Pharmacist migrating from India to USA.

Steps for an Indian pharmacist to become a US pharmacist…

1. Recognition of equivalence – apply to Education Credential Evaluators (ECE) to look over your foreign qualification (you can send you PharmD transcripts direct from India). Once they give you the green light you can then go and sit the equivalency exams.
2. Obtain a work visa – if you have a spouse in the US you can skip this section! Granted by the UK 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. Within this visa application period, you should pass the following exams…
3. Take the TOEFL Exam – this is an English proficiency exam which you will need to take to prove that you are competent in speaking technical English.
4. Take the FPGEE Exam – Apply to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to start the Foreign Pharmacy Graduates Equivalency Committee certification process.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Obtain professional liability insurance – one of the most commonly used is the HPSO which has links to the American Pharmacist Association (APhA).
9. 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.