International Medical Graduates need registration with the Canadian medical council, referred as Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC), in order to practice as a doctor independently in Canada.

Candidates must satisfy eligibility requirements for each Medical Council for Canada examination

Candidates must pass the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I and Part II

Note regarding IMGs: Completion of these exams does not give IMGs a license to practice. They must also have the required Canadian medical residency training/assessment and have passed the certification exams in their specialty in order to be eligible for an independent registration to practice from the provincial/territorial medical regulatory authority.

For eligibility to write the MCCQE Part I examinations the applicant must

The Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Examination (MCCEE) is a four-hour computer-based examination offered in both English and French at more than 500 centres in 73 countries worldwide. International medical graduates, international medical students in their final clinical year and U.S.

The MCCEE is a general assessment of the candidate's basic medical knowledge in the principal disciplines of medicine. It is also designed to assess the skills and knowledge required at the level of a new medical graduate who is about to enter the first year of supervised postgraduate training or practice.

The fees for MCCEE IS $1,000.00 for first time candidate AND $750.00 for candidates reappearing for the examination.

The Medical council of Canada offers its evaluating examination to international medical graduates and students in their final year prior to graduation to asses their basic medical knowledge. A prerequisite to the Medical Council of Canada’s qualifying examination part 1, the evaluating examination is now modified to provide more flexibility to examination candidates.

Previously offered three times a year in a paper- and- pencil format in Canada and abroad, the evaluating test will be offered six times a year through computer- based test conducted by a third party provider prometric from September 2008.

The new evaluating examination will consist of 175 multiple choice examinations and duration of examination is reduced to four hours from a full day. The numbers of examination sites have been increased.

The candidates have an option to reschedule their examination without penalty for upto five days before their scheduled examination date and time. The examination fees that had been projected at the 2007 Annual Meeting were affirmed by Council: the 2009 fee for the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I will be $700 CAD and the 2009 fee for the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part II (MCCQE Part II) will be $1650 CAD

Medical practice is regulated by each province/territory. Provincial/territorial medical practice Acts describe the practice of medicine and identify a public agency to license physicians and regulate medical practice. These agencies protect the public from potentially unprofessional and incompetent physicians and set and maintain standards for admission and communication in practice.

All provinces and territories require applicants for a medical license to document that they have both completed educational and training programs, and achieved passing scores on the licensure examinations. Applicants must provide proof of having passed the certification exams in their specialty.
 
Following postgraduate residency training/assessment and pending certification, graduates need to apply to either college of physicians or surgeons of that province/territory to be issued a Certificate of Registration to practice. The initial certificate may be a Restricted Practice Certificate, if there are conditions on the license (i.e., a return-of-service agreement). Upon completion of the required conditions, the physician is issued an Independent Practice Certificate.

A certificate of Registration for Independent Practice authorizes the holder to engage in independent, unsupervised medical practice, subject to the limitations that the holder of the certificate only practice in the areas in which he or she is educated and experienced.

The holder of the Independent Practice Certificate is entitled to all the rights and responsibilities of a physician in that province or territory and must pay the annual membership fee to maintain the Certificate.Canada is hesitantly opening its doors gradually to overseas doctors these days but still there is lack of transparency and equal opportunities for overseas doctors who immigrate to Canada hoping to gain entry into local training programme in respective specialties of their interest.