In This Issue:

English Language Proficiency Requirement for ECFMG Certification for 2021 Match
Recent Presidential Proclamation on Immigration Does Not Impact J-1 Physicians
ERAS 2021 Residency Tokens Now Available
USMLE Program Kicks Off Comprehensive Approach to Gather Perspectives on Step 2 CS
COVID-19 Update for the USMLE Program
USMLE Timeline for Step 1 Pass/Fail Score Reporting

English Language Proficiency Requirement for ECFMG Certification for 2021 Match

Applicants pursuing one of the five pathways for ECFMG Certification in order to participate in the 2021 Match are required to perform satisfactorily on an English language proficiency assessment. All pathway applicants, regardless of citizenship, native language, or medical school language of instruction, must satisfy this requirement.

ECFMG will accept the Occupational English Test (OET) Medicine to satisfy the English language proficiency requirement. OET Medicine is designed specifically for physicians. To meet ECFMG's requirement, applicants must attain a minimum score of 350 (Grade B) on each of the four measured components of OET Medicine: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.

IMGs who have passed the Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) component of the United States Medical Licensing Examination^® (USMLE^®) and/or are certified by ECFMG do not need to take OET Medicine.

Pathway applicants who took OET Medicine on or after July 1, 2018 and attained the minimum passing score on each of the four components do not need to retake OET Medicine. These applicants will need to inform ECFMG that they have taken OET Medicine previously and allow ECFMG to access their scores.

Applying for OET Medicine
To begin the application process, pathway applicants must go through the ECFMG landing page on the OET website: https://www.occupationalenglishtest.org/l/ecfmg to pre-register. As part of pre-registration, they will be able to indicate their preferred testing date(s) and the country and city in which they would like to take the test. They also will be able to access information on preparing for the test, scheduling the test, and the overall timetable. After pre-registration, pathway applicants will be contacted by OET via e-mail with information on their nearest test location and next steps.

Test dates for OET Medicine are available for ECFMG applicants beginning in August 2020. Pathway applicants are encouraged to pre-register as soon as possible.

Please monitor the ECFMG website for the latest information on the requirements for ECFMG Certification for the 2021 Match.

Recent Presidential Proclamation on Immigration Does Not Impact J-1 Physicians

On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued the "Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak." The Proclamation suspended or limited travel to the United States for some non-immigrant visa classifications, including some categories of the J visa. The J-1 physicians sponsored by ECFMG|FAIMER for U.S. graduate medical education, and their J-2 dependents, participate in the U.S. Department of State (DOS) J Visa Exchange Visitor Program under the alien physician category. The alien physician category and any alien accompanying or following to join such alien are omitted from the suspension and are, therefore, exempt from the provisions of the Proclamation.

As previously reported, the DOS has advised that physicians and other health care workers are deemed to be mission critical to fighting and mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

This communication is merely educational in nature and does not constitute legal advice. ECFMG|FAIMER encourages individuals who may be affected by this or any other immigration development to seek advice from their own legal counsel.

ERAS 2021 Residency Tokens Now Available

Residency Tokens for the Electronic Residency Application Service^® (ERAS^®) 2021 application season are now available through ECFMG's On-line Applicant Status and Information System (OASIS). Applicants can use a 2021 Token to register at the MyERAS website of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) now and begin work on their residency applications.

If you plan to apply for U.S. residency positions that begin in July 2021, visit the ERAS Support Services section of the ECFMG website for important information and instructions on how to obtain an ERAS Token.

USMLE Program Kicks Off Comprehensive Approach to Gather Perspectives on Step 2 CS

To obtain stakeholder input on the USMLE Step 2 CS assessment and how clinical skills would be ideally assessed for licensure in the future, the USMLE program will be contacting a wide group of medical educators, clinicians, patient advocates, examinees, and others over the next 2 weeks to gather insights and expertise regarding performance-based clinical skills assessment.

Read the full announcement on the USMLE website here, and visit USMLE.org/RevitalizeCS for more information and updates as the initiative progresses.

COVID-19 Update for the USMLE Program

Delayed Change to USMLE Attempt Limit Policy
In February 2020, the USMLE program announced a reduction in the allowable number of exam attempts on each Step or Step Component from six to four that would go into effect no earlier than January 1, 2021. Due to the reduced testing capacity caused by COVID-19 , the USMLE program is delaying the implementation of this policy change to no earlier than July 1, 2021.

Examinees should read the full update in the USMLE COVID-19 Resource Center and monitor this resource center frequently for the latest information.

USMLE Timeline for Step 1 Pass/Fail Score Reporting

The co-sponsors of USMLE—the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)—have recently received requests from examinees and student organizations to accelerate or delay the change to pass/fail score reporting for USMLE Step 1 in light of the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and social movements across the country. The USMLE program's announcement of the Step 1 score reporting policy change, posted in February 2020, said the change in score reporting would be implemented no earlier than January 2022. After careful consideration of all the recent concerns that have been brought to the USMLE program's attention, the USMLE program remains committed to the January 2022 timeline.

For more information, read the full announcement on the USMLE website.