Immigration And Visas
As a Medical Doctor, you will be eligible for either a temporary or permanent visa. For the majority of International Doctors, the usual process is that an application will be made firstly for a temporary visa and then a permanent visa if you are seeking permanent residency in Australia. In order to do get a permanent visa, you must hold full medical registration issued by the State or Territory Medical Board.
We can advise you on the different processes involved and about the best route to take to complete your registration and to obtain a visa. This will be dependant upon your personal status and the position you will be taking up.
The following is some additional detailed information about the Visa process which has been extracted from the Australian Government’s “The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’” publication.
Temporary Visa Options for Doctors
Australian organisations (businesses, communities or government agencies) can sponsor overseas doctors to work in Australia for periods of between 3 months to up to 4 years.
Temporary visas are the usual pathway to permanent residence for doctors who do not yet hold full medical registration in Australia. However, IMGs can commence a period of supervised practice and formal assessment in Australia so as to meet the requirements for full medical registration.
Before applying for a temporary visa a doctor must:
- already have a GP Position arranged in a practice
- be registered with a State Medical Board
Temporary Business (Long Stay) visa (Subclass 457)
The Temporary Business (Long Stay) visa is generally the preferred temporary visa pathway for doctors entering Australia as it allows employers to take advantage of the following streamlined processing arrangements:
- employers and doctors are able to use a special online application form
- employers can have one sponsorship agreement to cover multiple doctors, nurses and other staff employed by the same employer
- once a sponsorship agreement has been approved, employers can nominate doctors through a nomination application that is much simpler than a full sponsorship application
Subclass 422 - Medical Practitioner (Temporary) visa
The Medical Practitioner visa is an alternative visa for doctors registered to work in Australia. It requires that an employer lodges a separate sponsorship application for each doctor sponsored. In limited situations, such as where a rural community or local council is seeking to sponsor a doctor, this visa will be the most appropriate visa.
More detailed information on immigration and visa’s are available from www.immi.gov.au
Credits: some of this information was taken from “The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’” written by the Australian Government.
