Before you even begin...

Back in the day, when I first started this blog, I used to get dozens of emails a day about all sorts of things relating to the FPGEE®, and becoming a US pharmacist in general. Now, all these years later, having kept the site up and running, I almost only ever get one question - I have passed the FPGEE® and got my certificate but can you help me find a sponsor. That means, basically, that you have done all the hard work for absolutely nothing. And there are thousands out there just like you. The US pharmacy market is slowly getting saturated (it is not quite, but it is getting that way ) but I think the truth is that US employers don't want to import foreign pharmacy grads anymore for financial reasons (it costs a lot to get them through the legal processes involved at every step) plus of course in most areas these days there are sufficient US pharmacy grads to fill the needs of the nation. Not an excess, but enough. So should you still want to go through all this effort firstly know and understand that unless you already hold a green card (which completely changes everything) the chances of you actually finding a sponsor for an H1b Visa after you have passed the FPGEE® and TOEFL® and got your FPGEC® certificate in hand, are now a tiny fraction of what the situation was prior to 2008 when I moved to the US. Reduction in the FPGEE Examinees and the Pass Rate Three thousand forty-five applicants sat for the FPGEE in 2008, a decrease of 20.7% compared to the 3,841 applicants who sat for the examination in 2007. Moreover, the number of applicants who took the examination in 2009 was 2017, which reflects a reduction of 33.8% from 2008. This decrease may be the result of 1 or more of the following reasons: (1) the FPGEC® requirement that internationally educated pharmacists earn their professional degrees from 5-year curriculum programs, (2) the difficulty of obtaining a visa, and (3) the decrease in recruiting of international pharmacists by chain pharmacies as the pharmacist shortage in the United States has leveled off. It gets pretty hard to find the numbers of exam takers after 2009, but from the 2013 annual report of the treasurer of the NABP there was this little snippet: The Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination® (FPGEE®) saw a decrease in activity compared with 2011. There was a 14.6% decrease in FPGEE administrations. The FPGEE was administered in the fall and spring of 2012, with a total of over 1,690 exams in 2012, versus 1,980 exams in 2011. So from the heights of around 4000 exam takers around 2008 the numbers have consistently dropped to just 1690 taking it in 2012. Generally half of whom are retaking the test. In addition both the TOEFL® and FPGEE® can now ONLY be taken in the US, and the cost to sit the FPGEE alone is over $1200 without the expense of getting to America. The TOEFL® varies by location but is around $185 and is often the hardest exam for many foreign pharmacy graduates to pass (the spoken section in particular) which many have to re-take again and again until the finally reach the grade required. Now, as I said, I am still contacted by people every so often seeking my advice (99% for either finding a sponsor or tips on passing the Naplex - both of which I have posted in these blogs so go search them out). But for those of you thinking of starting along this path of great expense I just wanted to make it absolutely clear to you, right from the start, although you may be successful, you may absolutely be about to waste an awful lot of time and a great deal of money, for absolutely nothing. Now if that didn't put you off, please continue and enjoy the story of my roller coaster ride...