US trained RN trying to relocate to OZ, Melbourne region. 3 years as a med/surg ob/gyn nurse. Love my current job but also loves adventure! Any input? Start with registration then visa? Agency or hospital for employment?

contact the big nursing agencies, they can help out with registration issues, accommodation, etc. here is a list i made up that may help:

nursing agencies, australia

hendercare - http://www.hendercare.com.au/

mediserve – http://mediserve.com.au/

drake, australia - http://www.drakeintl.com/au/home.aspx

ramsay health care – http://www.ramsayhealth.com.au/default.aspx. they operate many hospitals all around australia, employment info is on their website.

st john of god (for perth, wa) - http://www.sjog.org.au/. sjog also has hospitals in other states and territories as well.

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hmns (health management - www.hmns.net.au/[color=#0e774a] (for south australia and country regions).

nursewest (control all the public hospitals and recruitment through nursing agencies for all of western australia) - www.nursing.health.wa.gov.au/nursewest/index.cfm

[color=#0e774a]nasa, nursing agency of south australia - http://nasansb.com.au/[color=#0e774a]. on this site, there is a site for international nurses to visit. also down the bottom, it lists all the other main nursing agencies for other states and territories. you can click on them for more info.

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[color=#0e774a]you sound like you have a lot of experience so getting work shouldn't be a problem. also contact ahpra on this website to get details re obtaining national registration: http://www.ahpra.gov.au/registration/registration-process.aspx

[color=#0e774a]where do you want to move to? east coast has lots of work (sydney, melb) but is more expensive to live. perth has work and is a nicer city than east coast cities, cost of living still expensive but not as much as syd & melb. queensland & vic has been hit by devastating floods, fires, etc so don't know the employment status at the mo. darwin up north is a smaller city, you can try further up north in cairns - lots of remote, inland work but you need many years of experience as you may be the only nurse and/or health practitioner for thousands of kilometres - there isn't always support nearby (there aren't even hospitals/clinics nearby sometimes, you are it).

Deleted, as same info posted twice for some reason.

Thanks for your detailed reply. Are you already there or are planning to go there?

I'm in Perth in Western Australia, but moving soon to start work in another state and to catch up with family over east (not Melb though). Everyone has always said start the visa and registration process ASAP.

Hopefully you will get more posts from people going thru what you are going thru. There are heaps of info on here, u can do a search as well.