Hello everybody! First let me say thank you for taking the time to read this. I am a nursing student in the USA with the dream of migrating to AU in about 5 years. My husband and I absolutely love your country. My husband was in Adelaide, South Australia for a couple of months with his job and fell in love with all that your wonderful country has to offer. I have a few questions for all of you nurses. Here, in the United States people commonly say "nurses eat their young" referring to how bad the new nurses are sometimes treated. How is the nursing environment in AU? Do the nurses constantly fight with each other like they do over here in the US? What is the nursing environment like where you work? Are the nurses respected, or are they often treated badly by the doctors? Are you happy with the nursing profession in AU?
I agree the people from Australia are very friendly. I work with many people from different countries every summer at camp. I have made friends with many, two of my friends from Australia just visited me in FL. hopefully I will get to visit them, one is from Adelaide and the other Melbourne.
I'm a U.S.-born RN trying to move to Australia. I've downloaded the application for a 4-year working visa (too old by 1 year to qualify for the skilled immigrant program) and also have the form for a NSW nursing licence (I'm learning to spell it like you, mates...) I've been swapping e-mails with "headhunter" agencies that recruit international nurses. The two I've dealt with so far seem friendly and willing to smooth the way for hook-ups with hospitals. Can anyone tell me about the pros and cons of these recruiters? Eden Health and Acclaim are the ones I've been in touch with. Do they do a good job, or are they like the Nigerian bank scams, where the game is to make people pay a lot of fees for nothing in return?
I have no idea about work visas or whatever or if international agencies charge you for their use, but if you are entitled to get a 4 year visa and get NSW nurse rego, just come over and apply to any hospital. Give these agencies the flick if they are going to charge and set you into a contract. Nearly all overseas nurses I have known from the UK or Asia just get the visas, nurses rego and come over independently. If you are an RN you can work in practically any general setting in any hospital in Australia, - subject to that states registration. Work is everywhere.
When you are here in the country you do not often hear of the headhunting agencies that are out there!
There are nursing agencies over here if you want to work casual. That do not charge at all.
By the way once you have nursing registration with one state every other state also recognises that and then there is just the form and money to hand over to be registered in the state you wish to practice. C
Specializes in Mental Health, Orthopaedics, MedSurg.
HI Bukko, I cannot speak for the rest of Australia as I am only familiar with Queensland. When I last enquired (about 4 months ago, the Queensland Nursing Council advised that it would take up to 6 weeks to process nursing registration if you are from the US and it does not matter if you have a Bachelor degree or ADN. You do get paid a level higher if you have a degree. The public hospitals pay more than the private hospitals. If you would like to know roughly what you can earn per hour, just let me know how many years you have been nursing and you get paid a level higher if you have a Masters degree or post graduate diploma or certificate in the area that you specialise in. Queensland, apparently, so I've heard has the lowest paid nurses in Australia but our standard of living is not as high as the rest of Australia. I am happy with what I get here.
I agree with ceridwyn, that you can basically come over and get a job, get a letter of job offer and apply for work visa, and you can apply for permanent residency quite easily once you have a work visa, if you are under 45 years ( qualifying age for PR) of age. Truly, visas and permanent residency status are processed quicker if you are a nurse...............what with the shortage and all.
However, from experience, being a NZ citizen (Aust & NZ has a reciprocal agreement), I wanted to come to a job instead of having to look for one when I arrive. So, I contacted a nursing agency, Geneva Health ( I have had good dealings with them), no cost to me, and they secured a 3 months contract for me. A job to go to! ..............and then I looked around and found the job which suited me and my family better. Albeit, it took a little longer but at least I had a job and income to go to. Do you have children? If you do, and you get a work visa, your children pay minimal, if not, free education. And when you get Permanent Residency, you are entitled to Family Assistance, depending on your income. Australia is great, lots to offer ............... what else can I tell you ................... ask away and I'll answer as much as I can.
I agree with ceridwyn, that you can basically come over and get a job, get a letter of job offer and apply for work visa, and you can apply for permanent residency quite easily once you have a work visa, if you are under 45 years ( qualifying age for PR) of age. Truly, visas and permanent residency status are processed quicker if you are a nurse...............what with the shortage and all.
Hope this helps ..............................
Your replies do help. Many people do come over independently, eh? The nursing agencies I have been in touch with have not asked for any fees from me, but we're early in the relationship. They have to make money somehow to pay the nice RNs I've been chatting with, though. No one deals with the paperwork for an international nurse out of the goodness of their heart! I'm assuming there is a fee that these headhunters extract from the hospital, in return for doing the vetting the hospital's human recources department would otherwise handle. (Does Australia use this terrible "H.R." American term, one of the many cases where our country takes three multi-syllable words to obfuscate the simple, understandable label of "Personnel Office"?)
The agencies do mention contracts of a year or more. I'm not averse to that. It might sound contradictory coming from a person who wants to "country-hop," but I'd like the stability of a guaranteed workplace instead of the prospect of job-hopping. Emigration is a gigantic step, and I want to have a place to land before we jump.
My wife and I (no kids) are leaving a comfortable situation in which we have stable jobs and a beautiful home overlooking the Pacific in San Francisco, one of America's more liveable cities. We just dread the economic collapse and social chaos we see coming under four more years of Bush. I won't go into a political rant here. But I love Australian rock (Hoodoo Gurus! Radio Birdman!) and have many Internet friends and a few real-world ones from the your land. Australia seems to have the friendly, can-do spirit that America used to have before we became a nation of fat, angry planet-killers. Oops! starting to rant...
Anyway, I'm doing the research and I'm sure we'd be good, hard-working additions to Oz. We're both well-traveled, and not exactly impoverished. Aiming more for Victoria, South Aus. or someplace where it's a bit colder than Queensland. (My wife suffered through living in our state of Florida, so that's enough sub-tropics for us...) Looking forward to being your mate, mates.
Bukko ..... South Australia is THE place to be mate! Good luck with the move, you won't regret it. PM me if I can be any help.
Cheers,
Grace
One nice thing I notice about Australia, when reading these and other posts about which city/state is superior, is the FRIENDLY rivalry between regions. It's kind of like the good-natured razzing over sports teams and brands of beer. A lot of bragging, a little slagging, but no absolute trash-bagging. Sadly, in my own increasingly divided country, rivalry has turned into hatred.
We had a friend over for dinner last night who's a South African, transplanted to Byron Bay in NSW,although he's been in the U.S. for a decade doing computer programming. Naturally, he thinks his community Down Under is the best. So, you Aussie state partisans, here's a chance to weigh in. I've heard Melbourne is more laid-back than the hustle-bustle of Sydney. Adelaide is supposed to be beautiful, but I've heard it's a tad slow, like a retirement area. Queensland sounds super, but doesn't the weather there tend to be rather Indonesian-level torrid? This might sound odd, but my wife wants somewhere that gets cold. In Melbourne, I'm told, you can experience four seasons within two hours...
Another question here -- are international nurses regarded generally as good additions by in-country nurses, or are we seen as interlopers who depress wages by diluting the overall supply of labor? I know there's a strong union tradition in Oz, although Latham's loss might belie that. I live near Silicon Valley, and foreign high-tech workers are reviled as pay-packet busters. Is that how it is with o'seas nurses in Australia?
I currently work with nurses from the Phillipines, South Africa, China, Taiwan, New Zealand, India, Samoa and the UK. It's only the New Zealanders anyone has a problem with :rotfl:
I think the fact that so many of us come from all over to start with, plus that Aussie nurses often head O/S ourselves, means that we tend to appreciate the different perspectives multiculturalism brings. Plus, with more language, odds are our patients have a better chance of being understood - could really use some Russian nurses at my hospital :)
There just aren't enough nurses here to meet demand, and no question of overseas nurses being hired in preference to locals. I read the recent, heated thread about Filipina nurses with some surprise - it's really not that much of an issue, at least not where I've worked.
As we all get award wages, there's also no question of salary undercutting or anything like that. Latham might have missed out, but we have a strong history of unionism, and no Liberal government's going to change that! Besides, the Victorian award isn't up for renegotiation for another three years, and we'll be looking at election mode again by then :)
Melbourne is more laid back than Sydney, and Australia is generally more relaxed than the US in general. Ah, Sydney - a nice place to visit... ! Queensland gets hot. A lot. And the rain makes you realise that it really is in the tropics.
I have a friend working in high dependancy in rural/remote South Australia, and there's nothing retirement-level about her work day. SA has great vineyards, fabulous seafood, and hot weather. It's perhaps not as cosmopolitan as Sydney or Melbourne, but it's also cheaper. If Mrs Bukko wants colder weather, either Melbourne or Tasmania are the answer. You're right about Melbourne's seasonal fluctuations - just today it's been over 30 (celsius), rained, and it's currently in the low teens.
The great thing about coming here is that, whichever state you choose (Melbourne! Melbourne!) you'll be blessed enough to be surrounded by fantastic landscapes, wonderful food, and Australians! Come on down, cobber!
Too right!! Tasmania is our coldest and incidentally one of our prettiest states if you are looking for English country garden pretty. IF you are looking for the "Vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended and at the the glory of the everlasting stars" Then I think SA might be your pick.
Once again though, I counsel and I cannot re-inforce this strongly enough. DO NOT repeat DO NOT go to a rural/remote hospital of under 50 beds until you have worked here at least a year. Our rural and remote is far more remote than what is common in the US and so many many things are different from legal backing through to drug names that attempting such a move is fraught with potential problems. Go to a bigger hospital for a year suss out the things you need to know and then go work in rural and remote areas - lots of luck!!!
Specializes in Med/Surg/Ortho/HH/Radiology-Now Retired.
Mighty nice of you two girls to say such gracious and positive things about beautiful South Australia! MUCH appreciated by this biased, die hard southerner!
But then you both know I'd probably get REALLY pissy if you didn't! Right?! :rotfl:
I've lived and worked in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Broken Hill (in the far west-aka- outback- of NSW) for those uninitiated! Have spent time in Queensland too. So what I'm trying to say is; I HAVE lived in places other than S.A and feel somewhat qualified to comment on and compare, the different cities, towns, states. I've travelled the length and breadth of those states, saw and did more than some locals who'd lived there all their lives. Each place has it's own uniqueness and things to offer. For me personally, South Australia offers a bit of almost all what the other states have, plus some. The added bonus is; it's cheaper, both to live and buy a home. You are between east and west, just south of the Northern Territory, north of Tassie, we're surrounded by beautiful hills on one side, and magnificent beaches on the other. We have the beautiful Murry River runs through the state, absolutely THE BEST wines/vineyards in the country, stunning architecture, lovely churches fabulous restaurants, cafes, in fact, more so per head of poulation than the other states, wonderful hospitals, both public and private, Adelaide University, a world leader in research, and .... oh! I'll shut up, don't want to P*** you off by boasting TOO much! :chuckle
You need to know though, it DOES get COLD here! And I'm talking really COLD. We've been known to have snow in the beautiful hills. Granted not knee deep, but snow just the same! And.....it's cosmopolitian too!
Ok, ok, I'll bugger off now! :roll But B 4 I do..... why not come for a visit? I know you'd enjoy it.
Specializes in Med/Surg/Ortho/HH/Radiology-Now Retired.
For the non Aussies!.......
Please don't take offence when we say the word "bugger". It's not meant in the contex in which you may think! lol
Here in Oz, the word is often used in every day speech. It's a "slang" word, but the meaning is not intended as offensive. ie; someone might say; "Boy! I've had a hard day and I'm totally buggered ( tired, worn out, lethargic) now. Or; "Aw, bugger off!" In other words... "leave me alone, nick off, get lost". Or...."Well, I'll be buggered!" Meaning.... "REALLY?!- surprised,-disbelieving,- blown away.
Sssooo, as you can see, it's not a word to take offence at here in Oz!
Hope this goes some small way in explaining.
Oh, BTW.... If you ever converse, correspond, with us Aussies..... please be warned,.... here in Oz, the word "Fanny" has a WHOLE DIFFERENTmeaning!!!
What ever you do... NEVER ask/tell a woman here, or ANY Aussie female, to sit on her "fanny"! In fact, just DON'T say that word to her in any contex relating to her!
Reason?....... Here in Oz, the word "Fanny" is slang for ...lady parts!!
:chuckle 
:roll But B 4 I do..... why not come for a visit? I know you'd enjoy it. 
Nur_1996
142 Posts
I agree the people from Australia are very friendly. I work with many people from different countries every summer at camp. I have made friends with many, two of my friends from Australia just visited me in FL. hopefully I will get to visit them, one is from Adelaide and the other Melbourne.