get certified

International Applicants

In most cases, surgeons who have completed some or all of their surgical training outside of the U.S. and wish to become certified by the ABS must first enroll and complete training in an accredited U.S. or Canadian residency program.

Overview
There are several situations in which the ABS will accept surgical training that was completed outside of the U.S.

Canadian Residents

All surgical training must be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the U.S., or by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC).

Credit for Foreign Medical Education

The ABS will consider granting partial credit for foreign graduate medical education to a resident only upon request by the program director.

International Rotations

The ABS will accept in certain circumstances surgical rotations completed outside of the U.S. or Canada toward its general surgery or integrated vascular surgery residency training requirements.

ECFMG Certificate

A certificate issued by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) is a requirement for all international medical graduates interested in obtaining ABS certification.

Canadian Residents

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)

The ABS requires that all training completed following medical school be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in the U.S., or by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). The director of the training program must attest that a surgeon has completed an appropriate educational experience and attained a sufficiently high level of knowledge, clinical and ethical judgment, and technical skills, for the individual to be admitted to the certification process.

The ABS does not offer reciprocity with other countries’ board certifications, but in certain cases will grant credit for prior foreign training toward certification in general surgery or vascular surgery.

close up portrait of surgeon wearing a mask

Credit for Foreign Graduate Medical Education

The ABS accepts applications for partial credit for foreign graduate medical education

The ABS will consider granting partial credit for foreign graduate medical education to a resident upon request by the program director. Candidates must be currently enrolled in an U.S. ACGME-accredited general surgery or integrated vascular surgery residency program. Credit may be given for one, two, or three years of training, depending on the specialty area.

Candidates for credit must be enrolled in a residency training program and must have trained there for a minimum of six months before any requests can be considered. The program director is the primary judge of the resident’s proficiency, and should make the request for credit only after having observed the individual for at least six months and only once all required documentation is available.

The ABS only grants credit toward general surgery or integrated vascular surgery training.

International Rotations
Rotations must be at least two weeks in length and must comply with ACGME requirements

The ABS will accept in certain circumstances rotations completed outside of the U.S. or Canada toward its general surgery, independent and integrated vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, and complex general surgical oncology training requirements. If a program director wishes to credit training abroad toward ABS requirements, they must fully justify the reasons for it and receive approval in advance from both the ABS and the ACGME.

No such rotations will be permitted in the first year (PGY-1) of general surgery and vascular surgery residency training. For the ABS to consider international rotations in the PGY-5 chief, the program must include documentation of ACGME approval of chief rotations in the PGY-4 year. The ABS is unable to consider these requests without this documentation.

Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)
Certificates issued by the ECFMG

A certificate issued by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) is a requirement for all international medical graduates interested in obtaining ABS certification. The certificate must be valid indefinitely for all international medical graduates who complete an ACGME-accredited residency program. International medical graduates who complete a Canadian residency accredited by the RCSPC will have an ECFMG certificate with a “valid until” date. The valid until date must be after the date of application to the ABS initial certification process.

doctor and nurse helping patient with broken arm
male surgeon in an operating room with bright lights
J-1 Visas
ECFMG is the visa sponsor for all J-1 exchange visitor physicians

The U.S. Department of State has designated the ECFMG as the visa sponsor for all J-1 exchange visitor physicians who participate in clinical training programs.

In April 2021, the ECFMG, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS®), and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME®) announced a change in the process for recognition of non-standard training as it relates to the J-1 visa program administered by ECFMG.

Under this model, the ACGME will offer recognition of Sponsoring Institutions that offer non-standard training programs for exchange visitor physicians. The recognition has been designed to ensure that institutions are providing appropriate oversight of the non-standard training program(s) they offer.

This change has been codified by the U.S. Department of State. The ABMS member boards have no further obligation to ECFMG’s non-standard process and are no longer being called on for letters of recognition. Instead, the ECFMG has been authorized to rely on the ABMS member boards in providing recognition for non-standard disciplines.

More information on the current recognition process is available on both ECFMG and ACGME websites:

Questions?
For questions regarding international training and visas, please contact the ECFMG.