Postgraduate Visiting Electives

Who is eligible?

Postgraduate Resident Elective applications are limited to:

• Canadian citizens, Permanent Residents and Work Permit holders who are legally entitled to live and work in British Columbia and currently enrolled in a recognized Family Practice or Specialty or Sub-specialty (Royal College) training program in Canada, OR
• Canadian citizens currently enrolled in a recognized Family Practice or Specialty training program in the USA.

Note: Citizens of other countries enrolled in a recognized Family Practice or Specialty training program in Canada, and who wish to complete an elective in the province of British Columbia, must obtain a work permit (Visa) from Canada Immigration. The work permit is the responsibility of the trainee, not the Postgraduate Medical Education Dean’s Office.

Who is not eligible?

• Any individual NOT currently enrolled in a recognized residency training program.
• Postgraduate Fellows
• European medical students completing their fifth year.

It is the responsibility of applicants to arrange their own postgraduate resident electives. Applicants should contact the specific UBC training program for further information.

Once an applicant has arranged an elective, they are required to email their completed application form, supporting documents, and a copy of the administrative fee receipt to the Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Dean’s Office a minimum of eight weeks in advance of their elective start date. Failure to meet this deadline will result to returned application.

Once a completed application has been submitted and the administrative fee has been paid, the PGME Dean’s Office will email an elective confirmation letter to the applicant.

A copy of the elective confirmation letter will also be forwarded by the PGME Dean’s Office to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC). The CPSBC will then contact applicants directly with instructions regarding the application for temporary registration. All confirmed elective residents must register with the CPSBC prior to commencing their elective.

Note: Applications will not be processed until all of the required documents and the administrative fee have been received by the Postgraduate Medical Education Dean’s Office.

Required Documents

1. Completed UBC Application for Postgraduate Resident Elective.
2. Confirmation letter from the home program director indicating approval of the elective. The confirmation letter must include the dates of the elective and the program’s contact information.
3. Confirmation letter from the preceptor indicating agreement that he or she will be the applicant’s supervisor during the elective. The confirmation letter must include the dates of the elective, the site(s) where the elective will take place, and the preceptor’s contact information.
4. Have Canadian Citizenship, be a permanent resident or be legally able to live and work in British Columbia. For work permit holders, provide Work permit copy with eligibility to live and work in British Columbia.
5. PGME may assist out-of-province sponsored residents to apply work permit with UBC/British Columbia as training location by submitting an offer of employment to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The $230 compliance fee should be paid prior to UBC submitting the offer of employment to IRCC. When approved by IRCC, UBC provides an offer of employment number to applicants for inputting into the work permit applications. The work permit application should be submitted under the LMIA-exempt category. If applicable, submit a scan of the passport photo page and the compliance fee payment receipts to PGME to initiate the process. Click the IRCC links for information on how to apply for a work permit.

Apply for a work permit from inside Canada
Instruction guide to applying from inside Canada

Administrative Fees

$100.00 non-refundable, non-transferable administrative fee is required to process the application.

This fee can be paid online. Please submit a copy of your receipt with your application package.

** PLEASE NOTE ** – Effective July 1, 2019 the $100.00 administrative fee will be payable by term (i.e Term 1: Block 1 – 6, Term 2: Block 7 – 13). Therefore the fee will be $100.00 per term irrespective of the number of elective requests in each term.

Applications need to be submitted – in MS Word or PDF format only – to the Postgraduate Medical Education Dean’s Office by email. The subject heading of the email should contain the name of the applicant and all required supporting documents should be attached.

Note: Incomplete submissions or unpaid administrative fees will result in processing delays.

Please refer to the following resources for support whilst undertaking your elective at UBC:

CST Cerner & Network ID

CST Cerner will be auto-provisioned for all out of province trainees undertaking electives at UBC. If you experience any challenges with CST Cerner or your network ID, please contact the Cerner team directly at: CSTCernerTraining@phsa.ca

Hospital Access

Please contact your UBC elective supervisor or UBC program administrator if you are experiencing hospital access challenges.

Licensing with CPSBC

Please connect directly with CPSBC at: education@cpsbc.ca for questions relating to your licensing with The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC.

Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) coverage

CMPA coverage is mandatory and a condition of your license with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. All trainees at UBC must be appropriately protected for any medico-legal issues that may arise during your elective. Without liability protection, trainees are in breach of their educational license with the College. If you already have CMPA coverage but are new to BC contact CMPA to transfer your coverage. For more information, see the CMPA website: here

Housing and Accommodations in BC

For resources on housing and accommodations in BC please refer to this page: Moving To BC

General Elective queries

For any other challenges relating to your UBC elective feel free to reach out to the PGME Electives office at: pgme.electives@ubc.ca

Questions regarding electives can be sent to pgme.electives@ubc.ca. Please allow two business days for a response.

You can also find information about moving to BC on our website.