Settling as an MD in the US/UK

[B22]

So, I was wondering (out of sheer interest), whether or not it would be possible to "simply" move to the States or the UK with a German medical degree. I haven't even gotten into any universities, so I'm really just curious as to what would be required in terms of licensing, etc, and whether immigrating to the US as a doctor would be easier than immigrating to the US as (for example) someone unemployed.

The English language shouldn't be that much of a problem - I grew up in the US, so I would consider my skills to be adequate for day-to-day patient work.

Have any of you guys studied in Germany and then moved to an english-speaking country?

[sweetashoney]

Well, I am sorry to say but it's not as easy to work in the US as an MD as you might think. First of all, you will have to take all of the US exams (called steps) and do fairly well on them and then try to get into one of the residency programmes (most of them are very competitive and not a lot of non-US citizens do get accepted into one). However, if you have US citizenship (you said that you grew up in the US- were you born there or is one of your parents US citizen which would qualify you to get citizenship?), it would be easier to get into one of the programmes since the hospitals won't have to worry about getting you one of the expensive visas. Good luck ;)

[B22]

I'm not a US citizen and sadly, I wasn't eligible for naturalization because I hadn't reached the age of 18 yet.

It does somewhat surprise me to hear that I would have to retake all exams and enlist in a residency programme. After all, German licensing is quite rigorous and (historically speaking), the States actually modelled their own licensing systems according to the German one.
Would those "steps", and the residency program apply to private practice?

Thanks for replying! =)

[sweetashoney]

no problem at all Btw, if you want more information on this topic, I suggest that you might as well read through all of the threads in the "Auslandsforen"(I think it is)- there is even a subforum just for the US ;) I have been on here for a while and know for a fact that there have been a couple of inquiries like yours on there.

The problem with transferring to the US as a German med school graduate is that you can't really compare the med school programmes- in the US you have the 4 year undergrad and then the 4 year med school studies whereas in Germany it's "just" a combined 6 year programme. So, in the end, we don't receive any aquivalent degree to the US graduates (I read somewhere that it's not even that easy to get the MD title since we are not "qualified" for it, neither can we take on the PhD title since the Dr.Arbeit is not comparable to the PhD programmes...). It's all very complicated and I also don't understand the meaning behind it but unfortunately, it's reality. I had thought about taking all of the US exams and going to the US after I graduate also at some point of my studies- however, I thought it wasn't worth paying approx. $6000 in order to take and prepare for the tests when you don't even know if you will get accepted at all. Oh, btw, you will need to get into one of the residency programmes since it's the "Facharztausbildung" and therefore needed in order to work at the hospital or at a general practice. Again, if you do your Facharzt in Germany, it won't be accepted in the US either... but it's the same the other way around: If you go abroad for your residency programme and want to return to Germany afterwards, you will basically have to do the Facharztausbildung again (if you are lucky, maybe you can get some credits towards it).

I hope I was of some help! Don't forget to take a look at the USA subforum- there are a ton of people who have taken the US exams or even study/work in the US. I am sure they can help you if you have more questions ;)

[B22]

Damn, that sounds like a lot of buerocratic load of bull. On one hand, I can understand certain standards in medicine and would certainly hate it if some foreign doctor with a degree in medieval "medicine" were to be allowed to work. But on the other hand, this is Europe and the US, we're talking about. We're not.. that different!

Then again, in Germany, there are also those "Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung" (exam of equal service) for foreign doctors - as far as I know even for EU citizens, but I'm not sure.

So, you're studying in Germany aswell? Where do you come from, originally? =)