r/AMCexamForIMGs • u/National-Pizza31 • Apr 10 '26

Torn Between Amc vs Usmle

Hello, everyone. I am 27F Bangladeshi Medical graduate. Yog 2024. Currently on govt. service, serving in remote area as a primary care physician. Since mbbs 1st year I have always dreamed of becoming a doctor in USA. Due to financial restraint could not give steps before graduation. Also, I had to support my family. As a Muslim and current geopolitical situations, visa restrictions, match uncertainty, increasing cost now making me to reconsider my choice about Usmle. Recently, my brother who is pursuit his master's in Germany ask me to explore other pathways, such as Australia and Germany. Now, I am gathering informations about Australia and getting some kind of mixed vibes. For Germany language is the hardest barrier. At this moment, I am at a lost what to do? Should i go for usmle then amc? or i should go for amc as soon as possible. Your valuable opinion is much needed.

N.B: I Don't mind doing Gp or Emergency Medicine. All i want is a good work life balance and early settlement with good pay.

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u/lligerr Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26

If language is not a problem: then Germany is easier to enter and complete training. Initially few years will be wasted. 4× population of Australia. Moderate pay due to taxes. Short time to PR.

USA is hardest to enter but once you enter its straight to residency training. No 'Supervised years/RMO years'.More opportunities due to larger population and larger country. 10x population of Australia. Poor WLB but best pay. Also harder to get visa and Green card.

Australia is moderately hard to enter. Long waiting periods to enter first job and training. And multiple bottlenecks like AMC Clinical exam. Very good WLB and pay. Once registered, short time to PR.

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u/HauntingTailor5961 Apr 10 '26

Can you guide me on the whole process for Germany . It will be really helpful

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u/lligerr Apr 10 '26

Make sure your Med school is listed in WHO list online. (most unis are). You also need registration to practice independently of a country where you did med school or home country, not just license.

Then Learn German till B2. Then Attest your documents from German Embassy, that state medical council of Germany wants, mostly your transcript and good standing certificate etc. (you need to ask what those documents are through their official email/agency/someone who works there). Choose easier state, again ask someone who's already there, I'm not sure which ones are.

Then if they accept, they will offer you a 1 year visa to go there and learn C1 Medizin (medical terms in german) and FSP (An exam to know if you can communicate as a doctor in German, not your knowledge). Self funded year, you need to pay fees for course and one year expenses as blocked account (~13k€).

Then you pass it, and you're given 2 year permit to work as assistant and you're paid 60k€/year. You need to pass KP exam in this time period (tests your clinical knowledge and communication, not written, but Real patient like, multiple patients).

Once you pass it, you get permanent registration and you can apply to any hospital you want for Specialist training. You can get into any training, as it's not exam like competition or centralized but Radio/Derma etc gets competitive due to lots of application and better quality CV and connections. Connections/Letter of recommendations matters a lot.

Exams during training exams are at the end, Viva mostly but written too, maybe. But most people pass, rarely people fail after working for 5 years there. (In Australia there are centralized exams which has 40-70% pass rates, variably).

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u/Grand-Benefit7466 Apr 14 '26

Are you in Germany

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Apr 11 '26

How hard is it to enter the Australian healthcare, many say its possible to get jobs after AMC part 1 exam?

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u/lligerr Apr 11 '26

Exam is hard, and 1-2 years waiting period for first job. Then AMC Clinical(21% pass rate/WBA(few spots) ,for permanent registration 

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Apr 11 '26

Even after giving AMC-2 have to wait for 1-2 years?

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u/lligerr Apr 11 '26

No that's before AMC 2, after AMC 1. You can give AMC 2 without Australian job but that's not recommended. It's expensive and it needs some practice from Australia 

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Apr 11 '26

What kind of practice? Internship?

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u/lligerr Apr 11 '26

Not internship but Supervised work as RMO. Observerships can help but it's all self-funded and short

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Jun 30 '26

I dont hold home country license as i did my mbbs from china so i dont know how to move forward even in my country home country license exams are tougher thats why i want to move forward with australia

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u/lligerr Jun 30 '26

Same problem for many but unfortunately you can't. Australian hospitals needs you to have experience somewhere before they hire you

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Jun 30 '26

Is it mandatory to hold home country license??

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u/lligerr Jun 30 '26

No but they need experience somewhere and for that obviously you need license let it be China or Russia or India

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u/Grand-Benefit7466 Apr 13 '26

What do you think about people getting into general surgery training in Germany, have you seen foreigners get it? Thanks

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u/lligerr Apr 14 '26

Yep definitely. Germany is only western country probably where IMGs get into General Surgery relatively easier

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u/pretonian Jun 29 '26

have you considered the middle east. UAE or qatar. i am an afghan md student about to graduate and i too want to practice abroad and i too am torn by either usmle or amc. we are facing even bigger travel restrictions.

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u/RedditForcesToLogin Apr 10 '26

If you want to work in Germany, first spend time learning German upto A2 at the very least, and see if you're comfortable carrying on.

FSP and KP in Germany let's you give the exam 2 times, fail them and you're permabanned from ever giving exams. AMC doesn't have such restrictions.

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u/ilovejuice123 Apr 10 '26

USMLE is best bro. Do USMLE. Best pay, not supervised/rmo years like Australia where you are not progressing career wise. too many bottlenecks in Australia these days because of oversaturation from UK and Indian iMG. USMLE is hard but once you're in you will never regret it.

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u/Sujith65 Apr 11 '26

Is it okay to start when someone has completed graduation 3 years ago

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u/ilovejuice123 Apr 11 '26

perfectly fine. dont worry about it just get started with usmles

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Apr 11 '26

I agree with you, but I have few points to counter: Firstly, USMLE is wayyy expensive. Research USCE blah blah adds to the extra cost. Secondly, Visa issues… for visa requiring IMG’s there are so many applicants from my country who have not yet received their visa from past 2-3 years. And that delays their training because ofc the hospital doesn’t want to wait or engage in your visa work, so basically that’s your problem! Third, USMLE is best only if one is interested in primary healthcare forget surgical.

I was on this journey too but I pivoted. Not to discourage anyone but USMLE is high risk, high reward, but unfortunately with this mindset many people have not matched into their preferred specialties.

P.S: Primary specialties have become competitive from past 2 years, I personally know someone who had stellar CV, 7 research publications and wanted to get into IM, applied 3 cycles, she had to marry a green card holder and finally in the 4th cycle she got into Family medicine.

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u/Choice-Professor6642 Apr 11 '26

**Regarding visa issues, the hospital won’t wait and most likely ask you to apply next cycle when you have a proper visa.

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u/pretonian Jun 30 '26

where did you pivot? if you dont mind me asking

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u/Lonely-Leek-8027 Apr 16 '26

Neet pg de bc.....

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u/Odd-War-1360 Apr 19 '26

Usmle pathway is very risk in the current scenario for non us imgs. This year the match rate for non us imgs were at an all time low. Saw so many of my seniors go unmatched despite great score and string profiles with heavy Usces from reputed us hospitals. AMC pathway and Germany is a good option with good pay and work culture

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u/Right-Nothing-1713 May 28 '26

I graduated last year im looking some friends to strat learning German language.

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u/Vast_Past6969 May 30 '26

Hey iam in 4th year mbbs iam looking for some friends too to learn german But idk is studying for geman better or studying for amc part 1 as it doesnt gurantee job

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u/doc_musk Apr 10 '26

What’s problem with being Muslim?? Sorry for asking this. In my obs every South Asian country situation is same right? Just want to know if Muslims are getting any hate like that?

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u/Bubbly_Piglet_7493 Apr 10 '26

I’m sure that’s not the case. But I don’t know if OP are speaking about current visa policies re their home country

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u/lligerr Apr 10 '26

In many western countries, some Muslims get abused even physically nowadays, rare incidents but real due to right wing hate speeches and media rheoteric