Advice on registration for US RN moving to Australia

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Hello all!!

I am an RN working in Colorado with an associates in nursing that I recieved here in the US. Currently I have 1 year cardiac/telemetry and 3 years critical care experience in both the pediatric and adult Emergency room in a level one trauma center. I am looking to head to Australia sometime early next year and am wanting a little advice from anyone on nursing in Sydney, the registration process, if I will have difficulties obtaining registration with an associates degree and anything else that might be pertanent to my situation. I have been doing a bit of research on it and am just a little overwhelmed on how to get started - apply for jobs or contact the nursing board for that state first? Any advice at all would be helpful and greatly appreciated!!

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

We have a new national registration board now so you need to contact them. AHPRA - AHPRA Home

I'm not sure if you can become an RN with an associates degree you may be registered as an EN but I'm not sure of the ins and outs of that. best bet is to hop onto the website and find out. A lot of it has to do with clinical placement hours as a student. But it is nor something I know anything about coming from Ireland I am way over qualified and way over hours on placements as a student.

You would need to have your rego sorted before looking into jobs. Are you thinking of doing agency (as required) or getting a full time post with a hospital? It depends on what visa that you get which may put limitations on how much work you can do for one employer. with a 417 working holiday maker (WHM) visa you can only work for one employer (hospital) for 6 months. If you are going through a nursing agency for work they are well of this and will move you onto another hospital when your time is up. If I can help with anything else let me know. Best of luck

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Hie Karenmarie,

Just reading your response it shows you have knowledge on this issue. My situation is also similar but i do have a 4 year Bachelors degree/BSN from USA and am also trying to get a job in Australia. I have done research on this and still have few questions. Is it possible to get a Skilled worker Visa than the sponsored visa, considering that those other visas are limited to only your sponsor and so one cant have 2 jobs or change jobs? How is cost of living there? How much can an RN of 4yrs experience make an hour? What about nursing in Ireland? I have Ireland, Canada and Australia in mind.

Thanks.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

I'm not too sure on the visa situation as I came on a 417 and transferred to a 457 quite easily, I have an American colleague who had to leave the country to transfer to her 457 so there are different rules for different nationalities I think.

The degree issue is decided by the AHPRA so you need to look at their website to see what is required. I registered before it came into existence so I have no experience with them at all as my NBV registration just rolled over with the new board when it took over from the state boards in July.

I find that the cost of living is lower than in Ireland but Ireland is one of the most expensive countries to live in I went home last month and while I was there I poked around casually looking for a job but found nothing NOTHING at all. In the few weeks that I have been back I have since heard that the hospital that my uni was joined with for clinical placement and where I had a job for 2 years is closing the the 38 bed ortho ward and letting 120 temporary (ie without permanent contracts) staff go. Also Ireland is still in serious turmoil from the GFC.

Wages vary from state to state. In the public hospital system ie where most patients come in wages are determined by pay agreements with the state government and each nurse of the same post reg year is paid the same.

In Victoria where I work nurses get paid the least but we have excellent ratios - in acute public hospitals on the general wards a nurse with 4 years experience would get $25.33 per hour, an extra $22.70 per PM shift, $39.99 on a sat per hr and $ 53.32 per hr sun and $ 52.80 extra for a weekday night This info is from the ANF (nurses union) website.

There are 2 types of hospital in Oz the public where most people go and all emergencies go to and the private hospital groups which deal mostly with booked surgeries, but also take transfers of pt with private cover from the public hospitals of medical and surgical pts. Some have ICU facilities but the skill and knowledge base is in the major public hospitals.

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Thank you very much for the info. Now,Ireland is ruled out so i just have to concentrate on Oz, which was my first choice anyway. The pay is alittle bit less than what i make here in USA but it all goes down to the cost of living too. Are nursing jobs easy to find? What about accomodation? how much would a 1 bedroom apartment(decent) cost a month?

Once again, thanks for taking your time to answer my questions.

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Hi Tami.

You have critical care experience of several years so I can't imagine it would be too difficult for you to find a job. It is only hard for new grads. Check out www.seek.com.au and www.mycareer.com.au where many nursing jobs are advertised (seek is probably best). There are alot of agencies and since you have experience you might be able to do some agency shifts until you find a solid job. Agency pays well but as you probably know, getting called at 5am and being asked to start at 6.30am isn't exactly lifestyle! There are both good public and private hospitals in Sydney and major trauma centres. Google Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Hospitals, Mater Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital, Prince of Wales Private Hospital - make sure you put Sydney at the end of each otherwise you'll probably get links to all sorts of countries. These are just a few to get you started.

I would recommend applying for rego with AHPRA www.ahpra.gov.au before you leave the US because it can be a long process. It is very difficult to contact AHPRA to ask for advice so I recommend spending a few hours going through the website and trying to find the answers to all your questions there. As a last resort, you can try to contact AHPRA but I warn you, the new system hasn't got the hang of how to run itself yet and things are VERY slow. Allow 3-5 months for your rego from when you apply to when you get it.

Sydney real estate isn't cheap! Sydney is a massive city, cost of living is probably the most expensive in Australia. Public transport is outrageous, but probably not quite as expensive as owning a car. If you live closer to the city, you will pay more. Get yourself onto www.google.com.au and if you just google Sydney Australia it will bring you up a map of Sydney. Find out where some hospitals you might want to work at are and then you can start looking at realestate at www.realestate.com.au or www.domain.com.au

Everyone: This might help on visas. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/medical-practitioners/visa-options-nurses.htm

I'm not sure whether it is better to get the visa or the rego first but hopefully after you do some research you will be able to share your thoughts with everyone.

Good luck :-)

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Hie Ellie10,

thanks for the info, i dont take it for granted that you spent time answering my questions. I am a little bit confused here, do i get my registration with ANMC or AHPR? I would love to get my registration before applying for a visa and i was thinking the ANMC is the one that does that. Or do i get registered with two different bodies? I thought Oz now has a national registration? I think am totally ignorant about this rego thing, please help.

Thanks

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

AHPRA is the registration body you HAVE to register with them if you are going to work in Oz except WA. WA has not yet joined AHPRA and has its own nursing board (they are a bit odd over there :) :D ).

AMNC does assessments for independent visas etc but has no authority to register anyone it also sets standards for accreditation and accredits universities etc

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Thanks for answering that Karenmaire.

I'm not 100% sure what ANMC actually does but if you hit the website you might find some more info... www.anmc.org.au there is an international section which might help.

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Thank you very much guys. I visited the AHPRA website and it still takes you to the nursing and midwifery council website for overseas registration.

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Hi Tamie

You will have to pass an overseas registration application form, together with all the requirements, to the AHPRA. This body will tell you if your education and 4-year experience is sufficient for you to get a license or if you will have to undergo a bridging program of 3-6 months before you get a license. They credit education from certain countries like New Zealand and Ireland (listed all in their web). Australia has no written exam like the NCLEX.

After getting your license you must find a hospital/facility that will sponsor your for the work/immigrant visa. I'm not sure if you can apply for the visa without the job offer.

Is your experience 4 years post BSN? From the other threads I've been reading Australia demands experienced nurses, even those who graduate from their country.

BTW Ellie, the OP is liabug, the one with critical care experience :)

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Hi doza,

thanks for the info, i was confused with the whole AHPRA. So this body doesnt necessarily register but evaluates? I will have to go back to the site and see.

I have 2 yrs from Associate Degree and 2 yrs from BSN so it all adds up to 4 yrs as a registered nurse.

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