If you search for the match rate for Canadians who study abroad, you will find a lot of confident numbers and almost none of them come from CaRMS.
The reason is simple. CaRMS publishes results for international medical graduates as one group. It does not publish a separate line for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who studied abroad. We looked for it in the 2026 data snapshot and it is not there. [1] Anyone quoting you a precise “Canadians abroad” match rate is working from a school’s own alumni data, a survey, or a guess.
So this article does the unglamorous thing. It shows what CaRMS actually published, explains what the numbers can and cannot tell you, and leaves the conclusions to you.
What CaRMS Published for 2026
In the 2026 R-1 match, 931 international medical graduates matched, up from 851 in 2025 and 671 in 2024. CaRMS called the increase significant. [2] Overall, 3,922 of 4,103 positions were filled, which CaRMS describes as the highest number ever. [2]
The more detailed first-iteration snapshot splits IMGs into two groups, and the split matters a great deal. Of 263 IMGs who graduated in the current year, 212 matched, a rate of 80.6%. Of 1,231 IMGs who graduated in a previous year, 588 matched, a rate of 47.8%. For comparison, Canadian medical graduates from the current year matched at 92.8% in the first iteration. [1]
In the second iteration, the current-year IMG rate was 33.3% and the previous-year IMG rate was 13.4%. [1]
How to Read the Gap Between the Two IMG Groups
The first thing we noticed is that the group applying in their graduating year does far better than the group applying after graduation. A rate of 80.6% against 47.8% is a very wide gap.
We do not know why from this data, and we would be wary of anyone who says they do. It could reflect differences in who applies, how many programs they target, timing of exams, or how many are applying a second or third time. The snapshot does not break it down.
What it does suggest, carefully, is that the timing of your application is worth taking seriously. The current-year group is the closest thing to a clean “first attempt” in the table. But we are drawing a loose reading from a table that was not designed to answer the question.
What the Numbers Do Not Tell You
The IMG category includes everyone who did not graduate from a Canadian medical school. That is Canadians who went abroad, but it is also people who trained and practised in other countries and are immigrating. Their circumstances, exam histories and applications can be quite different from a 24-year-old graduate of an Irish school.
The snapshot also does not report how many IMGs ranked, how many positions were designated for IMGs, or results by province. [1] Some provinces run separate IMG streams with their own positions, so a national rate hides a lot of variation.
There is another limit. A match rate counts people who applied. It does not count people who wanted to apply and did not finish because of verification delays, missing exams or cost. We would guess that a meaningful number of students quietly drop out of the process before it ever shows up in a percentage, but we have no data on that, and we are labelling it as a guess.
The Position Side
The other half of the picture is how many positions exist. In 2026 there were 4,103 positions in total, 74 of them Quebec particular-stream positions added for the second iteration. Family Medicine accounted for 139 of the 181 positions left unfilled. [2]
The number of IMGs matching has grown for two years running. That is encouraging. It is also one data point on a trend, and provincial policy, funding and the growing number of Canadians studying abroad could all move it either way.
Why We Are Not Giving You a Number
We could pick a figure from the table above and attach it to a headline. It would get clicks. It would also be misleading, because the figure would describe a mixed group of applicants and not the specific person reading it.
What we would do instead is use the data to ask better questions. Which of the two IMG groups will I be in? Which provinces have an IMG stream I qualify for? How many programs can I realistically apply to, given the fees? What is my backup if the match does not work, and does it involve the United States?
The Bottom Line
CaRMS published that 931 IMGs matched in 2026, with first-iteration match rates of 80.6% for current-year IMG graduates and 47.8% for those who graduated earlier. It does not publish a rate for Canadians who studied abroad as a separate group.
Read the numbers as a map of the terrain, not a prediction. If you want the official tables, they are on the CaRMS site, and we link them below. We keep a list of the sources we trust on our Resources page.
References
- CaRMS. (2026, April 21). 2026 R-1 data snapshot. https://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2026-R-1-data-snapshot.pdf
- CaRMS. (2026). 2026 R-1 Main Residency Match results released. https://www.carms.ca/news/2026-r-1-main-residency-match-results-released/