By Dr. Bilal Akil, MD — Emergency Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University · founder of mccQbank
Short answer: for Canadian visiting electives in 2027, most windows for Canadians studying abroad (CSAs) open between August 2026 and May 2027, and some have already closed. Toronto’s lottery window ran from 18 May to 26 June 2026, and Ottawa’s first CSA block (electives from 4 January to 26 April 2027) is closed; its next blocks are released on 2 November and 7 December 2026. Western takes CSAs for May to August 2027, with applications from January to April 2027. The visiting elective dates 2027 below come from each school’s AFMC Student Portal profile, read on 13 October 2026. New to the portal? Start with our guide to AFMC visiting electives.
Ottawa visiting elective dates 2027: three CSA blocks
Ottawa offers CSA electives from January to August only, in blocks released on set dates. You can confirm up to 6 weeks in total, and a block closes once its capacity is reached (Ottawa profile).
| Block | Released | Elective dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 September 2026 | 4 January to 26 April 2027 (closed) |
| 2 | 2 November 2026 | 3 May to 28 June 2027 |
| 3 | 7 December 2026 | 5 July to 23 August 2027 |
McMaster: fixed 4-week blocks
McMaster fills international and CSA electives by lottery, in 4-week blocks that cannot be shortened. Each window lasts five to eight days (McMaster profile).
| Elective block | Application window |
|---|---|
| 4 to 31 January 2027 | 13 to 20 September 2026 (closed) |
| 1 to 28 February 2027 | 25 to 29 October 2026 |
| 1 to 28 March 2027 | 22 to 26 November 2026 |
| 29 March to 25 April 2027 | 6 to 10 December 2026 |
| 26 April to 23 May 2027 | 10 to 14 January 2027 |
| 24 May to 20 June 2027 | 14 to 18 February 2027 |
McMaster is closed to international students and CSAs from 21 June 2027 to 3 January 2028.
Queen’s and Dalhousie: rounds for international students
Queen’s offers 2-week electives to students from World Directory-listed schools and schedules them after its own and domestic students. Its profile does not say whether CSAs apply in this international stream, so confirm with Queen’s. Its international windows for 2027 include:
- 18 to 31 January: apply 27 September to 11 October 2026 (closed)
- 1 to 14 February: apply 11 to 24 October 2026
- 1 to 14 March: apply 8 to 22 November 2026
- 26 April to 9 May: apply 3 to 16 January 2027
- 10 to 23 May: apply 17 to 30 January 2027
- 24 May to 6 June: apply 31 January to 13 February 2027
- 7 to 20 June: apply 14 to 27 February 2027
Queen’s lists no electives for 4 to 17 January, 15 to 28 February or 15 March to 25 April 2027. Dalhousie runs rounds for CSAs and other international students (Dalhousie profile):
| Portal open | Placements |
|---|---|
| 28 September to 26 October 2026 | 4 January to 14 February 2027 |
| 9 November to 7 December 2026 | 15 February to 28 March 2027 |
| 21 December 2026 to 18 January 2027 | 29 March to 23 May 2027 |
| 15 February to 15 March 2027 | 24 May to 4 July 2027 |
| 5 April to 3 May 2027 | 5 July to 29 August 2027 |
Rolling windows: NOSM, UBC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
- NOSM (CSAs only) opened applications on 1 August 2026 for electives starting in February 2027, and takes each application between 36 and 27 weeks before the start date. CSA electives are blacked out from 14 December 2026 to 17 January 2027 and from 22 February to 7 March 2027.
- UBC offers international electives from November to June only, to final-year students at schools with the Canada sponsor note. Its window opens every second Monday, up to 24 weeks before the start date, and closes 12 weeks before.
- Saskatchewan takes Saskatchewan students studying abroad (with a valid Saskatchewan health card) and nominated RCSI, LMU and IFMSA students. Each 2-week period opens 12 weeks ahead: for example, 6 December 2026 for 1 to 14 March 2027.
- Manitoba takes 2-week blocks. Its international tab says to apply 12 weeks before the start date, while its FAQ says 16 weeks, so plan on 16.
Toronto and Western visiting elective dates 2027
Toronto only accepts international students picked in its Random Selection Process. For 2027 the lottery window ran from 18 May to 26 June 2026, selected students applied on the portal from 27 July to 18 September 2026, and placements run from 11 January to 29 August 2027. Your home school must have signed Toronto’s agreement by 1 May of the year before your elective, and the agreements page says it now accepts agreements only for 2028 placements, which it lists as January to July 2028.
Western takes CSAs at its London, Windsor and rural or regional sites in summer only: electives from May to August 2027, with application windows from January to April 2027. An older line on its profile still mentions May and June “only in 2025”, so confirm exact dates with Western.
Have your documents ready before the first window
Before you plan around the visiting elective dates 2027, make sure your file is ready. Several documents take longer than the windows themselves:
- The AFMC Student Portal Immunization and Testing Form: AFMC warns that some of its requirements “may require months to fulfill”.
- A police check, which varies by school. Ottawa wants a vulnerable sector screening or equivalent from your country of residence, no older than 12 months; processing can take 2 to 12 weeks. McMaster wants one from each country where you lived for more than six months in a row in the past five years. NOSM wants a check from Canada.
- An N95 mask fit test and, for Ottawa and Dalhousie, a current CPR or BLS card for health care providers.
- A letter of good standing. Dalhousie, McMaster and NOSM list what it must include, such as your year of study and expected graduation date, and Western’s must confirm your program language is English.
NOSM wants its pre-placement documents completed five months before the elective starts. Because it takes applications 27 to 36 weeks ahead, that deadline falls about 5 to 14 weeks after you apply. For each school’s full list, see our guide to AFMC portal fees and documents.
Work backwards: a CSA aiming for 1 March 2027
Here is how the visiting elective dates 2027 work out for one start date, as of mid-October 2026. NOSM’s 36-to-27-week rule and UBC’s 24-to-12-week rule are counted back from 1 March 2027.
| School | Can you still apply? | When |
|---|---|---|
| McMaster (1 to 28 March block) | Yes | 22 to 26 November 2026 |
| Queen’s (1 to 14 March) | Yes (confirm CSA status) | 8 to 22 November 2026 |
| Dalhousie (round 2) | Yes | 9 November to 7 December 2026 |
| UBC | Yes, if eligible | up to 7 December 2026 (12 weeks before) |
| Saskatchewan | Only eligible students | from 6 December 2026 |
| Ottawa | No | Block 1 is closed |
| NOSM | No | Its window closed on 24 August 2026, and 1 March falls in a CSA blackout |
| Toronto | No | Lottery window closed in June 2026 |
| Western | No | International electives run May to August only |
The lesson for any start date: choose your schools at least 9 months ahead, and for Toronto by May of the year before. If you are also planning exams around your electives, our CaRMS 2027 timeline for IMGs and our guide to writing the MCCQE before you graduate cover the rest of the year.
If the MCCQE is part of your plan, practise in its format early. mccQbank has 2,400+ bilingual MCCQE questions in English and French. Try 30 free questions.
Frequently asked questions for visiting elective dates 2027
When do AFMC elective applications open for CSAs?
There is no single set of visiting elective dates 2027. Each school sets its own windows on its portal profile, from fixed rounds (McMaster, Queen’s, Dalhousie, Ottawa) to rolling windows counted back from your start date (NOSM, UBC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba).
Can I do a Canadian elective in the fall of 2027?
Fewer schools allow it. Dalhousie’s fall 2027 round covers 30 August to 10 October 2027, with its portal open from 24 May to 28 June 2027, and UBC’s international electives start again in November. Ottawa and Western stop at the end of August, McMaster is closed to CSAs from 21 June 2027 to 3 January 2028, and Dalhousie blacks out 11 October to 31 December 2027.
Is there a waitlist if my visiting elective dates 2027 are full?
Not at Toronto, Ottawa or McMaster, which say they keep none. UBC keeps a waitlist that is cancelled 8 weeks before the start if you are not placed, and Dalhousie and Queen’s hold applications in a queue until their own students are scheduled.
