Moving from the US to Australia

SarahRN1987 · Mar 15, 2011

SarahRN, that's so exciting!!!
I'm a Nurse from the US with 2 years experience on a cardiac/telemtry floor and just mailed all my paperwork into the AHPRA a week ago. :) Just the waiting game now!!
How long would you say your entire process took before you officially got your license to work in Oz? Would you mind me asking what agency you're working for and what city?
How difficult would you say the transition has been?? So your TOE is our TEE and your GORD is our GERD? how funny. :)

Thanks everyone for your replies, I am starting to get the hang of things, but it is going to be a long haul I think

Gintran, I applied originally last May for my license to be transferred, and I only just got accepted a few weeks ago. The reason for that was because when I applied, they still had state-by-state registrations, and in July they switched to a national registration system (AHPRA), so I got caught right on the transition of that and had to start over in July. So I would say by the time I got my application sent in again, it will took about 5 months to process. I found that the key is making sure you have everything done exactly as they want, and when you find out who your registration officer is, keep calling them to make sure that they are working on your case. I think mine finally got tired of putting up with me, so she approved my case lol

Right now I'm working for two different agencies, just to increase my chances of getting called for a shift. I am in Melbourne, so I just googled "nursing agencies in melbourne" and applied to the ones that looked all right. There are so many of them out there! You won't have any issues getting in with one of them. The transition so far has been somewhat difficult I am finding, but I am also a relatively new nurse and also had quite a big lapse in my practice because of waiting for my registration to be approved. The nurses I have worked with have been very helpful and patient with me, which is good!

Are you in Australia right now, or applying from the US?

gintran · Mar 15, 2011

I'm applying from the US. 5 months!! :eek: That's a long time! I'll be looking for work in Sydney. How long did you work as a nurse for before you started there in Australia? Are you there with a Work and Holiday Visa?? That's the one that I applied for.

Wow, I know everyone says applying for a license through the AHPRA takes a long time but I didn't realize it was THAT long!! I read in another post that a nurse from Canada applied in October and still hasn't received her license yet!!

Did you move to Australia first while you were waiting for your license to be processed? And once you received your license, did you find that agencies were more willing to work with you? I'm actually going to Sydney for vacation in about 2 weeks and wanted to set up appointments with agencies to ask questions about benefits, housing, contracting, ect. but they all kind of brushed me off and said to recontact them again once I have m license...which I guess makes sense if it really does take that long to process!!

But all in all I'm very excited and can't wait, I'd love to hear all about your transitioning!!

nursegirl62 · Mar 15, 2011

My license took about 6 months to process, and get all the verifications met. I too think the case worker on it, just plain got tired of my following up on it and not giving up that she finally just process it. Be prepared for a long tedious process, I had to verify my microbiology lab hours from 20 years ago! crazy I know.

ceridwyn · Mar 15, 2011

I would like to apologise on as a consumer of AHPRA to all overseas nurses applying for registration in Australia that it is not as quick as one would like.

Please, think of the Australian nurse when we apply to the USA or Canada, most of the time we have to be assessed by 2 different organisations and then IF approved one must pass a national exam! this can take 8 months to 18 months to achieve! and this is a fast approval for registration in your countries....our new national board now has to register many of the health professions for the whole of Australia, This may have made registrations longer but this is a good thing too.. This now allows you guys when you are registered with Australian Nurse registration, to easily move between all the states without having to apply to different state nursing boards, is that not a brilliant idea? is that not great? saves time and money! and far more convenient, not being assessed everytime you want to travel to another state. Unlike USA and Canada for Australian Nurse who would have to go through assessment everytime they moved states.

,

plus AHPRA the inundation from hundreds of international applicants, and not just nurses ( I have heard it is thousands a week) due to Australia being the only country that seems to still have nursing positions available.

plus, remember our universities finish end of october so if you apply over this time they have all the local graduates from all the different health professions to register......international applicants are not a priority at this time, exact same as happens in other countries, locals come first.

When these comments are made it gives to me the opinion that it is thought that Australia is some open cheque country with standards still to be established and that should except nurses from overseas easily and just rubber stamp a person with a RN license from USA, Canada, and Phillipines, UK. etc etc.

On saying that, I hope everyone's Australian 'registration' comes through for everybody on time when needed. I am just frustrated that these common remarks are made about my nurses registration board, without giving thought to the process the other way around!

Sorry for the rant

Hope to see you guys soon. Australia is the best place in the world. ... and welcome.

K+MgSO4, BSN · Mar 15, 2011

You could also apply to work nurse bank at a hospital. Like agency but just for that hospital, casual or fixed term contract. Could apply to work at as many as you want

caramel79, RN · Mar 28, 2011

Hi can you Ladies pls kindly tell me which agencies you are using to get your sponsorship? I'm an ED nurse with 7 months Ed experience and 6 month acute medicine experience. I've got my ahpra but the problem is trying to secure a job in Ed. It would be great if someone could shed some light on this (

smv939 · Mar 28, 2011

hi ceridwyn,

thanks for your detailed explanation.

my relative wants to migrate to australia. she has a rn licencse from us and she registerd in new york state.

she studied in a very good engilsh medium school and she holds 3rd rank in her university for b. sc nursing

she works in a hospital in india where the natives speak some local language (not english)

she wants to move australia. but does't know where to start and what to do.

the following are the my questions.

1.should she take ielts exam for applying the australian registration?can she get a waive from that?

2.with us rn,can she register in australia without taking any exam? or should she take an rn kind of exam in australia get the license.cgfns verified her credentials for rn.

thanks in advance.

K+MgSO4, BSN · Mar 29, 2011

No she needs to take the IELTS there is no way of getting out it when studying in India

ceridwyn · Mar 29, 2011

hi ceridwyn,
thanks for your detailed explanation.
my relative wants to migrate to australia. she has a rn licencse from us and she registerd in new york state.
she studied in a very good engilsh medium school and she holds 3rd rank in her university for b. sc nursing
she works in a hospital in india where the natives speak some local language (not english)
she wants to move australia. but does't know where to start and what to do.
the following are the my questions.
1.should she take ielts exam for applying the australian registration?can she get a waive from that?
2.with us rn,can she register in australia without taking any exam? or should she take an rn kind of exam in australia get the license.cgfns verified her credentials for rn.
thanks in advance.

i have to have a giggle everytime someone states that they have a us registration can it be just 'endorsed' for work in australia or suggest it get you out of some sort of australian assessment. the answer is no, having any us registration does not alter any australian assessment, totally different country.

as for ielts they do state if had secondary and nursing educated in of the main western countries then you do not have to take ielts but if not western country, even if your school was speaking english it was still taken in a country were english is not first language, but she did take nursing education in a country where english is first language, (well, type of english ) this may be okay...do not know...my guess if secondary education was in india then ielts would need to be passed...

your friend would have to check with ahpra re the ielts as the requirements do change. up until november nurses from the uk had to do ielts though i see nurses from australia still have to do it for the uk :mad:

australia does not have national exam, hence they need to check on nursing schools and curriculum to see if university standard and are fussy about the ielts........too many nurses in the past have been granted registration with poor english skills and no national exam to show this up...... risking the australian community.

good luck

smv939 · Mar 29, 2011

Thanks for the reply.

1.The following document I found in the website which explains nurses who studied in high school and collge need not pass the IELTS.It did not mention any country. So I thought INDIA is included.

The first document(English Language Skills Explanatory Notes and Frequently Asked Questions) in this link http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/FAQ-and-Fact-Sheets.aspx

Applicants who have completed their secondary education as well as a nursing or midwifery program, taught and assessed in English.

If an applicant is able to provide sufficient evidence that they have completed: their secondary education taught and assessed in English to the requisite level required for entry into a nursing or midwifery program AND a nursing or midwifery program taught and assessed in English then the applicant is not required to undertake a test of English language proficiency for registration purposes.

2.Is there any exams(LIKE RN for US) in Australia? where should She take the exam? She took the US RN exam in India.The person who wants to migrate does not know much about the outside world.

So please help.

Thanks.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 29, 2011

Moved to a thread on it's own as veered off topic to the one they where in.