Primary source verification

Primary Source Verification (PSV) means verifying the credentials or awards that a candidate has achieved from the source, that is from the training organisation that awarded the credential or qualification.

Primary source verification through ECFMG is mandatory under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law) for all international medical graduates seeking medical registration in Australia.

ECFMG and MyIntealth

The current EPIC verification process will be replaced by the new MyIntealth process.

MyIntealth is a new online environment for accessing services offered by Intealth and its members, ECFMG and FAIMER. MyIntealth will consist of a portal for international medical graduates pursuing verification of medical credentials similar to the current EPIC verification process. Using the MyIntealth environment, users will be able to establish and maintain accounts, request services, manage payments, and retrieve important messages.

For more information please visit the  MyIntealth  website. ECFMG will communicate with users directly regarding the transition processes. Launch of MyIntealth is January 16th, 2024 (January 17th, 2024 AEDT).

IMPORTANT:

The International Credentials Services of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) a member of Intealth serves international organisations and authorities involved in medical registration, licensing and assessment by obtaining primary source verification of the medical education and registration credentials of medical graduates who completed their medical education outside their jurisdictions. 

The AMC uses ECFMG’s Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC) service for the verification of medical credentials. EPIC provides the AMC with the same rigorous primary source verification that ECFMG provided through EICS while offering IMGs additional benefits not available through EICS. The EPIC verification outcomes will be uploaded to the AMC’s qualifications portal. This portal is used by the Medical Board of Australia for registration purposes, and by Australian specialist medical colleges for assessment purposes (if applicable and college is nominated by the candidate). 

For more information about the EPIC application process, refer to the ECFMG website. 

Also refer to ECFMGs Special Instructions for Physicians Applying to Practice in Australia for important notes on credentials verified through EPIC 

The Medical Board of Australia (the Board) and the AMC are two different organisations with different responsibilities regarding international medical graduates (IMGs).  

For IMG assessment processes, the AMC is the verifications authority of Australia, responsible for maintaining the AMC’s qualifications portal with information and updates on verifications processed by ECFMG.  

This portal is used by the Board for registration purposes and by the Australian specialist medical colleges for specialist assessment purposes. 

The AMC can only accept the three credential categories from EPIC regarding verification for a medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification): 

• Final Medical Diploma 
• Final Medical Transcript 
• Alternate Graduation Document. 

For any questions about your credentials please contact EPIC directly as the AMC is unable to provide advice. 

Once a verification in any of the three categories above is received, the AMC can upload the EPIC status to your AMC candidate account. You can proceed with the relevant assessment process. 

IMPORTANT:  

If you submit either a final medical school transcript or alternate graduation document / medical school letter for verification, Medical Board of Australia (the Board) might require the final medical diploma for verification when you apply for registration. If you need to submit an additional document, this will incur additional costs by both the  AMC and ECFMG. 

Regardless of the pathway applied for, you must obtain verification of your required qualification/s through EPIC and establish the AMC portfolio. 

Once you have determined your pathway, note the following if applying for the: 

• Standard Pathway (AMC assessments) the credential to submit for verification is: 
  • Medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification). This does not apply to Australian or New Zealand medical degrees. 
• Competent Authority Pathway the credential to submit for verification is: 
  • Medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification). This does not apply to Australian or New Zealand medical degrees.
• Specialist Pathway and/or Short Term Training in a Medical Specialty Pathway (includes specialist recognition, specialist area of need and short term specialist training), the credentials to submit for verification are: 
  • Medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification) and 
  • Postgraduate and Specialist qualification(s). Please enquire with the respective Australian specialist medical college to find out which qualification(s) require verification before adding to the AMC candidate account and submitting to ECFMG for verification.
    

The following types are NOT eligible/acceptable to be added to an AMC candidate account. An administration processing fee will be charged if you add non-eligible document details to your AMC candidate account when applying, such as:  

• medical registrations/license to practise 
• PhDs 
• research 
• internship/ housemanship/ foundation documents 
• partially completed training/qualifications 
• scientific (for e.g. Bachelor of Science) 
• short courses or Australian/Australasian qualifications.

If any are added to an AMC portfolio, these will NOT appear on your AMC candidate account. 

To become eligible you are required to submit your medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification) in medicine and surgery for verification. It is important to determine that your medical school as well as your degree title and graduation year is eligible. This means you have finished all of the examination and training requirements and be awarded the qualification. 

For those with a New Zealand medical degree (final medical diploma/primary qualification)  obtained from an eligible medical school, it is optional to obtain EPIC verification of their primary qualification via ECFMG for registration purposes.  

The AMC encourages you to seek advice from the Board to determine your medical registration requirements. 

All qualifications previously submitted to the AMC for EICS verification and confirmed as verified, are still valid. An Verification of Medical Qualification (otherwise known as EICS verification certificate) was issued to confirm the verification of the qualification. 

Refer to FAQs section at Can I view/obtain a copy of the EICS verification of my qualification(s)? for further information.