Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates

Instructions for Submitting a CGS

A Certificate or Letter of Good Standing (CGS) confirms that you currently hold or previously held a license/registration to practice your health care profession in good standing from your country of graduation or practice location. If the organization to which you are applying for registration requires primary-source verification of your CGS through our Credential Verification for Health Professionals (CVHP) service, please follow the instructions outlined below.

Please note: A CGS must have been issued within 90 days of the date you apply to a CVHP Partner Organization. If this requirement is not met, you will need to request a new CGS.

There are two options for providing your CGS for verification.

Option 1: Regulatory Authority Provides CGS Directly to ECFMG

Request the appropriate regulatory authority in the location where you are or were licensed to send confirmation of your good standing to ECFMG via e-mail at [email protected] or by mail to:

     ECFMG, Attn: CVHP
     3624 Market Street
     Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
Complete the Notification of Certificate/Letter of Good Standing Request and upload it to your CVHP account as credential type “other”, selecting the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying to receive the Verification Status Report once verified.

Under Option 1, the CGS must be sent to ECFMG directly by the appropriate authority and demonstrate that you are or were licensed in good standing. If this requirement is not met, you will need to request a new CGS. Once we receive confirmation of your good standing, we will use this confirmation to complete your verification request and report on your good standing to the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying.

Option 2: You Provide Your CGS to ECFMG for Verification

Request the appropriate regulatory authority in the location where you are or were licensed to provide you with a CGS.
Upload the CGS (and an English translation that meets ECFMG’s translation requirements noted below, if the CGS is not in English) to your CVHP account as a credential type “other”, and select the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying to receive the Verification Status Report once the CGS is verified.

After you upload the CGS, ECFMG will primary-source verify it with the issuing authority to complete your verification request and send a report on your good standing to the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying.

If the regulatory authority will not send confirmation of good standing directly to ECFMG or to you, or if there is no regulatory authority in your country, please contact us at [email protected] for assistance. Please include the name of the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying and your CVHP ID number in the e-mail’s subject line.

Note for a CGS issued to ECFMG in a language other than English: Any document that you submit to ECFMG that is not in English must be accompanied by an English translation that meets ECFMG’s translation requirements. See English Translations in the Resources section of the ECFMG website for translation requirements and information on ECFMG’s recommended translation service, Straker Translations. A translation must be uploaded as a PDF file. If your CGS is in a language other than English, and an acceptable English translation was not included with your CGS in the correspondence from the regulatory authority, we will obtain an acceptable translation from Straker Translations. You are responsible for payment of the Straker translation fee.

To submit payment to Straker Translations so that ECMFG may obtain a translation of your CGS, you must follow these steps:

Grant permission for ECFMG to share your e-mail address with Straker Translations.
If we send your CGS to Straker for translation, we will contact you to request your permission to share your e-mail address with Straker so Straker can provide you with an invoice for the translation fee(s). After you grant permission to share your e-mail address with Straker, we will provide it to Straker.
Monitor your e-mail for the invoice from Straker Translations.
Once Straker receives your e-mail address from ECFMG and completes the translation of your CGS, Straker will send the invoice for the translation fee(s) directly to your e-mail address, along with instructions on how to submit payment.
Submit payment to Straker Translations for the translation fee(s).
After you submit payment to Straker Translations, your CGS translation will be released to ECFMG. We will then be able to evaluate your CGS with the translation. If the documents are acceptable, we will share the CGS verification report with the CVHP Partner Organization to which you are applying. Straker also will provide you with a copy of the CGS translation via e-mail for your records.

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[Last update: April 11, 2025]