STEP 3: Source Verification

 

Source verification essentially is the Medical Council of Canada confirming the documents that you are submitting are genuine. This is arguably the most painstaking part of the process (besides the exam of course). There are a lot of documents that require verification, and it's important to plan ahead because the verification process can take upwards of 2 months. The process involves you getting copies of a document, meeting their submission requirements (which sometimes requires certification), paying the fee for source verification and then submitting it to the physiciansapply portal. To start, you should submit the following documents first because you will need these documents verified to be eligible to apply for the MCCQE1 exam:

1.     Certified copy of your passport: this cost me very little money. I went to officeworks and got a coloured photocopy of my passport. I then went to a Justice of the Peace and got it certified for free. Total cost ~$0.50 + source verification fee $185 CAD. Please note they have very specific instructions for document certification, and make sure that the person certifying the documents follows their instructions, specifically where they stamp their credentials.

2.     Verification of medical diploma- same process and cost as above $0.50+ $185 CAD

After submitting these two documents and they are verified, you should be able to proceed with applying for the MCCQE1 exam (see next post). Continuing with source verification you will also need a copy of your:

1.     FRACGP credentials (Specialty Certificate). I only managed to get this a couple months after starting my verification process for my passport and medical diploma, but it is what it is. This is your FRACGP parchment/diploma. Same process and costs as above $0.50 + $185 CAD

Okay, we will take a breather for a bit because the next part gets a bit tricky (at least it was for me). The process is the same, but can be a bit confusing so i'll explain it the best I can. You are going to require three reports; two letters of good standing and a registrar profile report. You will require the letter of good standing from AHPRA and RACGP and a registrar profile report from WAGPET (or whatever your regional training provider is). It is important to time your submission of these documents because they are only valid for six months, so there's no point getting them too early because otherwise it will not be accepted

1.     Letter of Good Standing/Professional Status (AHPRA)- this you cannot submit directly to the physiciansapply portal, you will need to log in to your AHPRA account and apply for a Certificate of Registration Status. It's easy to find on the website. You just fill in the personal details and select the option to send it to the medical council of Canada. This will cost you $50 AUD ($45 CAD). Eventually the MCC will message you through the portal saying they received the document from AHPRA but it will cost you $114 to process it. Total cost of this step $45+$114 CAD.

2.     Letter of Good Standing (RACGP)- for this, I simply emailed RACGP and they will provide you with a letter of good standing that outlines that you have passed all your exams, are up to date with CPD points. This didn't cost me any money but you will have to upload this to physicians apply and it will cost $185 CAD

3.     Post Graduate Training- This is where it got really difficult for me and the main reason I created this blog. You will need to submit evidence of post graduate training to physiciansapply because ultimately you will need to share this document with the CFPC to obtain a letter of eligibility for the CPSO (I'll fill you in on the details later). You will need a letter to fulfill the following (the next excerpt is from the CFPC website):

o   Australia: Document/certificate issued by the Regional Training Provider (RTP) that confirms the following:

§  Successful completion of all aspects of Australian general practice training, as provided by (insert name of RTP)

§  Start and completion date of the training with the RTP, including the Registrar Profile Report

§  That the Australian general practice training meets the standards of the RACGP/ACRRM, which is accredited by the AMC for education and training, leading to FRACGP or FACRRM

I originally got this letter from my regional training provider at WAGPET and submitted a document from the AGPT entitled "Registrar Profile Report". I paid the $185 fee and submitted it to the MCC. After two months, after all my other documents had been verified, I noticed they did not upload my registrar profile report. When I contacted the folks at physiciansapply, they stated it wasn't accepted because that's not what they were looking for. They acknowledged this was something they should have told me earlier because I was chasing a CPSO submission deadline in June and it was early May when I had found out (and could not afford another two months to re-verify my documents). I ultimately had to contact WAGPET for this report which they didn't know what to do at the time, but they obliged by the recommendations from the CFPC and got a three paged letter outlining the above and all the units I had completed. I had to resubmit this document and by that time, the fee for source verification had increased to $190. I also had to continually pressure the MCC to expedite the process of source verification to meet the deadline which, to their credit, they did.

Important note: this process takes weeks to months. Basically, you will submit the documents, the MCC will look over the documents and say "yes this meets our requirements" and then they will send the documents to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) who will contact the original provider of these documents (RACGP, WAGPET etc) and ask them if they are real. The original providers then have to sign off on the documents being real and send them back to Canada. It's a very annoying process, especially if you were in my situation and racing against a clock.

My tip is that you should be as assertive as you can and continually keep an eye on your messages in the physicians apply portal. Once your documents are received, you will receive this message in your portal 

This means that your documents have been scanned in and are being verified by the MCC. There's nothing you can really do at this stage. Many weeks will pass and then you will receive this message

This means that whichever document you have submitted (in this case, Post graduate training), has been accepted by the MCC and they will then send the document to the ECFMG for source verification. At this step, what you should do is email the original provider of the document and tell them to watch out for this document and to send it back ASAP. They are generally really nice about it and will do so. Please remember to be polite to the staff as they have no reason to help you but if you're nice, they are more than happy to help! I found WAGPET and RACGP to be life savers throughout this process as they were incredibly helpful and transparent.

Only once you have receive this message, can you relax a bit and move onto the next step:

 

This means that document has passed source verification, and then you can pass share it with the CFPC and CPSO.

The above may not seem like a lot but this process took months, so be prepared. In the end, the total cost for source verification set me back $1225 CAD