International Nurse Seeking to Work in Australia

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Hi,

I am a Registered nurse holding an Australian permanent resident visa. Currently I am residing in USA with my family on a dependent visa.

I passed NCLEX in USA and did not work here because of the dependent visa. I worked till January 2008(1 year experience) in India and did not work after that because I got married and moved to USA. I would like to know how to get the license and work in Australia. Do I need to start any bridging course/ re-entry programs. Please advice.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Starting point would be AHPRA website and apply for registration, if no experience in the US then probably have to do some course but end decision will be with them

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Think you are going to need lot more than bridging program after not practising for 6 years and in India. I agree only AHPRA, can assess you eligibility but with the new criteria they tend just to tell you are what level they think you are at and that is it, unless you are AQF 6 and just need a bridging course, otherwise it may mean applying to a university to get a B N and hope to get credit.

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I have a Bachelors degree. So think i am AQF 7 and requires only bridging program?.

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thank you for your post

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there is more than that one criteria, one is recency of practise which includes at least 3 months work in any capacity of nursing in the last 5 years and proof of completing annual cpd of 20 hrs every year since nursing qualification and pharmacology as a subject. It might also be found that the Indian Bachelor is not at AQF 7. 6 years is a long time out of nursing and even Australian nurses that have let their registration lapse due to having families etc after 5 years have a hard time getting their registration with AHPRA back.

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