For decades, the path for an internationally trained physician to practice in the United States ran through one narrow gate: repeat a full U.S. residency, regardless of how many years you’d already practiced as an attending abroad. That gate is starting to open. Since 2023, a growing number of states have passed what are commonly…
Across the country, hospitals and health systems are sitting on unfilled physician vacancies—each costing an estimated five- to eight-figure sum a year in lost revenue, locum spend, and overstretched staff—while a pool of experienced, foreign-trained attending physicians remains largely untapped. The project physician shortage is expected to reach nearly 150,000 by 2027, according to US…
For hospitals and clinics, “do we need to sponsor a visa?” is often the question that stalls an otherwise promising hire of an international physician. The honest answer: sometimes—and it depends entirely on the candidate’s immigration status. The good news is that the options are more navigable than most hiring teams assume, and some of…
The new state “provisional” licensure laws have opened a real pool of experienced international physicians to hospitals that previously assumed they were off-limits. But “this physician can be hired under the new pathway” isn’t a yes/no you can eyeball from a CV. These laws have specific eligibility criteria, and while they vary by state, they…
