General considerations and financial implications of relocating overseas

17 February 2023

The usual destinations for migration include Australia, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Some might opt for the United States of America. Regardless where you choose to go, there are a few common denominators which you have to fulfil in your applications.

  1. Primary source verification of medical degree

This is a process in which a third party directly contacts the institution that awarded you your medical degree and confirms that you are indeed a graduate of that institution (i.e. you are a legit doctor). Primary source verification is usually done via the Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC), administered by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

The full instructions according to each destination country can be found here: https://www.ecfmg.org/psv/instructions.html. Make sure your certificate issuing institution has an electronic EPIC institutional account to verify your cert, otherwise this process will be done via snail mail (i.e. take months). A step-by-step guide will be included in a future post.

Fees required:

Establishing an EPIC account – USD130

Credential verification – USD100 per credential (inclusive of 1 free report)

Subsequent reports – USD50 per report

Full details at https://www.ecfmg.org/psv/fees.html

A more detailed step-by-step guide is available at https://drleonardgoh.com/step-by-step-guide-to-epic-primary-source-verification/

  • English tests

Since our government takes pride in Malaysia being a non-English-speaking country, those of us who wish to migrate to an English-speaking country need to demonstrate their English proficiency via examinations. The most commonly accepted ones include the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Occupational English Test (OET), and Pearson Test of English (PTE).

I only have experience with the IELTS examination. Please note that you should select the Academic option. Required results are minimum band 6.5 across all components for Ireland, and band 7.0 for UK/Australia. Each result will remain valid for 2 years. The format of the IELTS test can be found here: https://www.ielts.org/for-test-takers/test-format.

Fees required: MYR795 per attempt for IELTS

  • Certificate of Good Standing (COGS)

This is a certificate produced by each country’s medical council to confirm that you are in good standing as a medical professional, i.e. there are no cases of disciplinary proceedings against you, past and present. Most jurisdictions will require that you provide such a certificate from each of the national medical councils you have been registered with in the past 5 years.

The Malaysian Medical Council has provided a very comprehensive guide to applying for this certificate via the online MeRITS system. It can be found here: https://mmc.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GUIDELINES-FOR-APPLICATION-CERTIFICATE-OF-GOOD-STANDING.pdf.

Please note that for a Certificate to be valid, it has to be sent directly from the Malaysian Medical Council to the relevant authorities. This is usually done via email these days. Each Certificate is only valid for 3 months.

Fees required: MYR500 per certificate

  • Entrance examinations

This refers to the Australian Medical Council (AMC) certificate (Australia), Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test (UK), or Pre-Registration Examination System (PRES) (Ireland). [Fun fact for PRES – those who completed housemanship training in Malaysia are exempt from taking it to register with Medical Council of Ireland. A previous requirement to pass PRES in order to get into specialist training has also been abolished.]

For AMC, you would need to establish an account, then have your EPIC verification report sent to them. Once AMC has received your EPIC report, they would then allow you to proceed with payment and scheduling your MCQ tests. Passing the MCQ test alone would allow you to work in Australia under a “limited registration for area of need” licence, and you would need to complete either the AMC Clinical exams / Work-Based Assessment (WBA) to obtain the AMC certificate and work towards standard registration.

Fees required:

Establishing an AMC account – AUD600

AMC MCQ – AUD2920 per attempt

Full details at https://www.amc.org.au/assessment/fees/

  • Visa and visa-associated costs etc.

The full visa process is complicated and warrants a separate post. Nevertheless, the common denominators would be an International Criminal Check from an international agency and a Certificate of Good Conduct from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs (apply here, processing time of 1-2 months).

Fees required:

Visa application fees

International Criminal Check – varies  according to agency, mine cost AUD82.50

Certificate of Good Conduct – MYR20 per certificate, valid for 3 months

Health check-up – required for some types of visa

Biometric verification – required for some types of visa

  • Medical Regulatory Authority registration fees

With respect to AHPRA, it cost me AUD1720 in total (AUD860 for application, another AUD860 for registration). More details to follow in a future post.

With an estimated exchange rate of 1USD=4MYR and 1AUD=3MYR, the above-listed costs would already come up to approximately MYR18,000. This has yet to take into account notarisation fees (to certify true copies of your documents), visa fees, health check-ups, biometric verification fees, and travel + accommodation costs while sorting out these administrative matters!

As you can see, moving is going to be very costly. This is not a decision to be taken lightly. But if you have already decided to move overseas, make sure to start saving. You’ll need the funds!

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