Non-U.S. citizen IMGs filled 222 psychiatry residency positions in the 2026 Main Residency Match, up from 190 in 2025 and 133 in 2022, according to the NRMP's Advance Data Tables. That is a 67% rise in four years.
Psychiatry itself grew more slowly. It offered 2,516 first-year positions in 2026, 23% more than in 2022, and 65 of them were still empty when the matching algorithm finished, up from 8 a year earlier, the NRMP said on March 20, 2026.
Why it matters: psychiatry is opening doors for IMGs at the same moment the overall non-U.S. IMG match rate fell to 56.4%, a five-year low. The new seats are not spread evenly. Three states placed 44% of the non-U.S. IMGs who matched into psychiatry, and the rank order list deadline for the 2027 Match is March 3, 2027.
Non-U.S. IMGs now outnumber U.S. IMGs in psychiatry
Five years of NRMP data show a quiet reversal. In 2022, U.S. citizen IMGs filled 188 psychiatry positions and non-U.S. citizen IMGs filled 133. Since 2024, non-U.S. IMGs have filled more.
| Match year | Positions offered | Filled by U.S. citizen IMGs | Filled by non-U.S. citizen IMGs | Unfilled after the algorithm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2,047 | 188 | 133 | 17 |
| 2023 | 2,164 | 202 | 149 | 21 |
| 2024 | 2,261 | 178 | 185 | 12 |
| 2025 | 2,388 | 153 | 190 | 8 |
| 2026 | 2,516 | 177 | 222 | 65 |
Taken together, IMGs filled 399 psychiatry positions in 2026, about 15.9% of the positions offered. That is almost the same share as in 2022 (15.7%). What changed is the mix: the non-U.S. IMG share rose from 6.5% to 8.8%, while the U.S. IMG share slipped from 9.2% to 7.0%.
U.S. graduates still take most seats. U.S. MD seniors filled 1,414 psychiatry positions (56.2%) and U.S. DO seniors filled 566 (22.5%), up from 387 DO seniors in 2022.
Keep the scale in view. Psychiatry accounted for only 3.3% of all non-U.S. IMG first-year matches in 2026 and 6.0% of U.S. IMG matches, so most IMGs who matched did so in other specialties. Our analysis of the 2026 NRMP Match results for IMGs covers the other specialties.
Three states placed almost half of non-U.S. IMGs
The NRMP's 2026 results by state, specialty and applicant type show where those psychiatry matches happened. New York, Texas and Florida together placed 98 of the 222 non-U.S. IMGs. Add Ohio and Virginia and the five states account for 116, or 52%.
| State | Positions offered | Filled | U.S. citizen IMGs | Non-U.S. citizen IMGs | IMG share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 322 | 317 | 38 | 51 | 28% |
| Texas | 176 | 176 | 14 | 26 | 23% |
| Florida | 192 | 171 | 36 | 21 | 33% |
| Ohio | 84 | 84 | 0 | 9 | 11% |
| Virginia | 49 | 46 | 1 | 9 | 22% |
| Connecticut | 44 | 44 | 4 | 8 | 27% |
| Missouri | 51 | 51 | 6 | 7 | 25% |
| California | 275 | 275 | 10 | 6 | 6% |
| Pennsylvania | 124 | 124 | 2 | 5 | 6% |
| Washington | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
The contrast is sharp. California offered the second-most psychiatry positions in the country, 275, and filled six with non-U.S. IMGs. Pennsylvania filled 124 positions with seven IMGs in all. Smaller states can matter more than their size suggests: Kansas placed 5 non-U.S. IMGs in 14 positions, and New Mexico placed 5 in 16.
U.S. citizen IMGs were even more concentrated. New York (38) and Florida (36) placed 74 of the 177, or 42%.
The strongest caveat: a state total tells you where IMGs matched last cycle, not which program will interview you or sponsor your visa. These are counts, not a list of IMG-friendly programs. Confirm every program's requirements on its own website.
A third of psychiatry's empty seats were in Florida
Florida had 21 of psychiatry's 65 unfilled positions after the 2026 algorithm ran. Alabama and Oklahoma had 6 each, New York 5, and Arizona, West Virginia and Wisconsin 4 each, according to the same NRMP state report.
The NRMP's release does not say why unfilled positions jumped. The rise came in the same year psychiatry added 30 programs and 128 positions. Across all specialties, 2,862 positions were unfilled after the algorithm, and 2,581 of them were offered through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). SOAP outcomes by specialty are in the NRMP's Results and Data report, published May 26, 2026. For every specialty's unfilled count, see unfilled residency positions by specialty in the 2026 Match.
Psychiatry still leans on IMGs, but programs screen hard
The workforce case for IMGs is long-standing. In 2020 AMA data, IMGs made up 29% of active U.S. psychiatrists, compared with 23% in other specialties, and more than 40% in Florida and New Jersey, according to a 2022 study in Academic Psychiatry (doi:10.1007/s40596-022-01635-y).
Getting an interview is the hard part. In the NRMP's 2026 Program Director Survey, psychiatry was among the five specialties receiving the highest mean number of applications. Across specialties, program directors most often cited the Step 2 CK score (89%), a Step 1 pass (87%) and specialty-specific letters of recommendation (86%) when choosing whom to interview.
For IMG applicants, 92% of responding programs required Step 1 and 84% required Step 2 CK before considering an interview. Among programs requiring Step 2 CK, 32% set a target score for IMGs. Read these figures with care: only 12.7% of programs responded overall, and 50 of the 433 psychiatry program directors surveyed did.
The best specialty-specific benchmarks are in the NRMP's July 28, 2026 Charting Outcomes reports. For the first time there are separate reports for non-U.S. citizen IMGs and U.S. citizen IMGs, and the NRMP says they will now be published every year. Check the psychiatry pages for measures such as the Step 2 CK score and the number of contiguous psychiatry ranks.
The 2027 Match calendar, hour by hour
If you are applying in the current cycle, these are the NRMP's 2027 applicant dates. Times are Eastern.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Jan 29, 2027, 11:59 p.m. | Standard registration deadline; a $50 late fee applies after |
| Feb 1, 2027, noon | Ranking opens |
| Mar 3, 2027, 9 p.m. | Rank order list certification deadline, and the deadline for IMGs to meet ECFMG verification requirements |
| Mar 15, 2027, 10 a.m. | Applicants learn whether they matched; SOAP begins at 11 a.m. |
| Mar 18, 2027 | Four SOAP offer rounds at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., each with a two-hour window; SOAP ends at 9 p.m. |
| Mar 19, 2027, noon | Match Day |
What to do now: a psychiatry checklist for IMGs
- Check your ECFMG verification status. IMGs must complete the medical science examination, clinical skills and communication skills requirements by March 3, 2027. The NRMP says IMGs who miss that deadline cannot participate in the Match, and the same verification applies to SOAP.
- Re-register if you were in a past Match. Past participants must register again for the 2027 Match, the NRMP's September 2026 IMG newsletter says.
- Filter by visa first. The NRMP says non-U.S. citizen applicants who need a visa are responsible for confirming that an institution will sponsor their visa type before certifying a rank order list. Check each program's website. For immigration questions, talk to an immigration attorney or the official agency.
- Look at geography honestly. If every psychiatry program on your list is in a state that placed few IMGs in 2026, research programs in other states too, then confirm their policies one by one.
- Rank only programs you would attend. The NRMP tells applicants to rank only programs they would be willing to attend, and to be ready to enter training wherever a match occurs. Our guide to NRMP Match rules and the binding commitment explains what that means.
- Prepare for SOAP before Match Week. Only eligible unmatched and partially matched applicants can use SOAP, and the List of Unfilled Programs appears at the start of SOAP showing only programs you are eligible for. Applicants who are not SOAP-eligible may not contact SOAP programs. See how the SOAP List of Unfilled Programs works.
- If you are not in this cycle, build for the next one. Use the Charting Outcomes psychiatry data to set your targets, gather new psychiatry letters, and get hands-on U.S. clinical experience where you can. MedRise arranges U.S. clinical observerships for IMGs in South Texas in internal medicine, pediatrics and family medicine.
For the 2025 cycle's version of this guide, see what to do if you didn't match into psychiatry as an IMG.
Psychiatry is growing, and non-U.S. IMGs are getting a bigger slice of it. That slice is not spread evenly, so check where IMGs actually matched before you certify your list on March 3.
FAQ
How many IMGs matched into psychiatry in 2026?
399 in all: 177 U.S. citizen IMGs and 222 non-U.S. citizen IMGs, out of 2,451 filled psychiatry positions, according to the NRMP's Advance Data Tables.
Is psychiatry a good specialty for IMGs?
IMGs filled about 16% of psychiatry positions in 2026, but the share was 33% in Florida and 6% in California. There is no specialty-wide answer; check each program's own requirements and recent residents.
Which states matched the most IMGs into psychiatry in 2026?
For non-U.S. citizen IMGs: New York (51), Texas (26) and Florida (21). For U.S. citizen IMGs: New York (38) and Florida (36).
When is the 2027 rank order list deadline?
March 3, 2027, at 9 p.m. Eastern. IMGs must also meet ECFMG verification requirements by then to take part in the Match.
Can IMGs take part in SOAP?
Yes, if they are SOAP-eligible: unmatched or partially matched applicants who meet the eligibility requirements, including ECFMG verification by the rank order list deadline.
Sources
- NRMP, Advance Data Tables: 2026 Main Residency Match (March 2026)
- NRMP news release on the 2026 Main Residency Match results (March 20, 2026)
- NRMP, Main Match Results by State, Specialty and Applicant Type 2026
- NRMP, Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match (May 26, 2026)
- NRMP, 2026 Program Director Survey report (August 2026)
- NRMP, Charting Outcomes for non-U.S. citizen IMGs, 2026 Main Residency Match (July 28, 2026)
- NRMP, 2027 Main Residency Match applicant calendar
- NRMP, IMG Welcome Newsletter (September 8, 2026) and eligibility requirements
- NRMP, Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program
- Duvivier RJ, et al. International Medical Graduates in the United States Psychiatry Workforce. Academic Psychiatry, 2022 (PubMed; doi:10.1007/s40596-022-01635-y)
MedRise Articles share educational information only. They are not medical, legal or immigration advice. Confirm requirements with the official organization or program.
