Most eligibility guides tell you to check that your medical school is recognised. That is one third of the check, and it is the third that rarely fails. The AMC assesses your school, your degree title and your year of graduation as three separate conditions, and a candidate can clear the first two and be stopped by the third.
First, confirm the Standard pathway is yours
The AMC runs several pathways and it only assesses one of them. Getting this wrong costs months, because the paperwork routes differently from the start.
| Pathway | Who it is for | What the AMC does |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | General registration, with an eligible degree, title and graduating year | Runs the MCQ, the clinical exam and WBA |
| Competent Authority | Those the Medical Board has confirmed eligible | Verification only, no assessment |
| Specialist | Specialist IMGs, area of need, short-term training | Not responsible for eligibility or assessment |
Read the middle row carefully. On the Competent Authority pathway the AMC verifies your credentials and does nothing else, and it is the Medical Board of Australia that decides whether you qualify for it. If you trained in one of the countries that pathway recognises, ask the Board before you buy anything from the AMC. You may not need the MCQ at all.
One more boundary worth knowing on day one: the AMC does not grant registration. It says so plainly, and candidates still email it about registration decisions for months. Registration is the Medical Board's function. The AMC issues the certificate that supports your application; the Board decides what happens next.
The eligibility test has three parts, and all three must pass
The AMC uses the World Directory of Medical Schools as its primary source for which schools exist, when they operated and what they awarded. Its requirements are aligned to the sponsor note that ECFMG publishes inside that directory. So the directory is not a courtesy list. It is the test.
- Your medical school must be listed in WDoMS and must meet the ECFMG sponsor note requirements. Search by the country where you obtained the degree.
- Your degree title must appear in the school's program details, matching ECFMG's reference guide for medical education credentials. A degree awarded under a title the directory does not list for that school is the second failure point.
- Your graduation year must fall inside the listed graduation years for that school and program. This is the one that catches people.
Do all three in the same sitting, on the school's own WDoMS entry, using the program details and sponsor note tabs. Screenshot what you find. If the directory and your certificate disagree about your degree title, resolve it with your medical school before you open an AMC account, because the AMC will assess what the directory says.
Why the graduation year fails people
Schools change. Programs are renamed, campuses open and close, and a sponsor note lists the years for which a specific program was covered. A school that is listed today may not have its listing extended back to the year you graduated, and a program that ran under one title until 2015 may appear under a different one afterwards.
If your year is not in the listed range, that is not automatically the end. It is a question for your medical school and for ECFMG, because the directory entry is maintained from information the school supplies. Raise it with the school first and ask them to correct or extend the entry. Do not pay the AMC's portfolio fee while this is unresolved: once an ECFMG verification status is processed against your application, the AMC's refund drops to nothing.
Verification moved from EPIC to MyIntealth
Every international medical graduate has to have their qualification verified at source, and the platform changed. The AMC routes primary source verification through ECFMG's MyIntealth service. A great deal of advice online still says EPIC, including pages that otherwise look current.
What that means in practice:
- An existing EICS or EPIC verification still counts. You do not repeat it. If you verified for another jurisdiction years ago, check before paying again.
- Verify your final medical diploma if you have it. You may submit a final transcript or an alternate graduation document instead, and it will be accepted for AMC purposes. The catch arrives later: the Medical Board may require the diploma at registration, and then you pay both ECFMG and the AMC a second time.
- ECFMG bills you separately. Verification sits outside your AMC fees. Our guide to what the AMC pathway costs sets out where the AMC's charges end and everyone else's begin.
The order to do this in
Sequence matters here more than speed, because two of these steps are difficult to undo.
| Step | Do this | Why in this order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm your pathway with the Medical Board if there is any chance you are Competent Authority | You may not need the MCQ |
| 2 | Check school, degree title and graduation year in WDoMS | Free, and the only real gate |
| 3 | Resolve any directory mismatch with your school | Before money is unrecoverable |
| 4 | Create your AMC account and portfolio | $642, refundable until assessed |
| 5 | Start ECFMG verification through MyIntealth | Slowest step, start it early |
| 6 | Buy the MCQ authorisation when preparation is underway | A 12-month window to schedule |
Step 5 is the one to start before you feel ready. Verification depends on your medical school replying to ECFMG, and you control neither the queue nor the school's admin office. Step 6 is the one to delay. The AMC says the authorisation is valid for 12 months in which to schedule an examination event, and its page does not state which date starts that 12 months, so confirm the expiry shown in your own AMC account before you plan around it. We explain how to time the purchase in our guide to choosing your AMC exam date.
English proficiency is the Board's requirement, not the AMC's
Candidates routinely look for the English requirement on the AMC's site and conclude there isn't one. There is, and it belongs to the Medical Board of Australia, whose registration standards page lists the English Language Skills Registration Standard alongside the other mandatory standards, each with its own date of effect. The AMC does not administer it and cannot waive it.
Read that standard on the Board's own site before you trust any summary of it, this one included. The Board points to Ahpra for the working detail, and Ahpra's English language skills page states that changes to the minimum scores required are in effect from 23 April 2026. Both pages said so when we read them on 14 August 2026. So a score that cleared the standard for someone who applied earlier tells you nothing reliable about yours, and the accepted tests and the evidence rules are worth reading in full before you book a sitting.
Sources checked
Pathway definitions and the AMC's role were read on 14 August 2026 from the AMC's assessment pathways and Standard pathway pages. The three-part eligibility test comes from the AMC's page on eligible medical schools, degrees and graduation years, and verification requirements from its primary source verification page. Fees quoted are from the AMC's fees and charges page. English language requirements belong to the Medical Board of Australia: its registration standards page and Ahpra's English language skills page were both read on 14 August 2026. We do not reproduce the accepted tests or the minimum scores here, because those scores changed on 23 April 2026 and only the Board's and Ahpra's own pages are current on the day you apply. StudyRise is an independent study-planning tool and is not affiliated with the AMC, Ahpra or the Medical Board. The ordering advice in this guide is StudyRise editorial judgement; the eligibility conditions are the AMC's.