# US to Canada. Has anyone done it?



## pcbguy (Aug 16, 2014)

I'm looking at getting my license in Alberta and the process is pretty involved. 

I know it's going to take a while but if anyone else here has done it can you tell me, did you use the IQAS to evaluate your education or did you use another evaluation service? Their processing time is 4 months. I assume there has to be another one out there that might be quicker. 

The Alberta site says I can used another approved evaluator. 

Thanks!


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## STXmedic (Aug 16, 2014)

@MedicTim


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## sjukrabilalfur (Sep 1, 2014)

I've been looking at the possibility of getting reciprocity with Ontario at some point after finishing Paramedic, since I have some friends in Mississauga and Toronto seems to need Medics. I'm interested to see what answers you get, @pcbguy.


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## Medic Tim (Sep 1, 2014)

It is very difficult and expensive to get reciprocity in Canada. If you do it may be at a lower level than you expect. The primary care paramedic ( BLS) program in Ontario is 2 years and the advanced care paramedic is another year on top of that.

I was able to be licensed in Canada because the program I went to in the USA is accredited on 1 or 2 province. I was able to licence as if I had gone to a local Canadian program. If you have a degree and NREMT it may help but there is no guarantee.


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## sjukrabilalfur (Sep 2, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> It is very difficult and expensive to get reciprocity in Canada. If you do it may be at a lower level than you expect. The primary care paramedic ( BLS) program in Ontario is 2 years and the advanced care paramedic is another year on top of that.
> 
> I was able to be licensed in Canada because the program I went to in the USA is accredited on 1 or 2 province. I was able to licence as if I had gone to a local Canadian program. If you have a degree and NREMT it may help but there is no guarantee.



Honestly, I probably wouldn't be considering it at all if I didn't already have a Bachelor's degree prior to entering EMS. Taking a step down to BLS wouldn't be off the table for me, so long as the pay was survivable and I'd have an opportunity to continue education to bump back up to the provincial equivalent of an ALS medic. That would require me researching visa restrictions on entering higher ed while working, which is another can of worms.


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## Medic Tim (Sep 2, 2014)

sjukrabilalfur said:


> Honestly, I probably wouldn't be considering it at all if I didn't already have a Bachelor's degree prior to entering EMS. Taking a step down to BLS wouldn't be off the table for me, so long as the pay was survivable and I'd have an opportunity to continue education to bump back up to the provincial equivalent of an ALS medic. That would require me researching visa restrictions on entering higher ed while working, which is another can of worms.


Ontario is the highest paying province for medics. A few PCPs I know make 35+ an hour, ACPs over 40. Licensing is the easy part if you don't have work authorization. Some provinces are easier than others to go into. I have been told NS has a program in place if you are a NR medic.


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## MrJones (Sep 2, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> Ontario is the highest paying province for medics. A few PCPs I know make 35+ an hour, ACPs over 40. Licensing is the easy part if you don't have work authorization. Some provinces are easier than others to go into. I have been told NS has a program in place if you are a NR medic.


What Province offers the most opportunity for remote area work, similar to your current gig?


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## Medic Tim (Sep 2, 2014)

British Columbia and Alberta are the biggest. Saskatchewan and northern Ontario are catching up though. There are some offshore opportunities off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as well.


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## MrJones (Sep 2, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> British Columbia and Alberta are the biggest. Saskatchewan and northern Ontario are catching up though. There are some offshore opportunities off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as well.


Thanks.


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## pcbguy (Sep 5, 2014)

I saw a lot of openings in BC and AB. I know the AB process is a beast. The BC one looked a little easier. The money looks great up there for the remote work and a 2 week on 1 off or a 4/2 rotation is amazing after working over here for 3-4 months at a time. 

I'm going to go for the BC one and see where they place me with my education. I have a friend from TX that went up there to turn his paperwork in and got his temp license in about 3 weeks. Much quicker than mailing and taking months.


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## MedicDelta (Sep 27, 2014)

Are you an EMT-P? The Alberta College of Paramedics, which is the paramedic licensing body in Alberta like to make things really complicated. Alberta kinda has its own system too where it's different from the rest of Canada. What Medic Tim said about Ontario being the highest paying area in Canada for paramedics isn't true, maybe for an actual EMS agency. In the oilfield in Alberta as an ALS provider you can make $800 a day easy. In Nova Scotia, where I'm from its actually really easy for US EMT-Ps to transfer. Why do you want to go to Alberta? Is there a specific reason? I would almost suggest going to a province that makes it easier for US EMTs to transfer their license and then switching your license from set province to Alberta, which might be easier.


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## Medic Tim (Sep 27, 2014)

MedicDelta said:


> Are you an EMT-P? The Alberta College of Paramedics, which is the paramedic licensing body in Alberta like to make things really complicated. Alberta kinda has its own system too where it's different from the rest of Canada. What Medic Tim said about Ontario being the highest paying area in Canada for paramedics isn't true, maybe for an actual EMS agency. In the oilfield in Alberta as an ALS provider you can make $800 a day easy. In Nova Scotia, where I'm from its actually really easy for US EMT-Ps to transfer. Why do you want to go to Alberta? Is there a specific reason? I would almost suggest going to a province that makes it easier for US EMTs to transfer their license and then switching your license from set province to Alberta, which might be easier.


I was excluding industrial when I said Ontario was the highest paying. 

I am from the east coast and work in Alberta.  I have made between 600-800 a day plus flights, bonuses and benefits... Over the 2 years I have been in the patch. I have been fortunate to work in really busy to somewhat busy health clinics . I know of some medics who hate industrial and don't feel the extra money is worth it... I absolutely love it. Then again if I was sitting in a truck all day and not seeing any pts I would probably hate it as well.

I spoke to Pat at EHS not to long ago about the nremt p to acp. She told me they were changing the process. Not sure if they have yet.. Or actually will.


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## MedicDelta (Sep 27, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> I was excluding industrial when I said Ontario was the highest paying.
> 
> I am from the east coast and work in Alberta.  I have made between 600-800 a day plus flights, bonuses and benefits... Over the 2 years I have been in the patch.
> 
> I spoke to Pat at EHS not to long ago about the nremt p to acp. She told me they were changing the process. Not sure if they have yet.. Or actually will.


I thought so, my bad didn't mean to call you out or anything. Nothing has changed on the EHS website about it I know that, but that's it.


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## Medic Tim (Sep 27, 2014)

MedicDelta said:


> I thought so, my bad didn't mean to call you out or anything. Nothing has changed on the EHS website about it I know that, but that's it.


No worries. I transitioned from the USA into Canada .... Though the track I took was much easier than most as my USA program is recognized as equivalent to cma standards in a couple of provinces.


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## MedicDelta (Sep 27, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> No worries. I transitioned from the USA into Canada .... Though the track I took was much easier than most as my USA program is recognized as equivalent to cma standards in a couple of provinces.


That's interesting. Don't US paramedic courses now need to be recognized by some sort of governing body? I thought I heard something about that, can't remember what it was called though.


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## Medic Tim (Sep 27, 2014)

MedicDelta said:


> That's interesting. Don't US paramedic courses now need to be recognized by some sort of governing body? I thought I heard something about that, can't remember what it was called though.


Mine was through a US university and community college. I graduated with an applied science EMS degree. 

I believe all paramedic programs have to be affiliated to a community college or university now.... For NREMT. Not all states use the national standards though.


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## MedicDelta (Sep 27, 2014)

Medic Tim said:


> Mine was through a US university and community college. I graduated with an applied science EMS degree.
> 
> I believe all paramedic programs have to be affiliated to a community college or university now.... For NREMT. Not all states use the national standards though.


Yes things are quite different in the states since not every state uses the national standard. How did the course you took meet CMA standards?


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## pcbguy (Sep 27, 2014)

MedicDelta said:


> Are you an EMT-P? The Alberta College of Paramedics, which is the paramedic licensing body in Alberta like to make things really complicated. Alberta kinda has its own system too where it's different from the rest of Canada. What Medic Tim said about Ontario being the highest paying area in Canada for paramedics isn't true, maybe for an actual EMS agency. In the oilfield in Alberta as an ALS provider you can make $800 a day easy. In Nova Scotia, where I'm from its actually really easy for US EMT-Ps to transfer. Why do you want to go to Alberta? Is there a specific reason? I would almost suggest going to a province that makes it easier for US EMTs to transfer their license and then switching your license from set province to Alberta, which might be easier.



Yes I'm a NRP and have my FL license also. And my FP-C and soon CCP-C. I noticed that the system is very different up there and Alberta seems to be the toughest to get licensed in. I was thinking of going to BC and getting licensed there first then seeing about transferring to AB. 

As for why..... I've been working remote contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last 4 years. I know overall the oil fields won't pay the same but it would be nice to make that kind of money without someone trying to shoot you or blow you up. Also be nice to be home every 4 weeks instead of every 4 months.  I think there were some positions in BC that were around $600/day. 





MedicDelta said:


> That's interesting. Don't US paramedic courses now need to be recognized by some sort of governing body? I thought I heard something about that, can't remember what it was called though.



All programs are required to teach the US DOT standards(yes Dept of Transportation, long story). And there are national standards put out by the National Registry but no state is required to use those standards. In most states the standards are about the same. There is some minor discrepancies when it comes to skills and procedures allowed by ALS providers and some states have adopted a critical care level of licensure. 

So for the most part the skills and standards are similar but there is no governing body that oversees it all. 


Thanks for the info Medic Tim!


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## Medic Tim (Sep 27, 2014)

The program was audited by my provinces licensing agency, it met or exceeded the NOCP and cma standards. The  province and school have an agreement. That said we had to do extra work that the US students didn't have to do.


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## pcbguy (Sep 28, 2014)

C


Medic Tim said:


> The program was audited by my provinces licensing agency, it met or exceeded the NOCP and cma standards. The  province and school have an agreement. That said we had to do extra work that the US students didn't have to do.




Can I ask what program you went to? If you didn't already post it.


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## MontrealMedic (Oct 19, 2022)

Hi, guys,
a friend of mine has just passed the paramedic certification in NY and he wants to move to Montreal (he's a Canadian citizen), has anyone any experience on how to convert it, or if it is even possible?
I see some discussions about it but they're all very old ones, does anyone had any recent experience?


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## ExpatMedic0 (Dec 9, 2022)

MontrealMedic said:


> Hi, guys,
> a friend of mine has just passed the paramedic certification in NY and he wants to move to Montreal (he's a Canadian citizen), has anyone any experience on how to convert it, or if it is even possible?
> I see some discussions about it but they're all very old ones, does anyone had any recent experience?


Holy smokes this was an old thread! Also I see your reply is from October and I'm now responding to this in December so apologies.
I'm a U.S. paramedic who successfully filed reciprocity into Canada. I'm now living and working in Vancouver BC as an Advanced Care Paramedic. The process took me about a year for licensure reciprocity and was not to difficult. I strongly recommend you check out this guy's website. I followed it exactly and it worked.


			http://www.internationalparamedicsbc.com/
		

Unfortunately I have no information on other Canadian provinces, only BC. The COPR part should be the same though. Immigration is what really takes a long time to process 1-2 years possibly 3+ depending on your stream. Luckily your friend is a citizen and does.not have to worry about that part


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