Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) are not permitted to enter the U.S. as immigrants if they are coming to the U.S. principally to perform services as a member of the medical profession. There are exceptions if the FMG as follows:
- possesses a certificate from the Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) on the basis of passing parts I and II of the National Board of Medical Examiners Examination, or steps 1-2 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), is competent in oral and written English established by the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) examination. In order to take the CSA an applicant need first to pass Step 1 of the USMLE and the TOEFL; or
- is a doctor of national or international renown; or
- is a graduate of accredited medical school in U.S. (including Puerto Rico and Canada); or
- not entering U.S. to perform medical services; or
- entering the US as professor; or
- enters as immediate relative or as relative under preference system; or
- enters as a refugee or asylee; or
- under the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery program; or
- any other provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act in which the basis for immigration is other than employment as a physician.
