A wave of political and economic shifts over the last several months could be setting the scene for a possible migration of physicians out of the U.S.
Several recent data points and reports shed light on growing interest in migration from physicians already in the U.S., as well as heightened challenges for those interested in migrating here for medical school and their careers in medicine.
1. According to a May 29 report by NPR, the Medical Council of Canada saw a 750% increase in the number of Americans creating accounts to initiate the Canadian licensure process between November 2024 and May 2025.
2. The first step in becoming licensed in Canada is to create an account on physiciansapply.ca. In the past seven months, 615 physicians have created accounts, compared to 71 applicants during the same time last year. In recent years, Canadian provinces have relaxed some licensing regulations and expedited licensing for U.S.-trained physicians.
3. Both medical licensing organizations and companies that recruit physicians into Canada reported many physicians citing the Trump administration as their primary reason for moving.
4. Some recruiting companies reported a 65% increase in the number of American physicians looking for Canadian jobs between January and April. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario said it received license applications from about 260 U.S.-trained physicians — and registered 116 of them — in the first quarter of 2025. British Columbia, another province, said it licensed 28 U.S.-trained physicians in the fiscal year ending in February — triple the total of the prior year.
5. The Trump administration’s recent efforts to clamp down on immigration, including international student visas, has created uncertainty for international medical graduates seeking training in the U.S. The tightened restrictions have raised concerns about disruptions to healthcare delivery, given the already significant shortage of physicians in the U.S.
6. “President Trump will always put the safety of Americans first, and it is a privilege, not a right, to study in the United States,” a White House spokesperson told CBS News May 30. “Enhanced social media vetting is a commonsense measure that will help ensure that guests in our country are not planning to harm Americans, which is a national security priority.”
7. After a pause on scheduling visa interviews for students aiming to study in the U.S., the State Department said it would resume processing student and visiting scholar visa applications for foreigners, but plans to review their social media accounts as part of the process, NPR reported June 19.
8. The new oversight would require all students applying for a visa to set their social media profiles to “public,” according to the State Department’s website, which said that the additional screening is intended to exclude applications who “pose a threat to U.S. national security.”
9. The government told NPR that failure to set social media profiles to “public” could be grounds for rejection, and that consular offices have been told to look for signs of “hostility” toward the U.S., but did not define that term further.
10. These efforts have already begun hindering the flow of international physicians who have already been accepted into U.S.-based medical residencies. This year, U.S. residency programs have accepted 6,653 international physicians, but about 1,000 have not yet secured visas. Although federal officials said the application pause has been lifted, some physicians cannot schedule visa appointments because their embassies have not reopened them, some have been told their applications need more vetting and others were denied visas because they are from countries with a travel ban.
