Educational Licensing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC

Doctor IconAll residents must obtain a postgraduate educational license from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC or “the College”) prior to the commencement of training. Until you have received confirmation from the College via email that your license has been issued, you will not be permitted to start your residency program.

The College will contact most residents directly via email regarding the application process when they open licensing applications for new residents on April 18, 2024. However, residents who have already had a full license for independent practice with CPSBC will need to contact the College themselves to request licensing for their residency program.

If you have not held a full license previously and you have not received any correspondence from the College by May 1, 2024, check your spam/junk mail folders before you contact them via email at educationalapplications@cpsbc.ca. A response may take several days. CPSBC have requested that residents not send duplicate emails.

Please complete your entire application process (i.e complete the online application form, make payment of your fees and submit supplementary documentation, if required) by the deadlines stated in the email from the College. This will ensure that you are licensed for your residency start date.

Gathering all required documentation can take some time so we suggest you start as soon as you receive an invitation to apply from CPSBC.

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For new residents, the CPSBC application deadline is May 15, 2024. Some residents may not have their medical diploma verified in time to have their application submitted by the deadline. In this case, please apply as soon as you have all the necessary documents. If you are an IMG resident and do not anticipate that your MD will be available until June, please email educationalapplications@cpsbc.ca.

Supplementary documentation, such as IDs and name change documents, must be notarized to be accepted by CPSBC. Please see CPSBC Verification of Identification Document for more information.

If you’d like a resident perspective see the Resident Insider.

Address all licensing questions to educationalapplications@cpsbc.ca. A response may take several days.