Ahpra application refusal

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Hi everyone,

I´m a registered nurse from Germany with 4 years experience. Went to the whole registration process with ahpra and waited 7 months. Today I received an email, that they are considering to refuse my application. The reason for that is, that they do not consider my training as equivalent with the Australian one. That is really a joke. Has someone ever been in this situation before? How did you write your appeal letter?

Hi all!

I was wondering if anybody has any news from AHPRA. I made a formal complaint in the Sydney's office on November and they answered that the reserch into Spain's accreditation systems was anticipated to be finalised by mid Dec 2014, although the date was subjet to change. Well, mid Dec is gone, I have not had any new information so I contaced AHPRA asking for an update. They answered that, as it was said in the letter, the date was subjet to change so they cannot give me a timeframe (as always). Due to the lack of word of AHPRA and the madness of this situation, I have placed a complaint through the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner against AHPRA. To be honest, I don't think this is going to make any difference, but I feel I have to do something, not just sit and wait. BTW, I have been waiting 10 months 8 days so far...:(

What is your situation? Any news? Timeframes? Deadlines? How long have you been waiting for an outcome?

Unfortunately we have been dealing with AHPRA for about a year and a half now. In further conversations with the more helpful members of AHPRA I have been told that since my application was submitted before the changes to the assessment system were first considered in October 2013, I should have been assessed against the old criteria but since they took so long to get to may application I was reviewed under the new criteria. Since I know people with the same qualifications got registered under the old criteria I am going to complain that I should be reassessed under the old criteria.

@Partiti, do you have a Bachelors or Diploma from Spain? I have a Diploma from Germany (ANMAC says Bachelors, AHPRA says equiv to Australian Diploma) and I was told by AHPRA that there wasn't anyway that it would could be assessed as being equiv to a Bachelors since there is a higher level of testing in universities (I have no way of proving otherwise, this seems to be only made by a comparison to the Australian tertiary education system.)

I am going to write to a letter of complaint to AHPRA (I know it will do little good but apparently you have to do that before you can forward a complaint on to the ombudsman). I have three other points of complaint that they need to address as well regarding my application. Does anybody know of anyone that has appealed AHPRA's decision to VCAT? We have been told that this is an option but I don't think we could handle if costs were ordered against us if we lost.

I also just heard that someone with the same level of education and less experience was just assessed by ANMAC to have qualifications equivalent to a Bachelors Degree, so it sounds like more people are going to be subjected to the same ordeal when they apply to AHPRA. I can't believe that ANMAC and AHPRA still haven't sorted out the discrepancy in their assessment processes.

Also, has anyone had any luck through getting some movement through their local member of parliament. It seems that has worked for the nurses in WA as there was a story on ABC radio about one of their ministers actually trying to do something about it but I haven't seen any similar comments made parliamentarians from other states.

Specializes in Stroke Unit.

@aescobar Well, we did a comparison of the content that was teached in Germany and is at Uni SA when repealed against their decision. It had no effect. Think, they even have not read it, as AHPRA decision seems just based on the certificate/degree.

After AHPRA mentioned they will support all wrong assessed IQN, we tried a registration again but got a letter stating as AQF5 nurse there will potentially no support be available...

Hi Ceridwyn,

Happy New Year! Just dropped by to say Hi... Quick update, I will be completing The masters program at monash by this year june hopefully!! Thanks heaps for your help !!

Has anybody heard any recent news from AHPRA on registering AQF5 nurses that were caught out by the change? The last we heard nurses that were AQF6 were allowed to register without a bridging course and then we received a later email saying AQF5 nurses didn't get offered any solutions. Does anybody know if AHPRA is still working on the problem for AQF5 nurses?

Any news from ahpra? I'm also a RN from Germany.

Hi ,I am new in this site. I just got my refusal letter from AHPRA. I am a registered nurse in uk since 2003 .i did my nursing degree from India . But AHPHRA saying my degree is not equivalent to Australian curriculum. So they asked me to do a bridging course. I am planning for an appeal. Could anyone tell me what documents I need to submit.

I am writing this on behalf of me and my partner.

My partner is from Finland, we have a defacto visa in Australia and was trained as an emergency nurse and has worked in Finland and Switzerland (4-5 years). The application was put through after doing all the preliminary work with English test, documentation and translations. 15 months later we had to put through a letter of complaint due to no contact being made for long stretches of time and a decision was never made. The decision came via email which a letter of rejection and the bridging course would to be done if that is approved.

I would strongly suggest nurses from Europe to not apply for the registration, unless you have a high education which could be pre-approved before doing your registration. It's a long process with many stories which costs you time and money with no success.

I am personally going see if I can get a local government member in Australia to look in to the system and might contact media outlets on the process to shed some light on this situation.

Hi Lisbeth22,

I would like to know what papers you gave AHPRA in order to approve your registration. I am also an RN from Denmark.

@patriti - I don't mind sending you my comparison. Can you send me a private message with your email? And thank you. I struggled for so long and by the sound of it was lucky that I was under the old regulations. I sent in my paperwork/documentation in April 2013 and after an appeal was finally given a pre-approval in December 2013. I think the new regulations have made things much worse for APHRA and I can only wonder if they ended up making their own assessors even more stressed. It seems it wasn't all that thought through. However, it's just my own speculations.
Dear Lizbeth, I am writing for help and your kind suggestion. Recently I got my registration result and I have been given principle registration. Could you please let me what steps you have taken in your case. It is better to go for sporsor (I am also not sure if employers will be sponsoring me for principle registration) or do i need to go for PR. Need your support and kind suggestion. My mail adress is [email protected]

Hi Manzoor,

For all of us hopeful applicants, can you please tell us what country you applied from and when?

Congratulations on the registration result!

Hi Manzoor,For all of us hopeful applicants, can you please tell us what country you applied from and when?Congratulations on the registration result!
I have applied from Pakistan, I send my application in May, 2014. Completed all my documents by August 2014 and luckily got my registration day days before.
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