[hyder]

I have had form 186 rejected thrice. All three times the reason cited is the same 'color of the seal does not match the color on record with the ECFMG'.
Of course, the email will give you a different reason, and on the phone they will give you the 'color not matching' reason. All three times, standard processing by the medical school. The first two times seal was in black. The third time I insisted that the seal be in blue, and blue it was.
Result, zilch. For the fourth time, I traveled to the US Consulate in a nearby city (300 miles away) and got it notarized by the consular instead of the med school. The consulate is awesome and put two eyelets at the corners of my photograph to avoid tampering. Now, I am waiting for it to be rejected again because of some other wonderful reason beyond my control. Yay!
Oh btw, I went to med school internationally, but grad school at an ivy league school, and am used to dealing with American bureaucracy, but ECFMG is in a class of its own with the 'color of the seal not right' arguments.
Unsolicited advice for you: go to the nearest US Consulate, they by law provide notarial services, get the form notarized by them.
I have a suspicion that this is not about the color of the seal, that's just an excuse, so avoid the medical school altogether.

 

[hyder]

Sabio, thanks for the sentiments. I really appreciate them.
My form 186 got accepted, this time, which was the 4th iteration.
As my school participates in ESWMP (or however that is abbreviated), I can use either the 'medical school official only' form, or the 'notary public' form. One signature is needed, corresponding to the category of form selected from the among the two options.
The first three times, I used the 'medical school official' form, with disastrous results.
ECFMG has this completely unfathomable practice of sending you an email that tells you that the application can not be processed. There is also an attached letter. The attached letter, in the first two attempts, mentioned the reason that the first poster has mentioned. The third time, it mentioned a different reason. All three times, the staff over the phone told the same 'color of the seal does not match' reason. So, two conclusions. One: The reasons cited in the attached files are random, even though there is your name on the letter and the date is correct. Second: I forgot what the second was. Anyway, so the US consulate thing worked. Costs a bunch though ($50 for the seal, travel costs etc).
Anyways, I think I understand why ECFMG would do such a thing; probably just defensive practice. If they have at all any suspicion about a form, they'll reject it, instead of risking long term problems with scammers trying to con their way into US medical practice.