# American Looking to be a PCP in Canada?



## DPSully (Jul 13, 2015)

Hey all, 
This is my first time on the forum, and whilst I know there have been several posts regarding Americans moving to Canada, my situation is a little different and so I'm looking for some guidance. For some background, I am 21 and just about to graduate college (in the spring of 2016) in Pennsylvania with a BA in Psych and a BS in Bio. My grades are average (just under 3.0). I have a current NREMT-B and I have about 4 1/2 months experience with a private company which involved 60% IFTs and 40% 911 response. I have worked with paramedics and pure BLS. I took some time off school to work in EMS full time (hence the 4 months experience) and now I know that I would like to commit to a career in it. I visited Toronto a short while ago and I fell in love with the city, plus I love the work that Toronto Paramedic Service is doing and the scope of practice that ACPs have there. The pay compared to the US is definitely a plus. Seeing as I only have a BLS certification and very little experience, I am comfortable returning to school and getting an education in paramedicine (though to be honest the shorter the better). Are there any schools that admit American students in the Toronto area? How are my chances since I already have a bachelors degree? Would it be better to get a paramedic education in the US and try for reciprocity? Do you have any advice overall? Is working for Toronto EMS a pipe dream for international students? Also, is it possible to get into a program where I can train straight into ACP (that's my end goal)? 

Obviously I feel pretty lost on the whole thing and research on the internet can only get you so far. Thanks!


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## WolfmanHarris (Jul 13, 2015)

I'd do a forum search since this has been covered before, but essentially it's an extremely tough situation. Jobs in Ontario are extremely competitive; for example we just finished a recruitment where I work and we had more than a thousand applications for the 30 spots we hired and that's about par for the large services. There's what can technically get you hired and what will. Immigration is the biggest hurdle since you would need to be a permanent resident to work as a Paramedic and it's not an in demand job for the purposes of immigration.

It's possible, but very difficult and a lot of work.


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## cprted (Jul 13, 2015)

PCP programs in Ontario are typically 2 years in length (though there are some exceptions), if you look to Western Canada, most of the PCP programs are 6-12 months in length.  Once you're licensed as a PCP in one province, getting your license recognized in another is fairly straightforward.  

Couple courses to look at (by no means an exhaustive list):
http://www.jibc.ca/programs-courses...y/programs-and-courses/primary-care-paramedic
http://www.sait.ca/programs-and-cou...rgency-medical-technician-course-overview.php
http://saskpolytech.ca/programs-and-courses/programs/Primary-Care-Paramedic.aspx


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