You are an APC registered pharmacists from Australia looking to move and practice as a licensed pharmacist in the US.
Steps for a pharmacist to become a US pharmacist…
- Timeline – from our experience working with Australian pharmacists moving to the US the process takes around two years, this includes an internship.
- Recognition of equivalence – apply to Education Credential Evaluators (ECE) to look over your foreign qualification (you can send your Pharmacy Degree transcripts direct from wherever you live). A bottleneck here for Australian immigrants is that some pharmacists still have a Bachelors of pharmacy whereas others have a Masters of Pharmacy, the former can delay the process more than the latter as the US equivalent is a Doctorate. Once they give you the green light you can then go and sit the equivalency exams. The main documents they ask for are:
- official university transcript
- proof of degree
- proof of A-Levels (or equivalent). The difference between the US and UK pharmacy programmes is a six-year (doctoral) degree, versus the UK’s five-year (master’s) degree. A-Levels (or equivalent) are considered similar to some US foundation-year undergraduate courses.
- Remember: Every application is considered on an individual basis and, as well as proof of my A-level results, I also submitted evidence of my postgraduate diploma as further support. It is worth checking with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) in advance to see what it recommends (NB: the only way to communicate with it is in writing or by fax).
- Obtain a work visa – if you have a spouse in the US you can skip this section! Granted by the Australian section of the US embassy, in most cases, a job offer from a U.S. based employer (see: list of US pharmacy employers) is required in order to qualify for a visa, so your first step here would be to find a pharmacy that is willing to employ you in the US.
- Take the TOEFL Exam – this is an English proficiency exam that you will need to take to prove that you are competent in speaking technical English.
- Take the FPGEE Exam – Apply to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to start the Foreign Pharmacy Graduates Equivalency Committee certification process.
- Start your Internship – register as a pharmacy intern with the state board of pharmacy and start recording hours. You will then need to submit records of internship hours to the state board of pharmacy/PCS once completed. The length of internships depends on which state you would like to migrate to. For instance in Maryland the internship time requirement is a flat 1500 hours, whereas in Washington state the hours titrate up dependent on your FPGEE Score i.e. if you score 75-90, you will need to have at least 1200 hours earned prior to the NPLEX/MPJE examinations, whereas if you score between 91-105 1000 – you will only need at least 800 hours. Alternatively, some students who find it difficult to secure a pharmacist internship will often work part-time as a technician to get their skill levels up.
- Take the NAPLEX Exam – once your internship is approved, you will need to take this national clinical competency exam which will cover you for all states.
- Take the MJP Exam – 49 states require you to take the Multi-State Jurisprudence exam however some, more popular destinations, such as California require you to take a state-specific exam such as the CPJ Exam. Each pharmacist which takes the exam gets 5 attempts.
- Obtain professional liability insurance – one of the most commonly used is the HPSO which has links to the American Pharmacist Association (APhA).
- Add your suffix – “RPh”, which stands for “registered pharmacist”, can be used by anyone who has completed the licensure requirements and is currently registered to practice.