Before writing an exam, you first need to apply to have your training and/or practice assessed by the Royal College to determine your exam eligibility. This assessment ensures you have met specialty-specific training and/or practice requirements to register for the examination and it is the first step on your route to Royal College certification. For more information, see the Policies and Procedures for Certification and Fellowship.For residents in a Competence by Design training program, see the Policies for Certification in a Competence by Design Model of Residency Training.
For most candidates, exam eligibility is granted for a three-year period following your assessment. See the graphic below to find out which routes are available to exam eligibility. The deadline to apply for training and/or practice assessment occurs the year before you write the exam. For spring exams, the deadline is April 30 and for fall exams the deadline is August 31.
Click on the assessment routes below to learn more about each route and how to apply.
| Canadian residents | Candidates with postgraduate residency training in a Canadian program accredited by the Royal College. |
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| U.S. residents | Candidates with postgraduate residency training in a program in the United States accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). |
| International residents | Candidates with postgraduate residency training in a Royal College accredited international residency program. |
| Approved jurisdiction | If you are an international medical graduate who has completed specialty training outside Canada or the United States in an approved jurisdiction, you can apply for a training assessment. |
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| Already practising as a specialist in Canada? | If you are an international medical graduate who is already licensed and practising as a specialist in Canada, you can apply for an assessment by filling out the application form. |
| Ready to practise as a specialist in Canada? | If you are an international medical graduate in Canada, with certification from an international jurisdiction, and you plan to live and practise in Canada after you obtain Royal College certification, you may be eligible to apply for an assessment through a participating licensing authority. |
| Practising or ready to practise as a subspecialist in Canada? | The Subspecialty Examination Affiliate Program (SEAP) provides an approved mechanism for non-Royal College, internationally-trained subspecialists Practicing in Canada to write a Royal College subspecialty examination and join the Royal College as a Subspecialist Affiliate. |
| Practice Eligibility Route for Subspecialists (PER-sub) | The Practice Eligibility Route for Subspecialists (PER-sub) is for physicians who are practising in a subspecialty in Canada who are not eligible for the traditional credentials review as a result of completing unaccredited training or no training in the subspecialty. Royal College certification in a primary specialty (or CCFP certification in Family Medicine for Palliative Medicine only) is required. |
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Specialists certified by the Collège des médecins du Québec are eligible to apply for Royal College certification and fellowship.
Academic certification assists Canadian university faculties of medicine in the recruitment of international specialists as full-time clinical faculty at the rank of associate or full professor when recruitment of qualified Royal College certificants has been unsuccessful.
