In the last seven months, the Medical Council of Canada has seen a 750% increase in the number of Americans creating accounts on its site to initiate the licensure process, NPR reported May 29.
The number of American physicians seeking to move to Canada to practice has ebbed and flowed for decades, usually in reaction to political and economic fluctuations, but it has never been this high, experts told NPR.
Here are five things to know:
1. 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.
2. Both medical licensing organizations and companies that recruit physicians into Canada reported many physicians citing the Trump administration as their primary reason for moving.
3. The Trump administration declined to comment on the trend when asked by NPR, but did ask if the news outlet knew the number of physicians and their citizenship status. The news outlet did not provide or have this information.
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 that ended in February — triple the total of the prior year.
5. Rural communities in Canada launched an advertising campaign after President Trump’s election to recruit American physicians. The campaign focuses on physicians in Florida and North and South Dakota. Its key selling point: “zero political interference in physician patient relationship.”
