By Dr. Bilal Akil, MD — Emergency Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University · founder of mccQbank
Short answer: Your medical school is recognized in Canada if its listing in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) carries a note for “Canada” under the Sponsor Notes tab. The Medical Council of Canada says so directly: open your school in the World Directory, click Sponsor Notes, and “a note for ‘Canada’ indicates that your medical school is recognized in Canada” (MCC news, 2 June 2016). Read the whole note, though: some Canada notes only cover degrees obtained within a set period.
What “recognized in Canada” means to the MCC
The MCC uses two linked terms, both defined in the Model Standards for Medical Registration in Canada. To be eligible for MCC services and assessments, you must have, or expect to have, an acceptable medical degree from an acceptable medical school (MCC, acceptable medical schools and medical degrees).
An acceptable school is one of these:
- a school listed in the World Directory at the time you completed the program;
- a US school of osteopathic medicine accredited by the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation;
- a Canadian or US medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools.
For the degree to be acceptable, the same MCC page sets three more conditions:
- the school’s World Directory listing must have a Canada Sponsor Note;
- your graduation date must fall within the graduation years shown in the ECFMG Sponsor Note in the World Directory;
- your degree title must be listed in the Reference Guide for Medical Education Credentials.
A footnote on the page adds that “certain medical schools might be acceptable to Canada within defined periods.”
How to check your school, step by step
- Open the World Directory search at search.wdoms.org and choose your country.
- If your country or territory is missing from the list, tick “Include Non-UN Member States”. When we checked on 3 November 2026, Anguilla, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten did not appear in the country list until that box was ticked.
- Open your school’s listing and confirm the name and city. Some names are close to others: the Directory lists an “Atlantic University School of Medicine” in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, with no Canada note, and a closed one in Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, whose Canada note covers only 2010–2017.
- Click the Sponsor Notes tab and find the “Canada” heading. The standard note begins “Unless indicated otherwise, Medical degrees obtained from this medical school are acceptable to the provincial/territorial medical regulatory authorities in Canada, and therefore acceptable to all medical organizations in Canada.”
- Look for a period under the Canada heading. Some notes add “Medical degrees obtained from this medical school are acceptable to Canada between the following period”, followed by a range of years.
- Read the ECFMG note’s graduation years. It lists them as “Graduation Years”, for example “1953 – Current”. Your graduation year must fall inside that range.
- Write down the FAIMER School ID shown at the bottom of the listing, and the date you checked. Listings change, so check again before you apply.
Reading what you find: a decision table
| What the listing shows | What it means under the MCC definition | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Canada note in the standard wording, and your graduation year inside the ECFMG range | The listing meets the school and Sponsor Note conditions | Check your degree title in the Reference Guide for Medical Education Credentials, then plan your MCC exams |
| Canada note with a period, for example “FROM 2003 – 2018” | Only degrees obtained inside that period are covered by the note | Compare your graduation year with the period before you count on the MCC route |
| School listed, but no Canada note | The degree is not an acceptable medical degree as the MCC defines it | Ask the MCC (service@mcc.ca) before you spend on applications |
| School not listed in the World Directory | Not an acceptable school, unless it is one of the accredited Canadian or US schools named above | Confirm the exact school name and country; then ask the MCC |
| “Not currently operational”, with a Canada note | Operational status and the Canada note are separate fields | Read the note for a period and check your graduation year against it |
An example of the period rule: the World Directory lists the University of Science, Arts & Technology (USAT) Faculty of Medicine in Montserrat as “Currently operational”, yet its Canada note reads “acceptable to Canada between the following period: FROM 2003 – 2018” (World Directory listing F0000836, checked 3 November 2026). A school being open today does not tell you that today’s degrees carry the note.
Ireland, Poland and the Caribbean: the counts on 3 November 2026
We searched the World Directory country by country on 3 November 2026 and opened the Sponsor Notes of every listed school. Counts change as the Directory is updated, so treat these as a snapshot and check your own school.
- Ireland: 6 schools listed, and all 6 carry a Canada note (RCSI, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway and University of Limerick). Our guide to medical schools in Ireland for Canadian students covers the route home.
- Poland: 41 schools listed, 24 with a Canada note. Of the 39 listed as currently operational, 22 carry it. Our guide to Polish medical schools, listing by listing names all 22.
- The Caribbean: across the 22 island jurisdictions in the table below, 112 schools listed, 87 with a Canada note, and 69 that are both currently operational and carry a note (one of these, USAT in Montserrat, has a note that ended in 2018).
| Jurisdiction | Listed | With Canada note | Operational and with note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anguilla | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Aruba | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Bahamas | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Barbados | 9 | 5 | 5 |
| Bonaire | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| British Virgin Islands | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cayman Islands | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cuba | 16 | 14 | 14 |
| Curaçao | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Dominica | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Dominican Republic | 18 | 18 | 13 |
| Grenada | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Haiti | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| Jamaica | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Montserrat | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Saba | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 9 | 8 | 4 |
| Saint Lucia | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Sint Maarten | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Saint Lucia has seven listings with a Canada note, but none of them is currently operational; its one operational listing has no note. Three listings in our count also carry a dated Canada note (one in Montserrat, two in Saint Lucia), which a quick glance at the Sponsor Notes tab can miss. Mainland Belize and Guyana were not part of this count. If you study in the Caribbean, our post on Caribbean medical school to Canadian residency covers what comes after this check.
What recognition does not settle
The MCC page defines eligibility for MCC services and assessments. Meeting these school and degree conditions opens that door; it does not schedule your exams, verify your documents or decide a residency application. If you are still a student, our guide to writing the MCCQE before you graduate shows how the Sponsor Note check fits with the Student Attestation and your exam timeline. Once you are eligible, our CaRMS planner for IMGs lists the MCC sessions whose results are due before your CaRMS deadline.
Frequently asked questions
What is the significance of a Caribbean school holding recognition from Canadian provincial medical licensing bodies?
The World Directory’s standard Canada note says degrees from the school “are acceptable to the provincial/territorial medical regulatory authorities in Canada, and therefore acceptable to all medical organizations in Canada.” Without that note, the MCC does not treat the degree as an acceptable medical degree.
Is a Polish medical degree recognized in Canada?
It depends on the school. On 3 November 2026, 24 of the 41 Polish schools in the World Directory carried a Canada note. Check your own faculty’s Sponsor Notes tab rather than relying on the country.
Are all Irish medical schools recognized in Canada?
All six Irish schools in the World Directory carried a Canada note when we checked on 3 November 2026. Your graduation year still has to fall within the ECFMG note’s graduation years.
My school is listed but has no Canada note. Can I still apply to the MCC?
Under the MCC’s definition, an acceptable medical degree needs a Canada Sponsor Note on the school’s listing. Contact the MCC at service@mcc.ca before paying for any application.
I used to check IMED. Where did it go?
The MCC announced in June 2016 that all the information previously held in IMED had been transferred to the World Directory, which is where candidates now confirm recognition.
Once your school checks out, the next step is preparing for the MCCQE. You can try 30 free questions in the mccQbank question bank.
