You must have a medical degree from a medical school or university listed in the "International Medical Education Directory (IMED)" of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER).

Any application for eligibility sent to the CMQ without a proof of success to one of these exams will be deemed unacceptable and will be returned to the candidate.

The Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Examination (MCCEE)
Or
the United States Medical Licensing Examination/Step 2 Clinical knowledge (USMLE / Step 2 CK)
Or be holder of
the Standard Certificate of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

You must first contact Recrutement Santé Québec (RSQ), before you apply to the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ) for eligibility for a restrictive permit. RSQ is the portal of entry for all physicians with a medical degree from outside of Canada and the United States (DHCEU) who wish to apply for a restrictive permit. RSQ will look after your sponsorship by an establishment. Once you have obtained the sponsorship, RSQ will inform the CMQ.

The CMQ uses the PCRC services to verify the source of your degrees/accreditations.

Follow the procedures determined by the PCRC for the documents required by this organization.

If you already have an account with the PCRC and your documents have been submitted, please ensure that you have provided the CMQ with authorization to access these documents.

You must provide the necessary attestations, inter alia, the certificates and diplomas, demonstrating that you have completed training, the duration and content of which enabled you to acquire the competence and skills required for the restrictive permit you are applying for.

Once the sponsorship process is concluded with RSQ, you must complete the form Application for eligibility for a restrictive permit and send it to the Medical Education Division of the CMQ along with the required documents, including a proof of success to one of the examinations mentioned in step 4, and payment, if applicable. Any application for eligibility sent to the CMQ without a proof of success to one of these exams will be deemed unacceptable and will be returned to the candidate.

The Admission to Practice Committee (APC) studies and rules on all requests for eligibility for restrictive permits when the file submitted is complete (when all required documents and attestations of sponsorship by an establishment have been added to the file in the prescribed form and the fees for studying the file have been paid).

We urge you to complete this step as soon as your application for eligibility for a restrictive permit is submitted to the CMQ to avoid delays in getting an appointment with the OQLF. The registration form to the OQLF examination will be transmitted to you upon request by the CMQ, after reception of your application for eligibility for a restrictive permit.

In keeping with the provisions of the Charte de la langue française, you may be exempted from this examination if you furnish:

- An M.D. degree from a university whose language of instruction is French; or
- an official document proving that you have completed three years of  full-time schooling in French at the secondary or post-secondary level; or
- an official document or academic transcript from the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec proving that you hold a Québec secondary school diploma dated later than the 1985-86 school year; or
- an official document or academic transcript from the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec proving that you have successfully passed the Secondary IV or Secondary V examinations in French, first language.*

* Charte de la langue française, L.R.Q., c. C-11, art. 35. 

You may submit your application even if you have not yet passed the examination. You will find information related to French courses in the Web site of the Office québécois de la langue française.

The CMQ’s Admission to Practice Committee (APC) determines the content and duration of the evaluation period (usually three months) in an establishment affiliated with a university and accredited by the CMQ for the discipline in question or, if such an establishment is not available to host a trainee, in any other medical environment determined by the committee. 

• Fees are charged for organizing and conducting the evaluation period that are assumed by the RSQ upon the candidate’s signature of a financial assistance agreement in view of a sponsorship for a restrictive permit to practice. The CMQ remits this sum to the department or office that evaluates the candidate.
• The evaluation period is preceded by a week of observation so that you may become familiar with the environment in which you will be assessed.
• The evaluation period is not a training session. It serves to demonstrate your clinical competence to practice medicine within the Québec context. During the evaluation, candidates are exposed to a series of hands-on situations and activities that mirror those they will encounter in their future practice. These activities could include practice in the emergency room, operating room, outpatient clinic, and on hospital floors, as well as participation in academic activities, reading clubs, presentations or on-call activities, etc.
• The stage in Family Medicine is centered on three components:
  - hospitalization;
  - patients follow-up;
  - emergency.
• Your performance will be assessed based on the performance expected of a resident upon completion of training. You will be called upon to take medical actions as part of this evaluation.
• When the evaluation period is completed, the CMQ receives the evaluation report. The Collège’s APC rules on whether or not to issue the requested restrictive permit.

To help you prepare for the evaluation period, you can consult various publications, including:

• Practice Guides (e.g. on keeping of records or writing prescriptions)
  
• Principal CMQ Regulations (including the Code of Ethics of Québec Physicians)
  
• A detailed document on the legal, ethical and organizational aspects of medical practice in Québec (ALDO-Québec)
  
• Guidelines that could be pertinent to your evaluation

Or you can visit these Internet sites:

• College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), where you can find information about the principles of family medicine and other resources and documents that will familiarize you with the practice of family medicine in Canada;
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), where you will find a variety of information about specialized medical programs, particularly details about the objectives of postdoctoral training applicable to your discipline.

Attendance to the ALDO-Québec educational activity organized by the CMQ about the legal, organizational and ethical aspects of medical practice in Québec, is mandatory for the issuance of a restrictive permit to practice.
Document to read: Legal, Ethical and Organizationnal Aspects of Medical Practice in Quebec (ALDO-Québec)
Registration: contact the Medical Education Division, by phone at 514 933-4249, or by email at aldo@cmq.org

A candidate who wishes to obtain a permit to practice and begin his practice must read carefully the following instructions:

• The application for the permit must be submitted at least one month before the date scheduled for the start of practice.
• The fees for a permit are $700, non refundable.
• When the permit will be issued, the candidate will receive by e-mail the necessary informations to fill out the first registration on the membership roll. He will then receive his permit to practice by mail.
• To access the secured application, the candidate must have a user code and a password. To obtain a user code and a temporary password, you must contact the Collège des médecins by e-mail.
• E-mail address: demandepermis@cmq.org

1. Fill out the form Application for a Permit to Practice Medicine through the secured Web site of the Collège.
   
2. Fill out the form First registration on the membership roll through the secured Web site of the Collège when the Medical Education Division will have provided him with his permit number. The candidate must be registered on the membership roll in order to be authorized to practice medicine in Québec.

Once the candidate is registered, the Collège will transmit the information to the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ).