By Dr. Bilal Akil, MD — Emergency Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University · founder of mccQbank
Short answer: Source verification is the Medical Council of Canada’s check that your international medical credentials are real: the MCC, working with ECFMG (a division of Intealth), sends each credential to the institution that issued it and asks it to confirm that it issued the credential and that it is authentic, accurate and valid. You request it inside your physiciansapply.ca account, one source verification request (SVR) per credential, at $232 each on top of the one-time $150 account fee. The MCC says how long it takes “cannot be guaranteed” and that an institution’s reply “can take 3 months or longer”, so it recommends submitting as soon as you know you need it (MCC, verification of credentials).
Everything below was read on the MCC’s own pages on 10 November 2026. physiciansapply.ca itself now opens the MCC’s services page, which describes the portal as “a secure online account requiring only a one-time set-up fee”.
What physiciansapply.ca is for
physiciansapply.ca is the account the MCC runs for Canadian and international medical students and graduates. Through it you can:
- submit a source verification request for international credentials
- apply for the MCCQE (formerly MCCQE Part I) and the NAC Examination
- view and share documents and exam results with registered organizations, or send them to other organizations through the paid File Transfer Service
- request an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report, which is sometimes needed for immigration
- apply for the LMCC and for medical registration
Any credentials you submit are added to your account, so you can share them securely with Canadian medical regulatory authorities and other organizations registered with the MCC.
Do you need source verification?
Only international credentials qualify. The MCC’s list of acceptable medical credentials says “Canadian credentials are not eligible for source verification.”
If you are an international medical graduate, the MCC’s MCCQE eligibility page tells you to create an SVR for your medical degree first: “You can proceed with the exam application as soon as you have submitted and paid for the SVR for your medical degree.” The NAC eligibility page has the same rule for the NAC. For the MCCQE, you can schedule with Prometric once your degree shows as reviewed and accepted in your account; for the NAC, the MCC assigns your exam centre and tells you about 6 weeks before the exam. Both pages ask you to allow up to 4 weeks for your documents and application to be processed.
International students applying before they graduate have their medical school complete a Student attestation form instead, and the MCCQE page says that once you graduate and reapply you “must submit an SVR” for the degree. Our guide to NAC eligibility and application covers the NAC side in more detail.
Ontario is the exception: the MCC says candidates “focused in practising in Ontario only should contact the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for source verification.”
Which documents the MCC will verify
| Eligible | Not eligible |
|---|---|
| Medical degree or diploma | Letters of employment or work experience |
| Medical school transcript | Letters of recommendation |
| Internship document | Certificates or letters of ongoing training |
| Postgraduate training document | Professional association memberships |
| Specialty certificate | Language training documents |
| Medical licence or proof of registration | Statements of exam results; CVs |
Three details from the MCC’s definitions:
- The degree depends on your school’s listing. Your school’s World Directory listing must carry a Canada Sponsor Note, your graduation date must fall within the years in its ECFMG Sponsor Note, and the degree title must appear in the Reference Guide for Medical Education Credentials. Our post on checking whether your school is recognized in Canada walks through the Directory.
- The transcript must be final. It has to be issued after the degree was awarded, show the degree title and graduation date, list grades or credits for every course and be signed by a school official.
- A clerkship is not an internship. The MCC says clerkship documents “are not eligible for source verification”, because in a clerkship the supervisor holds direct responsibility for patients.
How to submit an SVR, step by step
The MCC’s submission instructions come down to this order:
- Create a physiciansapply.ca account if you don’t have one (it carries the one-time $150 set-up fee).
- Check what the organization you are sending credentials to actually requires.
- Pick the credentials to submit from the MCC’s eligible list. Each one needs its own SVR.
- Get any document that isn’t in English or French translated by an MCC-listed provider (next section).
- Prepare certified copies of your identity documents if required.
- Scan each document as one PDF or JPG under 10 MB, without password protection (MCC file guidelines).
- Log in, choose Source verification requests, then Create a new SVR, upload as prompted and pay.
Once your documents are uploaded, the MCC says not to send it another copy.
Translations
Any document in a language other than English or French has to be translated by one of three providers the MCC lists: ITC Global, NATIONS Translation Group or Straker (MCC, document translation). You pay the provider directly. With your SVR you upload a copy of the original-language document and the translation file exactly as the provider sent it, without adding or removing pages. The MCC does not pre-review documents to check whether they are acceptable, and it does not refund a translation it doesn’t accept. Apostilles are not required.
What each status means, and who you are waiting on
This table pairs the main statuses in the MCC’s document status legend with the timings on its verification page. The “who has it” column is our reading of those pages.
| Status in your account | Who has it | Timing the MCC gives |
|---|---|---|
| Not submitted | You: payment not made | — |
| Under review / Reviewed and accepted | MCC staff | Not stated |
| Reviewed and not accepted | You: a message explains what to upload | — |
| Submitted to ECFMG | ECFMG | Usually sent on within 5 days |
| Sent for source verification | Your school or institution | Varies; “can take 3 months or longer” |
| Resent for source verification | Your institution again | ECFMG resends after 2 months, up to 3 requests |
| Verification returned – passed | Done | Status updated within 5 to 10 days once ECFMG processes the reply |
| Verification returned – rejected | You: a message in your account explains why | — |
Our decision rule: once a document reads “Sent for source verification”, contact the issuing office yourself, as the MCC recommends. If the institution is still silent after ECFMG’s second request, don’t wait for the third: the MCC says that if your institution is not responding, you can ask through your account to have your credentials sent by courier (next section).
If your school does not reply
After three requests with no answer, the MCC says no further action will be taken by ECFMG or the MCC “until a response is received”. You can ask, through a message in your account, to have your credentials sent to the institution by courier, which you arrange and pay for. Questions go to the MCC, not ECFMG: the MCC says ECFMG “will not be able to support your inquiry”. If your first SVR is more than 2 years old, contact the MCC, because you may need a new SVR at the current fee.
Already verified through EPIC or the USMLE?
A verification ECFMG already holds may help. You still create the SVR, pay the fee and upload the documents. Then send a message from your account with your EPIC number, USMLE number or EICS number (with the AMC or HPCSA reference if you have one). If the documents match ECFMG’s records, the earlier verification can be used.
What it costs
| Item | MCC fee (CAD) |
|---|---|
| physiciansapply.ca account (one time) | $150, non-refundable |
| Source verification request | $232 per credential, non-refundable |
| File transfer to an unregistered organization | $65 per document, or $260 for four or more to the same third party in one transaction |
So an IMG verifying a degree and a transcript pays $150 + 2 × $232 = $614 before any exam fee or translation cost. The MCC’s fee page takes Visa, Mastercard and prepaid or secured credit cards, not Interac or debit cards. Exam fees are in our MCCQE fee guide, and the full route from verification to licence is in how an IMG gets licensed in Canada.
Frequently asked questions
How long does physiciansapply.ca source verification take?
The MCC does not give a total. ECFMG usually forwards documents within 5 days, the institution’s reply “can take 3 months or longer”, and once ECFMG processes the reply, your account status is updated within 5 to 10 days.
Can I apply for the MCCQE before my degree is verified?
Yes. IMGs can apply once the SVR for the degree is submitted and paid. You can book a Prometric appointment after the degree shows as reviewed and accepted in your account.
How much does source verification cost?
$232 per credential, plus the one-time $150 account fee if you are new. Both are non-refundable.
Can I verify Canadian credentials?
No. The MCC verifies international medical credentials only.
Who do I contact about a stuck request?
The MCC, through your physiciansapply.ca account, or the institution that issued the document. Not ECFMG.
While the paperwork moves, you can start on the exam itself. Try 30 free MCCQE questions, in English or French, with no payment method needed.
