Meeting AHPRA requirements as a International Trained Nurse from the Philippines

[Silverdragon102]

New thread discussing meeting APHRA requirements if trained in the Philippines.

Resources

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)

International registration / Nurses / Home - Nursing Council of New Zealand

Part 1 thread New grad Filipino nurse wanting to work in Australia/New Zealand

Part 2 thread New grad Filipino nurse wanting to work in Australia/New Zealand

I have started a thread in the Immigration for Immigration requirements for Australia/New Zealand

[sbeattrix]

Yes. Another thing, there are lots of grads here who are unemployed as well. I am on 456 visa, multiple entry.

May God direct our path annie, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. hope you could find a job. Any news on what specialty areas are they particularly looking for and is training counted as years of experience or they only count the paid ones?

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

Hi I am new here. i just submitted my documents for LOE last march 21 and AHPRA NSW received it last march 25. I checked the site of the courier that's why I confirmed that they had already received my application. However, I havent heard anything from them yet. It's already 9 days (including holy week) since they received it. How long do they usually confirm that they have received the application? Im a bit worried. Please help!! TIA!

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

hi noveau! :) just a question :) when and where are you gonna take your bp?:)

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

Yes, you can apply to an AHPRA Office (in a state you want to) for assessment and/or obtain eligibility, and take an approved bridging course in a different state other than the territory (AHPRA Office) where you lodge your application. As for my case, AHPRA WA granted me the eligibility and my BP will be in Sydney. You can check AHPRA's website for further info about their offices.

hi jb_101 :)

i guess you'll be taking your bp in College of Burwood? I have just submitted my application in AHPRA NSW. im just hoping and praying that it wouldnt take that long before they approve my application.

how did you apply to Burwood? that's where i'd want to take my BP as well.

thanks!:)

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

Hi! I just received an offer letter for May's intake for CON burwood? Who's for May intake too?

hi enilocin! congrats :) im planning to take my BP CON Burwood too. how did you apply? how long is the waiting time?:) thanks in advance!

[belle_v2g, BSN, RN]

May God direct our path annie, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. hope you could find a job. Any news on what specialty areas are they particularly looking for and is training counted as years of experience or they only count the paid ones?

Theater nurses and recovery / anaesthetics. :) atleast 3 yrs

[noveau]

hi noveau! :) just a question :) when and where are you gonna take your bp?:)

Hi there joanna, i am for ihna perth May intake;) how about you?

[danceinstructor]

SCENARIO IN AUSTRALIA.

It has been quite some time since I last visited in this site and I felt the need to post what I had experienced while doing the bridging program here in "The Land Down Under" to discuss with what is really happening. I hope this will somehow facilitate those who are aspiring to come and do the BP.

OVERVIEW. I am from BOHOL, Philippines and have just completed the IRON program (batch 7) of La Trobe University- Bendigo last month. The course runs for 13 weeks which started last 14 Jan 2013, however, I qualified for an "early exit" that's why I was able to finish it in just 8 weeks. One will qualify for such if you can carry out the National Competency Standards for RN here in Australia regardless if you have enough experience back in your own country or none at all. We were 40 international trained nurses in our class, 29 which were from the Philippines, 2 were from Japan, 1 from Taiwan and the rest are from India.

I would like to stress out the phrase "regardless even if you have enough experience or none". Yes, you can PASS the bridging program even if you have ZERO experience and you can also FAIL the course even if you have ENOUGH experience. Failing the course means you are not competent to be a RN Div 1 here in Australia, you may be competent in your own country but it does not necessarily give you an assurance that you can also be competent here. And that is happened to my other FILIPINO classmateS (Plural from) who FAILED the IRON program. THEY HAVE HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE back in the Phils, and yet they failed. The reason? I do not know. There were already nurses from other countries in the previous batches who were sent home because of not passing the course.

REGISTRATION. Those who succeed in the "early exit" got their certificate of completion from our school last 13 March. Some got their AHPRA registration in just a week's time, some in 2 weeks while I waited for 3 weeks for my registration to be finalized. Those who did not qualify for the early exit by some means finished the course a few weeks after we graduated. The course will supposedly end on 12 April and our 575 student visa will expire on 12 May to most students. If you will pass and finish the course in the 10^th or 11^th week then you do the math if it would take you 3 weeks for your registration to be processed. Time element is really a big factor.

JOB. Amongst the 40 nurses from our class, ONLY 1 got a job offer at the moment. Some already went to NSW, QL, SA yet still, no sponsorship has been given. Some of my classmates have a well calibrated experience from the top hospitals in the Phils but they are having a hard time in getting a sponsorship. Yes there are still LOTS of RN jobs available but most of them do not offer sponsorship for 457 visa anymore, some are casual and part time positions only. For one to qualify for the Employer sponsored 457 (work) visa, you should have a permanent full time position. The thing is that they are now prioritizing more on the locals/ residents here, and that is also 1 reason why the 457 visa will have strict changes starting 1 July this year. On top of that, you will be competing with the Graduate nurses here and the Div 2/ Enrolled nurse for they are the ones that most employers would most likely hire at present.

There are also many job openings for RN in special areas like ED, theatre, CCU/ICU, NICU but you should have at least 1-2 years experience in that special area, some hospitals even requires post graduate course certificate in those fields but still it does not guarantee that it will likely be sponsoring you for your working visa.

ACCOMMODATION. Bendigo is one of the regional areas in Australia and their minimum rent per week basing on what my other classmates had were between AU $ 150-175 PER WEEK. Some of my colleagues who were in an agency with a "fly now pay later" scheme had a temporary accommodation for almost 1 month only and after that they were on their own of finding a place in their remaining days of stay here. I was lucky enough that I got an accommodation for AU $ 120/ week that is just a 15 min walk to the hospital where I did my acute clinical placement and a 10 min walk to my non-acute placement but it took me 2 rides in going to the school. Somehow it was okay that I stayed away from school since there will only be 3 weeks classroom lectures and the rest are for the placements. I spent roughly AU $ 5 PER DAY for my fare to school.

If one is planning to come here then he should be tough and be prepared for every possible thing that may happen. Hope for the best and expect for the worst. Some students who finished their BP in other schools but couldn't find a job yet have already enrolled to other courses just to extend their stay here and continue their job hunting. I guess every one already has an idea of how much is the cost of their courses especially if you are an international student.

To the next IRON batch of LTU, good luck and believe that dreams do come true! You may PM me if you have queries like accommodation and others. I am not sure though if I can regularly check this site for any comments but you can also send me sms in my roaming Smart mobile no. [phone] for urgent matters.

Thank you and God bless us all!

[jb_101]

hi jb_101 :)

i guess you'll be taking your bp in College of Burwood? I have just submitted my application in AHPRA NSW. im just hoping and praying that it wouldnt take that long before they approve my application.

how did you apply to Burwood? that's where i'd want to take my BP as well.

thanks!:)

Hi!

Yes, I will be taking BP with ACN. Good luck on your AHPRA application. I hope it will be speedy.

As for application with ACN, you can send your application through email. Check their website for the list of documents you need to submit. Vaccination is needed as part of the application.

[funnybanana1989]

Hello jb, i am also applying for bp in ACN, i am still awaiting to be notified as emailed "Your application is complete you will be notified when you are placed into a program", yet, 2 days ago, the administrative assistant asked for an AFP Police check, have you already secure that kind of police check? have you already been placed into a program? or still awaiting for vacant slot? thank you.

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

Hi there joanna, i am for ihna perth May intake;) how about you?

congrats and Goodluck noveau! :) I have just submitted my application to AHPRA NSW. Hoping and wishing for their approval!:)

[JoannaPauLaBandaLa]

Hi!

Yes, I will be taking BP with ACN. Good luck on your AHPRA application. I hope it will be speedy.

As for application with ACN, you can send your application through email. Check their website for the list of documents you need to submit. Vaccination is needed as part of the application.

Goodluck ang Godbless on your BP!! :)