Medical colleges will retain responsibility for determining whether IMGs’ qualifications are comparable to Australian standards for now, a government-commissioned review has recommended.

In April an interim report on IMG bureaucracy recommended equivalence testing be transferred to the Australian Medical Council (AMC), with the colleges relegated to an advisory role.

But the final version, released last week, instead recommends the AMC only take over if the medical colleges fail to meet agreed timelines for expanding and streamlining their expedited pathways.

The decision was based on feedback from the medical colleges that transferring assessments to the AMC would likely increase red tape, IMG costs and time frames, the final report says.