Before You Can Book the AMC MCQ: The EPIC Portfolio, Decoded

You cannot pay for AMC CAT MCQ authorisation until the AMC has a verification status on your medical degree. That status comes from ECFMG in Philadelphia — not from the AMC — via an EPIC Report that depends entirely on how quickly your medical school answers an email.

The exam is the part you can study for. This is the part you can only plan for.

Key takeaways

• There are two portfolios: AMC (candidacy and exam authorisation) and EPIC (primary source verification of your degree). They are not the same thing.
• Order matters. Do steps out of sequence and you lose weeks; some fees are non-refundable once verification is processed.
• For the Standard Pathway, verify only your Final Medical Diploma. Don't pay to verify postgraduate qualifications you don't need for MCQ.
• Expected total to sit the MCQ once: USD 255 + AUD 3,562, roughly AUD 3,950–4,000. Budget as if refunds don't exist.
• You do not need your degree apostilled, embassy-stamped, or notarised. The one notarised document is the Intealth Identification Form, via NotaryCam.
• ECFMG's own handling is about three weeks. Your medical school is the variable — plan 6–10 weeks if they're responsive, three months or more if they aren't.

Two portfolios, two organisations

The single most common source of confusion is that there are two portfolios, and they are not the same thing.

The AMC does not contact your university. ECFMG does, on the AMC's behalf, and sends back an EPIC Report. Your AMC portfolio is where that report lands.

The sequence

Order matters here more than in almost any other part of the pathway. Doing steps out of order costs weeks, and some fees are non-refundable once verification has been processed.

1. Check your school is recognised. Use the AMC's Self-check of Eligible Schools before you spend anything. If your school, degree, or graduation year isn't listed, nothing downstream works.
2. Establish a MyIntealth account and confirm your identity. This includes the notarisation step (below). You are not fully established until you have a valid Intealth Identification Form (IIF) on file and a MyIntealth ID.
3. Request an EPIC Portfolio inside MyIntealth (Services → EPIC → Credential Verification → Establish EPIC Portfolio). Select the Australian Medical Council as the organisation you're applying to.
4. Upload your Final Medical Diploma and nominate the AMC to receive an EPIC Report at the moment of upload. Miss this and you'll have to request the report manually later — an avoidable delay.
5. Establish your AMC portfolio. ECFMG's published order puts this at step 6, but there's no harm in opening the AMC account earlier so your AMC number is on hand. What matters is that it exists before your reports arrive.
6. Wait for verification. ECFMG writes to your medical school; your school replies; ECFMG reviews the reply.
7. Apply for MCQ authorisation, then schedule at a Pearson VUE centre.

For the Standard Pathway, only one credential needs verifying: your Final Medical Diploma (MBBS or equivalent). Postgraduate qualifications are a Specialist pathway requirement, not an MCQ requirement. Don't pay to verify things you don't need.

Two related traps: verification of a medical registration certificate or licence to practise will not substitute for verification of your degree, and a Certificate of Good Standing must be sent directly to the Medical Board of Australia by the issuing authority — EPIC cannot do this for you.

What it costs

ECFMG side (USD):

AMC side (AUD, GST-free, plus 0.96% card surcharge):

Expected total to sit the MCQ once: USD 255 + AUD 3,562, or roughly AUD 3,950–4,000 all-in at current exchange rates. Two things can push it higher: some universities charge their own verification fee (ECFMG may pay it and bill it back to your account), and if you submit a transcript or alternate graduation document instead of the diploma itself, the Medical Board of Australia may later require the actual diploma verified — a second round of fees from both organisations.

On refunds, budget as if there are none. The AMC gives a full refund only if your application hasn't been assessed yet, 50% if assessed but no ECFMG verification status has come through, and nothing once a verification status is processed. MCQ authorisation cancellations recover 75% within a month of payment and 50% after that. Non-attendance recovers nothing, and the authorisation is consumed.

Also worth knowing: MCQ authorisation covers a 12-month window and one exam event. Don't pay for it until you're confident you'll be ready to sit within the year.

Degree certification: what "verification" actually means

There is a persistent myth that you need your degree attested by your foreign ministry, apostilled, or stamped by an embassy before EPIC will accept it. For the AMC pathway, you do not.

Primary source verification means ECFMG goes directly to the awarding institution and asks them to confirm the document is genuine. What you provide is a clear, full-colour scan. The authenticity chain runs through your university, not through a notary or a consulate.

Practical points:

• Non-English documents. If your school returns a verification that isn't in English and doesn't include an acceptable translation, ECFMG arranges its own — adding 5–10 business days.
• Names must match. Your name in MyIntealth must match your passport exactly. A mismatch anywhere across passport, degree, AMC account, and Pearson VUE booking is the classic cause of last-minute exam-day problems. Where your degree carries a different name — marriage, transliteration, initials expanded — sort the evidence out early. The AMC accepts a statutory declaration with an eligible witness for name and signature differences.
• Institutions are the bottleneck. ECFMG makes up to four verification attempts per credential. Whether your school answers in three weeks or seven months is outside everyone's control. The AMC has publicly flagged PSV delays for some countries.

The notarisation step: NotaryCam, not your local notary

This is the one genuinely notarised document in the process, and it isn't your degree — it's your Intealth Identification Form (IIF).

How it works: once your initial account request has been processed, you return to MyIntealth, review your personalised IIF, and release it for notarisation by NotaryCam — a live online session with a licensed US notary. It's included in the USD 110 account fee. No local notary, no courier, no physical stamp.

You have six months from the date your IIF is created to complete the session. Miss the window and the form is void; you'll need to submit a new photo and start that step again.

Photograph requirements — front-facing, full face centred, natural expression, eyes open, colour, plain light background, taken within the last six months, JPG, 1 MB or less. Selfies, group shots, and busy or dark backgrounds get rejected.

Passport requirements — current and unexpired; full-colour scan at actual size; the name-and-photo page; the expiry date and the Latin-character section (upload additional pages if these aren't on the main page); the machine-readable zone completely unobstructed; JPG, 3 MB or less. If the details you type don't match the passport, ECFMG changes your record to match the passport — not the other way around.

The AMC's own identity requirements are separate and lighter: a good-quality current photo and a copy of your passport identification page(s), including the signature page and any page showing your name in full. Uploads, not certified copies.

Realistic timeline

ECFMG's published standard processing times are the fast, predictable part:

• Account establishment request: 3 business days
• Review of completed IIF: 1 business day
• EPIC credential verification request (review and send to institution): 5 business days
• Returned verification review: 5 business days
• EPIC Report to the AMC: usually within an hour, up to 5 business days
• Previously verified credentials added to a new EPIC portfolio: about 10 business days
• AMC initial portfolio review: 5 AMC business days; allow 3–5 more for the AMC to update its qualifications portal after a report arrives

Add it up and ECFMG's own handling is roughly three weeks. Your medical school is the variable. Expect around 6–10 weeks end to end if your institution is responsive; plan for three months or more if it isn't. Start the moment you've decided to apply — every other part of this pathway can be done in parallel with waiting, including studying.

Pre-flight checklist

• School, degree, and graduation year confirmed on the AMC self-check
• Passport current, unexpired, and valid well past your intended exam date
• Compliant photo taken within the last six months (JPG, ≤1 MB)
• Passport scan: colour, actual size, MRZ visible, expiry included (JPG, ≤3 MB)
• Name identical across passport, MyIntealth, AMC account — evidence ready for any difference
• NotaryCam session booked well inside the six-month IIF window
• AMC nominated as EPIC Report recipient at upload, not afterwards
• Only the credentials you actually need submitted for verification
• University contacted directly to ask whether they charge a verification fee and who handles such requests

The exam is hard. The paperwork is only expensive and slow — and unlike the exam, it rewards nothing but starting early and reading carefully.

Sources

All fees and processing times verified August 2026. Both organisations change fees without notice — confirm before paying.

• AMC, Fees and charges
• AMC, How to apply — AMC account and portfolio
• AMC, Identification requirements
• AMC, Primary source verification
• ECFMG, Special Instructions for Physicians Applying to Practice in Australia
• ECFMG, EPIC Fees and Payment
• ECFMG, MyIntealth Applicant Account Establishment & Identity Verification
• ECFMG, Standard Processing Time by Service