Moving to Australia upon graduation

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Hello everyone, I will be graduating nursing school and will be moving to Australia. I do have plans to take my NCLEX in my home state of Texas and once I pass and receive my license I want to start to make the move. I know I can apply for a skilled work visa and I also need to apply to AHPRA for registration in Australia but are there any suggestions on how to do it different, or even if i'm in the wrong order? Can I apply for the visa and registration at the same time? I also look on seek.com/au to see all the nursing jobs available. Any help guys would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all!!!

Hey Ceridwyn, a comment like yours was very helpful. I think most countries are trying to find ways to dig their own out of a whole. Everyone has frustrations and I deeply understand that, I just kinda felt like they were taking it out on me. LOL Listen I been in the United States Military for 10 years so I am pretty sure I can handle 3 day orientations. I am also a Certified Pharmacy Technician and am very familiar with drugs and how they are ordered. I will admit there are going to be several things different about that process as well as others and that was all I was trying to get info on. I have traveled to other countries a lot and enjoy being around different people and cultures. I am not sure what Aussie Nurses think American Nurses do, but in my lived experience Nurses do it all as well. We also have several levels we can work in. For us an ADN is equivalent To a BSN over there. I would love to see all Australia if I could! If that is what the Gold Coast is it may get old for me and I'll move again lol. Life is short and from all the deployments and War I am just trying to live mine to the fullest. I hold an AAS in health care and an AAS in Pharmacy as well as an BS Health Care Administration so I am well educated. It may not come across in my writing but lol thats me! So you say you will go elsewhere, may I ask where? BTW from experience, nothing in life goes as planned, after all if it did where would the fun be ;)

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Hi Sezza83, getting experience before I go is great advice and that is all I was looking for. And YES! I have been warned by friends of the Rural term! As a new nurse here all you get is shift work of all kinds of crazy hours! I was in the military for 10 years so I am very use to crazy hours and 24 hour shifts. Plus budget cuts are happening here as well so I think every country is experiencing difficulties. I do know Australians are blunt but Americans are as well. I feel advice like yours and the other person on here were great, but I did feel like they were basically saying I wont succeed out there and that is something that is not in my vocabulary! So experience before I go! That is good to know thank you!

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Im sure your not jealous, I just got very offended. I have been putting in hours of research in moving there and I am more interested in your country and its history and culture, not it's beaches. If the Gold Coast is not a good start off place than please by all means I would love a suggestion of where to go. As I said to other people on here, I feel every country is hurting right now. I am not trying to escape my country, I defended it for 10 years and 2 wars, I just want something new. I am merely trying to find out the differences before I come. Being military for 10 years I am use to being well prepared in any and everything I do. If you could see my computer I have so many websites on how the health care is there and the government. I am just reaching out to Australians so I can get it from the horses mouth! Just not so rude :) BTW when I retire that will be in Dubai! I love traveling and that is something you didn't know about me! I'd wish you luck but you seem to have it together

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Thanks for accepting my apology, I do wish you all the best. Have you looked into brisbane? It's queenslands capital, an hour away from the Gold Coast. More job opportunities, a lot less crime, decent weather year round... Are you planning on joining an agency at first to see a bit of everywhere or are you just looking straight up for full time work? A lot of foreign nurses I've worked with started with an agency then got offered full time jobs.

I also don't think NSW or south Australia's health system is in as bad shape as Victoria from what I've read.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you like

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Absolutely ! Yes I have considered Brisbane however I did see a post that it is pretty expensive there and since I'm new and foreign I'm not going to assume ill start off with a great pay. I'm assuming its like here and as u work ur way up your pay does to. I will research more on Brisbane as well as NSW.... So an agency is a better route for an international nurse?? I will look into some agencies. I did receive info from an agency but off top of my head I can not remember the name and location. I would like to give you the name later and see if you have heard of them.... So from your perspective how is Brisbane as far as coast of living?? And I am sorry as well for jumping on the defense :-)

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Hey I see all the heavy flooding out there in Brisbane!! Your area isn't affected is it??

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Hi. I'm a newbie in here so please be nice to me. Lol. Anyways I saw this thread and I think it perfectly fits my query. I'm a fresh BSN graduate (4 year course) from the Philippines but I have no license yet. My family and I will be moving sometime later this year to Australia probably in Tasmania so I'm planning to pursue my nursing profession and get my license there. Does anyone here knows what possible programs should I take for me to be registered and get a license? Thanks! ☺

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Hi Sheeeeen, from what I'm gathering on everyone's thoughts, having at least a year experience is best. Bringonthenight also said agencies will be helpful. Lots of good advice I got :-) u should get some great advice in here ..

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But I still don't have the license to get an experience. I am considering of enrolling to a conversion program for bachelor of nursing to get my "BSN" degree from the philippines accredited. Do you know which universities offer conversion programs specifically for a bachelor of nursing graduate?

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Agency is a lot easier to get into then full time work, most foreign nurses I work with started by working agency. And majority of agency nurses seem to be foreign at least in my experience. It's a great place to start because like I said you can work all over, see which places you like and make a good impression on the unit managers then work your way into getting full time work. It might be challenging work at first working in different places/people/hospital policies etc etc but you get used to it I guess just be polite, assertive with the work and ask questions when you don't know what to do.

Recently I've had a lot of Irish nurses working with "healthcare Australia" they must advertise in Ireland or something, they all seem to like the company.

First choice care is another major agency.

Oxley nursing and Drake medox are another 2 agencies I can think of off the top of my head.

Queensland health (the public system) no longer or rarely books agency nurses due to the costs, so your best bet there is joining their casual pool. A nurse recently told me Qhealth hospitals were hiring large amounts of casual pool nurses to eliminate agency expenses and as a bonus they would have a large bank of nurses orientated to the Qhealth system. How true that story is I have no idea but it does make sense financially speaking.

I was not affected thankfully, the 2011 flood hit brisbane a lot harder then this recent one. If you move to Aus I suggest definitely researching flood risk suburbs. I believe Gold Coast is more expensive living wise then Brisbane in my experience but there is cheap suburbs and expensive ones like every city.

I also definitely recommend (if you haven't already) reading up on the differences in Aus and US nursing. The Irish/UK nurses seem to adapt relatively quick where as the US/Canadian ones I've worked with said the transition was a big adjustment- not impossible but tough at first.

Oh and get your AHPRA application in ASAP it takes months to get approved.

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But I still don't have the license to get an experience. I am considering of enrolling to a conversion program for bachelor of nursing to get my "BSN" degree from the philippines accredited. Do you know which universities offer conversion programs specifically for a bachelor of nursing graduate?

Most major city universities that offer a bachelor of nursing will offer a 1 year overseas trained nurse bachelor conversion course. I have only known/worked with Chinese nurses who have been required to do these conversion courses, I'm not sure what a bachelor degree from the Philippines equals over here.

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First off I'm glad you were not affected! I was watching today, I do not know everything about the flooding over there but I just recently got out of the military and my last duty station was Key West, Florida. Beautiful beach but every time it rained it flooded and the Hurricanes were bad so I'm aware but guess just need to prepare. Oxley was the one I was trying to think of... So for now I will do some good research on the differences between US and Aussie Nursing.. At least I can be a little prepared. Believe it or not I am extremely polite bringonthenight! lol!!!! Trust me when I say if I do not know something I will ask!!!! Yes I do know about the AHPRA, I have the website saved and I am reading up on it because it said something about registering while your a student and I still need to find out if I can do that being that i'm in US or if I just need to apply once I get licensed. Sorry I threw your name out there to Sheeeeeen but you seem to be very informative :-) Yes I would like to see all the places so that I could pick a good spot. I plan on being there a while if you don't mind ;) lol. After that who knows I like to travel! I suspect this to be tough but i'm sure in the end it will be rewarding!

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