One application. Verified once. Ready for any program.

Your tier is determined at intake based on your declared citizenship and residence history. If you have resided exclusively in the United States for the prior seven years, the Standard tier ($550) applies. If you have resided outside the United States at any point in the prior seven years — which includes the country where you attended medical school — the Extended tier ($850) applies. The applicable tier and fee are disclosed to you before payment is collected, so there are no surprises. The vast majority of international medical graduates applying for U.S. observerships will fall into the Extended tier.

Most Verified Applications are issued within ten to fifteen business days of completed submission. Edge cases — unusual diploma formats, ambiguous immunization records, or documents requiring translation — may take longer and are flagged for human review with status updates.

When you're ready to start contacting programs. Your Verified Application is valid for twelve months from issuance, and TB screening needs to fall within twelve months of your planned observership start. If a document ages out while your application is valid — TB screening or immunizations, for example — or you want to add a letter, you can update it and have the application re-issued at no additional charge.

No. Documents in languages other than English must be accompanied by a certified translation. The platform will identify which documents require translation during the application process. Translation is the applicant's responsibility; verification of translated documents is included in the application fee.

You can update specific fields — new examination scores, additional letters of recommendation, refreshed background checks — without redoing the entire application. Updates trigger a re-issuance of the Verified Application with a new timestamp at no additional cost during the twelve-month validity period.

The application fee is collected when you submit your application, before verification begins. If USClinX cannot complete verification for reasons attributable to us, you receive a full refund. If verification work has begun — for example, a background screening order has been initiated — and the application cannot proceed to issuance, a partial fee may apply reflecting costs already incurred; any partial fee is disclosed to you before it is charged. The full refund policy is set out in the Terms of Service.

No. USClinX is not a placement service and does not match applicants to physicians or programs. We provide the verified application that programs accept; admissions and placement decisions are made independently by each program.

Background screening is one part of the Verified Application packet. The screening is completed through GBS or another third-party provider after you provide authorization. USClinX does not decide whether your background screening qualifies you for a specific observership. Each program independently reviews your materials and decides whether you meet its requirements.

USClinX provides the current list of participating programs when your Verified Application is issued, and confirms at any time whether a specific program accepts the standard — just ask at applicants@usclinx.com. The list is growing as programs adopt; adoption began with the founding program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. An in-platform program directory is planned for a future release. You can also share your Verified Application with any program you contact, whether or not it has adopted the standard — see Ready Before You Reach Out.

The full Verification Methodology is published as a PDF and reviewable by anyone. It describes the standards for each verified element — credentials, examinations, immunizations, background screening, liability coverage, and application materials — along with the methods used and the lifecycle of a Verified Application. Download the Verification Methodology v1.5 (PDF).