About Residency

To provide direct patient care, physicians in the United States are required to complete a three to seven year graduate medical program — accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) — in one of the recognized medical specialties. Certification requirements, as determined by individual specialty boards, usually include formal training (residency) and the passing of a comprehensive examination.

AMA's Graduate Medical Education Directory describes the ACGME accreditation process, as well as institutional and program requirements for graduate medical education. It also provides information about the entry of foreign-born medical graduates to the United States. It is available for purchase by calling 1-800-621-8335. The AMA also has an interactive on-line program called Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access (FREIDA) available on the Internet. Most hospitals, and many programs, also provide descriptive brochures, available by writing to the address listed in either the Graduate Medical Education Directory or the NRMP Directory.

Any non-U.S. citizen wishing to participate in a U.S. graduate medical education program must possess a visa that permits direct patient care.
It is the responsibility of the non-U.S. citizen applicant to inform themselves of which visas a residency program sponsors. Many teaching hospitals only sponsor J-1 visas. Applicants wishing to have a H-1B visa should not apply to programs at these institutions. The appropriate visa application should be submitted well in advance of the anticipated date of enrollment. Contact American embassies, consulates, or U.S. district offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to obtain further information.

Medical Licensure
No national agency grants unrestricted licenses to practice medicine throughout the United States. Instead, a physician must obtain a license from the licensing board of the state where he or she plans to practice after completion of residency training and/or certification. Each state is independent in determining who may practice within the state and may have special requirements or restrictions for licensure.

Contact the Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S., Inc. (FSMB) at the following address to obtain general information on medical licensure:

FSMB
PO Box 619850
Dallas, TX 75261-9741
Tel: (817) 868-4000
Fax: (817) 868-4099

Residency Programs
Residencies for recognized specialties are diagramed below. The length of each bar represents the years of training required for certification. These are unofficial assignments and are offered for informational purposes only. Consult the most recent Graduate Medical Education Directory for current official requirements.

Many specialties indicated as starting at the PGY-2 level now offer categorical tracks which include the first year.

Updated 11/02/2011