Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 1 © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav journals.sagepub.com/home/anp Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 00(0) International medical graduates: From America to ‘down under’ Tamoor Mirza 1 and Muhammad Hassan Majeed 2 1 headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program, headspace Darwin, Casuarina, NT, Australia 2 Natchaug Hospital, Mansfield Center, CT, USA Corresponding author: Tamoor Mirza, headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program, headspace Darwin, Casuarina, NT 0810, Australia. Email: tmirza@anglicare-nt.org.au DOI: 10.1177/0004867417744257 To the Editor ‘Tam, what do I need to do to move to Australia? I am an American Board-certified psychiatrist’, a longtime friend and now a practicing psychiatrist in the United States asked me frantically on the phone. I was shocked at first to receive several such inquiries from visa-requir- ing International Medical Graduates (IMGs) serving in the United States. Since Donald Trump was sworn in as America’s 45th president, IMGs in the United States are feeling on edge as clouds of uncertainty loom over their future. Trump’s travel ban and recent travel restrictions have blocked travel and stay for hundreds of IMGs, from the banned country list, in the United States (Majeed et al., 2017). The United States, like Australia and New Zealand, is heavily reliant on International Medical Graduates for its health care system. Most of these immigrant doctors, who have gone to America for training, stay on and work in the United States on J-1 or H1-B visas but remain a citizen of the country of their origin (Majeed and Saeed, 2017). Many of these IMGs are contem- plating making a move to Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom. They are especially interested in exploring the ‘specialist pathway’ in Australia because of this country’s welcoming immigration policy, arguably better lifestyle, attractive wages, Medicare benefits and a truly diverse multicul- tural society. The ‘specialist pathway’ is for overseas-trained specialists seeking registration in Australia or who are applying for one of its area- of-need positions. There are about 3650 psychiatrists registered in Australia, many of whom obtained their primary medical degree overseas (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency [AHPRA], 2017). The Medical Board of Australia report in 2016 indicated that 25 IMGs, immi- grating to Australia, had obtained their specialist qualification in the United States. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) has so far awarded 28 psy- chiatry fellowships to IMGs through the ‘specialist pathway’, including one psychiatrist trained in America (Medical Board of Australia, 2017). It will be interesting to see if more US trained psychiatrists apply to the ‘specialist pathway’ in the near future and how it will affect the job situation ‘down under’. America’s brain drain could be Australia’s gain. RANZCP should be prepared to seize this opportunity that could strengthen psychiatry practice in Australia by increasing diversity, bringing knowl- edge and cross-cultural experiences from around the world. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) received no financial sup- port for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. References Majeed MH, Ali AA and Sudak DM (2017) International medical graduates and American psychiatry: The past, present, and future. Academic Psychiatry. Epub ahead of print 13 July. DOI: 10.1007/s40596-017-0762-9. Majeed MH and Saeed F (2017) Denying visas to doctors in the United States. The New England Journal of Medicine 376: 889–890. Medical Board of Australia (2017) Report on Specialist medical colleges specialist pathway data 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2016. Available from: http:// www.medicalboard.gov.au/News/Statistics.aspx Letter 744257ANP 0 0 10.1177/0004867417744257ANZJP CorrespondenceANZJP Correspondence research-article 2017 Letter