work' specialties are for IMGs" :-) :-) :-)

9. The Score Barrier: "Most of our American grads can get that score ...it's that low.. you need to go higher Mr. IMG" ;-)



Well..most of it was on a funny vein anyways ..don't think we can complain too much, can we ?


Also Read:

- Tough and Easy Specialties for IMGs