What happens after you submit your online source verification request?

7 May 2010 - We are currently experiencing a temporary increase in the number of applications submitted. Therefore, please anticipate increased turnaround times in the processing and review of your documents.

1.          Upon successful submission of an online application and payment,

a communication is sent to your PCRC-Online account. This is your official payment receipt. To view your communications, log in to your account, click on “Correspondence” in the menu items on the left. You may print this communication by clicking on “Print” at the bottom of the page.

2.          Once your documents are received by PCRC,

a communication is sent to your PCRC-Online account after we have opened your package. Please note that once your package has arrived at our office, it can take up to 2 to 5 business days to be opened due to the volume of mail we receive.

Note:

  • Documents sent by mail are usually received within 3 to 10 days inside Canada, 20 to 30 days outside of Canada.
  • Documents sent by courier are usually received within 2 to 10 days.

3.           Preliminary review of your documents begins.

A communication will be immediately sent to your PCRC-Online account if:

  • A deficiency is found in any of your documents;
  • Your documents have passed the PCRC review.

Note:

  • Documents that have passed the preliminary review will be sent for source verification within a 24-hour period.
  • Any errors in any forms or documents submitted (including the Certified Identity Confirmation form, the Release form, the identity document, etc.) will stop the verification process for all your documents.

4.           Documents are sent to be source verified.

Document verification statuses will be updated in your PCRC Online account within 3 days of PCRC receiving updated information on the status of your documents.

A correspondence will be immediately sent to your PCRC-Online account if any of your documents require further information or correction.

Confirming source verification of a document can take between 30 to 90 days (sometimes longer) after it has been sent out to the medical institution for verification. The reason for this length of time is due to the length of time some institutions take to respond to a verification request. The process can be summarized as follows:

  • PCRC will send international medical documents to be source verified to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).
  • ECFMG will send a verification request to the institution that issued the medical document(s).
  • If there is no response from the institution within 60 days, ECFMG will send another verification request. This process will be repeated until 3 verification requests have been sent.
  • If there is no response from the institution after 3 attempts, any further requests are done at the expense of the candidate. Candidates are encouraged to contact the institutions that issued their medical documents to inquire about verification of their documents. It is important to inquire about an ECFMG verification request as PCRC is not identified on the verification request.
  • Once the institution returns a verification certificate to ECFMG, it can take up to 20 business days for PCRC to be informed of changes to the verification status of your documents, and for these changes to appear in your PCRC-Online account.

Confirming source verification of a pre-verified document (when the candidate already has an ECFMG International Credentials Services (EICS) number) generally takes between 5 to 20 days.

For more information on the statuses you might see in your PCRC Online account, visit the Status legend.


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Physician Credentials Registry of Canada