SOAP for IMGs 2027: Eligibility, Visas and Odds

SOAP for IMGs 2027: Eligibility, Visas and Odds

Yes, IMGs can use SOAP if they are registered for the Match, verified as eligible to start training on July 1, 2027, and unmatched or partially matched on Monday, March 15, 2027. For IMGs, verification means the ECFMG checks NRMP runs before 9 p.m. ET on March 3, 2027.

SOAP is a long shot for non-U.S. citizen IMGs. In 2026, 487 of 7,382 SOAP-eligible non-U.S. citizen IMGs accepted a position, about 6.6% (our arithmetic). So the work that decides your SOAP happens in February: a list of programs that can sponsor your visa, statements written for the specialties that fill in SOAP, and your letters assigned. During SOAP itself you may not contact a program until it contacts you.

Every NRMP and program page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. NRMP's 2027 SOAP guide for applicants was listed as "coming early 2027", so recheck the NRMP SOAP page in February. The general SOAP schedule and rules for all applicants are in Match Week 2027: SOAP schedule and rules; this page covers what changes for IMGs.

Are you eligible?

MPA §9.1 of the 2027 Match Participation Agreement for applicants sets three conditions:

An offer that arrives before Match Week is a different question: see pre-match offers for IMGs.

"1. Registered for the Main Residency Match;

2. Verified as eligible to enter graduate medical education on July 1 in the year of the Match as outlined in Section 3.0; and

3. Partially or fully unmatched on Monday of Match Week."

For IMGs, Section 3.0 points to the ECFMG. §3.2.1 says: "Before the Rank Order List Certification Deadline, NRMP will verify with the ECFMG that IMG applicants (including Canadian students and graduates) have completed the medical science examination, clinical skills, and communication skills requirements for ECFMG certification." The 2027 Main Residency Match calendar lists 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 3, 2027 as the "IMG applicant deadline to meet ECFMG verification requirements", the same moment as the rank-list deadline and the late registration deadline "for the Match and SOAP".

Who decides: the NRMP SOAP page says "NRMP is the authoritative source for applicant SOAP eligibility." You see your status in R3 on Monday morning, not before.

If you are not eligible, the rules are stricter. The SOAP page says SOAP-ineligible applicants "cannot apply to any Match-participating programs, regardless of the program's SOAP participation status, until SOAP concludes", and "can apply to or contact non-Match participating programs only after 8:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday of Match Week."

2026 SOAP results for IMGs

NRMP's Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match gives these figures (Tables 16 and 17 and the text around them):

• Non-U.S. citizen IMGs: 7,382 SOAP-eligible; 487 accepted a position. That is 6.6% (our arithmetic).
• U.S. citizen IMGs: 2,074 SOAP-eligible; 415 accepted a position. That is 20.0% (our arithmetic).
• IMGs as a group "accounted for 34.3 percent (902 of 2,632) total positions filled during SOAP."
• Where the positions were: 2,851 positions were placed in SOAP. Family Medicine had the most (898), followed by Preliminary Surgery (559) and categorical Internal Medicine (512).
• What was left: "After SOAP's conclusion, 219 positions placed in SOAP remained unfilled".

Our view: for a non-U.S. citizen IMG, SOAP is a lottery ticket you prepare for, not a plan. The numbers say most eligible non-U.S. citizen IMGs did not get a position through it, and those three specialties hold 1,969 of the 2,851 SOAP positions, 69% (our arithmetic). Prepare for the specialties that fill in SOAP and in parallel plan the year after; see what to do after Match Week as an unmatched IMG.

The countercase: if you are partially matched (for example, you matched an advanced position and need a PGY-1 year), SOAP is the main route to fill the gap and deserves your full attention. MPA §7.3 explains partial matches, and §9.1 includes partially matched applicants.

Match Week 2027 in IMG terms

The 2027 Match Week and SOAP calendar is published in Eastern Time. U.S. clocks move to daylight time at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March (NIST), which in 2027 is Sunday, March 14 (our arithmetic), the day before Match Week. That week, Eastern clocks are one hour ahead of their winter setting, so convert every time below with the daylight offset.

From South Asia, West Africa, Egypt or the Philippines, Thursday's offer windows (9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET) run into your night (our arithmetic). Plan to be awake and logged in for all four rounds.

What you may and may not send during SOAP

MPA §9.2 is the rule:

"Neither SOAP-eligible applicants nor their representatives may initiate any verbal, written, or electronic communication with any program until and unless specifically contacted by a program representative after the published time on Monday of Match Week and after receipt of the application. If a program does not contact the applicant or the applicant's representative, there may be no communication to the program."

In practice:

• Send: applications, through the service the program uses. §9.2: "Policies surrounding application submissions are determined by the application service and not the NRMP."
• Do not send: an email to the program director, a letter of interest, a "please consider my application" message, or a call from a relative or mentor on your behalf. The rule's word "representatives" covers them.
• Report: a program that contacts you before you applied to it. §9.2: "SOAP-eligible applicants receiving communication from a program to which they have not applied must report the communication to the NRMP at policy@nrmp.org."

Once a program calls you, answer its questions. Short SOAP interviews are covered in SOAP interview questions.

Visa checks before you spend applications

The SOAP list does not filter by visa. The NRMP SOAP page says: "The List of Unfilled Programs will show only programs for which the applicant is eligible based on their matched status." Matched status, not sponsorship.

Program pages do state sponsorship, and they differ. On November 7, 2026, UTHealth Houston and University of Missouri internal medicine said they sponsor the J-1 only, and Yale internal medicine's general preliminary track said it sponsors neither the J-1 nor the H-1B. The visa wording guide quotes each policy.

The appointment you accept in SOAP is held to the institution's policies. MPA §10.0: "Each appointment is subject to the official policies of the appointing institution and program (e.g., expected training credentials, background checks, drug screens, visa status) in effect on the Rank Order List Certification Deadline or when the program submits its preference list if the program participates in SOAP." Accept an offer from a program that cannot sponsor your visa and you can end up holding a binding commitment you cannot start.

So build the visa list before March. Take the specialties with the most SOAP positions in 2026 (family medicine, preliminary surgery, internal medicine, plus the transitional-year and preliminary-medicine positions NRMP counts among PGY-1-only spots), and for each program you might apply to, record the visa sentence from its own page with the date you checked it. The method is in IMG residency: check visas before applying and how to check whether a program takes IMGs. Do it in February, not on Monday at 11 a.m.

Prepare before March 15

A checklist to finish by March 3, 2027:

1. ECFMG verification complete by the March 3 deadline. Without it you are not SOAP-eligible.
2. Visa ledger for every program on your SOAP shortlist, with the sponsorship sentence and the date checked.
3. One statement per fallback specialty, written and proofread, for example family medicine, internal medicine and a preliminary or transitional-year statement. The structure and examples are in the SOAP personal statement guide; IMG-specific framing is in the IMG residency personal statement guide.
4. Letters assigned to each fallback specialty in ERAS, with a US-physician letter where you have one. Options for SOAP letters are in residency letters of recommendation for SOAP and off-cycle.
5. Phone and video ready for Tuesday and Wednesday calls, at hours that work in Eastern Time.

Constructed example: adapting an internal medicine statement for family medicine

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. Context (invented): an IMG who applied to internal medicine and wrote a family medicine version in February.

Weak (the IM opening with the specialty name swapped):

I have always been fascinated by complex medical problems, and family medicine will let me manage the most challenging inpatients with a strong team.

Revised:

In my district hospital in [region], I saw the same thirty patients with diabetes every month, and I learned more from the patient who stopped coming than from any admission. Family medicine is where I want to keep that continuity: one clinic, the same families, over years.

The weak version names the specialty but keeps internal medicine's reason (complex inpatients). The revised version gives a reason that only fits family medicine, from an experience in the applicant's own record. A program reading SOAP statements on Tuesday morning sees in two sentences why this statement was written for it.

After SOAP, or if you opt out

When SOAP ends at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 18, 2027, MPA §9.3 says applicants who remain unmatched or partially matched "May access the List of Unfilled Programs in the R3 system" and "May contact all remaining unfilled programs". The calendar says that list stays in R3 until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, April 30, 2027. (MPA §9.6 says "through 11:59 p.m. ET on May 1"; plan on the earlier date.)

You can also choose not to SOAP. MPA §9.4 lets fully unmatched SOAP-eligible applicants "pursue interests other than clinical residency training (e.g., research, Masters academic program, etc.)" instead, provided "The applicant does not submit any applications to Match- or SOAP-participating programs during Match Week", the position is not affiliated with a participating program, and it does not count for ACGME training credit. Whether a research year is worth it is weighed in research year or observership after not matching.

Questions about SOAP for IMGs

Can IMGs participate in SOAP without ECFMG certification?

The MPA test is verification, not the certificate. §3.2.1 says NRMP will verify that IMG applicants "have completed the medical science examination, clinical skills, and communication skills requirements for ECFMG certification" before 9 p.m. ET on March 3, 2027. Individual programs can require more; Yale's internal medicine page, for example, requires the ECFMG certificate through ERAS "BEFORE February 1st".

Do SOAP programs sponsor visas?

Some do and some do not, and the SOAP list does not tell you which. Check each program's own page before you apply.

Can I email a program director during SOAP?

No. Under §9.2 you may not initiate any communication until the program contacts you after receiving your application. After 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 18, 2027, you may contact any remaining unfilled program.

How many SOAP applications can I send?

NRMP does not set that number. §9.2 says application policies "are determined by the application service and not the NRMP", so check the limit in your application service before Match Week.

Review the writing you send next

Your SOAP statements are the documents you can still improve before March: get a free Quick Review of your SOAP personal statement against GradPilot's residency personal statement rubric, which reads why this specialty, the experiences you chose and your readiness for residency work. Your ERAS Experiences entries can be read the same way, entry by entry.

More guides for IMGs in Match season:

• Unmatched IMG next steps after Match Week 2027: the three clocks after SOAP.
• Match Week 2027: SOAP schedule and rules: the full schedule for every applicant.
• ERAS 2027 timeline: the season month by month.
• Medical school and residency essay guides: every residency writing guide in one place. If you are reading this in December with two interviews or none, start with few or no residency interviews as an IMG for what can still change before March 3.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• National Resident Matching Program, 2027 Main Residency Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (2027 Match): §3.2.1, §7.3, §9.1–9.4, §9.6, §10.0.
• National Resident Matching Program, SOAP: eligibility authority, list shows eligibility by matched status, rules for SOAP-ineligible applicants, 2027 guide "coming early 2027".
• National Resident Matching Program, 2027 Main Residency Match Calendar and 2027 Match Week and SOAP Calendar: March 3, March 15–18 and April 30, 2027 times.
• National Resident Matching Program, Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match (2026 Match): Tables 16 and 17 and accompanying text.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology, Daylight Saving Time: start rule.
• UTHealth Houston, Internal Medicine: How to Apply (2026-2027 season); University of Missouri, Internal Medicine Residency: How to Apply (no year stated); Yale School of Medicine, Internal Medicine Traditional Residency: Apply (2026–2027 season named in its signaling rules): visa sentences and ECFMG certificate timing.