Please look on the ECVO website for the Constitution & Bylaws, Article 4, Section 2 .

The requirements are:

• A veterinary degree from an *EAEVE-approved veterinary school, unless exempted from this obligation by the Credentials Committee (*European Association of Veterinary Establishments for Education, www.eaeve.org)
• A license to practise veterinary medicine and surgery in the European Union, unless exempted from this obligation by the Credentials Committee
• Completion of an internship (minimum of one year) or its equivalent (at the discretion of the Credentials Committee) prior to the start of the residency training programme (RTP) (for example, a minimum of two years employed in a private clinic where all common diseases are diagnosed/treated)
• Candidates need to have a satisfactory moral and ethical standing in the profession

Prospective residents will be required to have broad training and experience in clinical veterinary medicine and surgery and their supporting disciplines, which must be obtained by participation in an internship of no less than one (1) year duration or two (2) years of private practice post–DVM or equivalent training. The internship, or its equivalent*, has to be approved by the Credentials Committee prior to the submission of an application for a residency program to the Education and Residency Committee. An internship offers an opportunity for recent graduates to obtain additional training in the clinical and basic sciences. An internship is composed of a broad range of clinical assignments within one of the major specialties of veterinary medicine. It is important that an internship be truly a rotation, involving a wide range of clinical activities. It should be conceived as a training programme for the intern rather than a service benefit for the clinic. A program for an internship should include training in internal medicine, neurology, oncology, surgery, dermatology, diagnostic imaging, anaesthesiology, veterinary pathology (including histology and cytology) and zoological/exotic/special species medicine (birds, small mammals, reptiles, etc.). Since small animal species form an important part of a typical veterinary ophthalmology caseload, the internship should include training on these species.

* If the prospective resident did not complete a formal internship training, but spent at
least two years in private practice, then details on the institutions, time periods, and type
of specialty training must be submitted to the Credentials Committee.

Candidates interested in applying for an ECVO residency training programme should contact ECVO Diplomates. A list of ECVO Diplomates is available on the ECVO website.

Once you have found a supervising Diplomate who intends to apply for approval of a RTP for you, please send your curriculum vitae (CV) and details of your internship, or equivalent training, to the Credentials Committee (credential@ecvo.org) for verification. Use the CV-form. If and when you receive approval from the Credentials Committee, you should inform the supervising Diplomate who can then proceed with the RTP application. The RTP application is sent by the Diplomate to the Education and Residency Committee (ERC).

Paper(s)/publication(s) should ideally originate from research work during the residency training programme (RTP) but may also originate from a limited period prior to the RTP. The date of publication should not be more than five years before the date of submission of credentials to the credentials committee (at the end of your RTP). (Example: the regular RTP lasts 36 months = three years; with submission of your credentials after those three years, the date of publication of paper(s) must be within two years of the start of your RTP. Papers published at an earlier time will not be accepted.) Please make sure prior to start of your RTP if such an earlier publication is acceptable and contact the credential committee.

1^st August: request for letter of approval from the Education and Residency Committee (ERC). Complete documents need to be sent via email to the Chair of the ERC.

1^st September: end complete electronic documents to both the Chair of the Credentials Committee and the Executive Secretary. Use PDF format only. The Residency Program Director [Diplomate(s)] must write a reference letter saved in PDF format and email it directly to the Chair of the Credentials Committee.

Payment of credentials fee (€ 150) to treasurer (ECVO bank account details are on the website). 

1^st December: application for the next qualifying examination must be received bythe Executive Secretary and the Chair of the Credentials Committee. Use PDF format only.

Payment of examination fee to Treasurer. Examination fees and ECVO bank account details are on the website.  

All the relevant information for the above steps can be downloaded from the website (Residents/Application/Regular Route or Alternative Way).

Yes. Refer to Article 9 (Appeal Against Adverse Decisions) in the Constitution &      Bylaws on the website for more information. Article 9.2 states that ‘Any candidate who wishes to appeal against the decision on their application for eligibility to sit the examination must do so within 90 days of the postmarked date of their notification. The request for appeal must be made in writing to the Secretary and shall include a statement of the grounds for reconsideration and documentation in support of the petition.

Papers need to be published in an internationally peer reviewed journal that is indexed by PubMed or CAB (see C&B).

If your credential documents are complete, with only the final letter(s) of acceptance of your publications(s) pending, you should submit your documents together with the letter(s) from the journal(s) indicating that revisions are needed, by the September 1st deadline. The Credentials Committee will provide provisional approval of the application (or not), pending final approval once the proof of publication(s) is received. The final letter(s) of acceptance from the journal must be sent to the Credentials Committee and the Executive Secretary by November 25th. (If the final approval is received between November 26th and 30th, given that the deadline for the exam application is December 1st, the Credentials Committee will exercise its discretion for final acceptance but cannot guarantee approval during this very short period.) 
Although this flexibility can be applied to two publications, residents are strongly advised to limit it to a single publication.