International Visiting Medical Students (Non-U.S. and Canadian medical schools)

Legal restrictions of the UWSOM limit the number of international students who may enroll as visiting students. For this reason, and others related to immigration law and malpractice insurance, the Office of Academic Affairs closely monitors the policies and procedures set forth below.

At this time, it is the policy of the UWSOM not to accept international medical students for visiting elective clinical course work, except at the special request of a UWSOM faculty member who wishes to sponsor the international student and arrange the clinical rotations for the student. Without an approved sponsor, international medical students may not apply for elective clinical course work.

Typically, such sponsorship by faculty is based on a pre-existing relationship with the student (students who do not currently have a pre-existing relationship with a UWSOM faculty member are discouraged from soliciting faculty for sponsorship).

Note regarding students from Canadian medical schools:

In March 2021, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) jointly agreed that the LCME will no longer accredit Canadian medical schools. This change went into effect as of July 1, 2025.  Since the LCME is no longer accrediting Canadian medical schools, students from Canadian schools will need to apply through the international visiting student program.