My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Old Jan 28th 2015, 7:05 pm
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Originally Posted by old.sparkles
Not sure who you are addressing - many people have posted on this thread. (There is a quote button at the bottom right of every post so you can quote a person in your post)

Have you checked the AHPRA and ANMAC criteria to see if they will accept references from superiors other than your employer?
The criteria States it must be from either a manager or HR department and they are saying the same thing. Sorry, only joined today so I'm not sure how it works lol. I know that nursing homes are notoriously strict about this stuff.

L
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Old Jan 29th 2015, 10:46 am
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Originally Posted by picto1
Hi

I thought I'd share my experience so far with the progress of my application to AHPRA and plans to move to Australia.

I hope I don't bore anybody as I'm sure I'll write a lot but I thought it would be useful.

At present I'm a Mental Health Nurse working as an 8a managing acute in-patient services for an NHS trust.

The thought and decision to move to Australia came out of the blue really - it's something myself and the other half talked about one morning so I did some research and thought what the hell....We don't have any ties here in the UK and not getting any younger I'm 40 the other half is 42 -
lets go for it - so I did.

Initially I read a lot of information on websites, forums contacted recruitment agencies etc etc. I was given a lot of advice about what I should and shouldn't do initially. I basically absorbed too much and managed to get confused. I regrouped myself and concentrated on what I needed to know and do.

I chose not to use and migration agency as I wanted to see the process from start to finish and stay in control of it. I also didn't want to spend money that would be needed elsewhere in the journey.

My main focus was the AHPRA application, employment opportunities and the type of visa that would suit me.

AHPRA Application:
I found this straight forward - a couple of questions threw me and I wasn't entirely sure if I'd completed it properly.

The only mistake I made was the question about personal indemnity - remember to tick 'YES' - I ticked no.

I had the following documents certified by a notary public - total cost was £60.

Driving Licence (both parts)
Passport
Diploma Certificate
Health & Social care Certificate
Bank Statement
Credit card
Debit card
GCSE certificate

I compiled an application pack - all very neat and tidy with a covering letter explaining the contents and items that were being sent separately and items I was waiting for.
I was waiting for the transcript, NMC verification and two work statements from previous employers giving me the full 5 years evidence as requested.

I sent the application to the Brisbane office - I notice on the forum that advice was given to send applications to Adelaide and Darwin as these are less busy - Perth, Melbourne and Sydney were suggested as very busy and slow - Brisbane wasn't mentioned, hence my choice.

My application arrived on the 5th February - I had it tracked from the post office all the way on standard delivery costing £24 - it arrived in 7 days - tracking was a little hit and miss though as it only managed to track it to Brisbane.
On the 7th Feb the Credit bill arrived (annoyingly but usefully) and we noticed that a payment had been taken from AHPRA Brisbane! AHPRA had taken the whole £360 application/processing fee!

I checked my emails and I'd received confirmation, on the 7th Feb, that my application had arrived and was being processed.

Exactly a week later on the 14th Feb I received an email asking for more information - this is where it got a little tricky.

information needed:
Two previous work statements - I just had to call the HR departments and ask them to speed up a little.

Evidence of 5 years primary, secondary or tertiary education taught and assessed in English. My GCSE certificate wasn't evidence of schooling, it was only evidence of taking the exams.
I contacted my school (named since changed) to ask if they had old school reports as AHPRA requested as evidence of each year attended. The school advised me to call the Council as they hold the archives.

I called the Council - they said call the school! small nightmare although everyone was extremely helpful. long story short I ended contacting 3 different local authorities for a record of me attending school - the only record one council had for my school was dated 1836.

I called the school again and asked for their help - they would be happy to write a letter that I attended school only if I could prove it.

I ended up calling my mum and asking if she had kept anything from school. She found 1 school report and several sports certificates from sports days spanning 3 years.

I called the school again and asked if they would accept these as evidence. I was asked to drop them off. I did just that and within 45 mins the guy called saying he's written a letter! chuffed to bits or what! (in fact I was a little excited as I wasn't sure what else to do and I really didn't want to do the IELTS - I would have done though).

Gathering all this, working etc took me until the 12th March - so the hold up was basically waiting on others. During this time I'd received emails from AHPRA saying they had received the transcript and NMC verification.
I posted the outstanding items on the 14th March with superfast delivery costing £60.

It all arrived on the 19th and I received an email on the 21st saying that my application has now been passed to have my qualification equivalence assessed.

Now all I have to do is wait - I've no idea how long it will take now.

VISA choice:
I'm going to try and get a sponsorship under 457. The very helpful recruitment consultant, Chris, said that private hospitals do still sponsor. Failing that I will need to rethink and look at PR.

forum user genorm (extremely helpful) referred my CV to the recruitment agent.

Job opportunities:
The agency said he has contacts at 3 hospitals - again very helpful. I asked about my chances of a similar role, although I would never expect to have a similar role over there. He said my chances may be good as a manager/semi clinical.

During this time I made contact with a very helpful expat who's been in Perth for the last 2 years. I got her contact details from my partners colleague sisters friend.

She asked me to send my CV and covering letter to her as she is involved with recruiting very soon for a new project with strong possibility of sponsorship (457) - I sent it over to her and its now with the HR dept.

I've contacted 4 recruitment agencies - only one has been helpful; however, until I get a letter of eligibility there isn't much they can do - correctly so.

My partner will not come with me initially as we have to think of pension as it's pension time in 6 years - lots more to research and work out here.

I hope this has been useful and I hope I haven't missed anything out.

Good luck to everyone and I hope we can share experiences.

Shaun
Hey,
You sound as if you know what you're doing so far and I've got a really worrying question. My last 12 months have been spent working in Dementia with challenging behaviour and EMI units (im an RMN and this has been in nursing home environments). They are refusing point blank to provide statements of service as it's against company policy, which isn't really a surprise because their references are the bare minimum. Im panicking now. My initial job after qualifying was in a close support setting with young adults and it's the same story. I completed a 12 month internship with the NHS and they are more than happy to provide the statement. I don't know what to do.

L x
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Old Jan 29th 2015, 10:59 am
  #213  
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Where are you at now Shaun? Did you get a sponsorship to Perth?
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 9:55 am
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Hi
this thread is really helpful as I am just starting the process now and have found all the paperwork a bit overwhelming so it's really handy to find someone else who has trodden this path before!

So I'm just working through the AHPRA form and working out what documents I need to get etc. Just wondering why you got debit and credit statements certified - or do these show your Australian residence?

I am also a bit confused with the IELTs test - If I get a letter from my universities/school to prove I was educated in English, is this sufficient?

Also, you said to tick 'yes' to professional indemnity - do we have to pay extra to get insurance? I know that in the UK the RCN provides it automatically...

thanks for any advice you can give
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 10:06 am
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Originally Posted by picto1
Wow!...AHPRA have emailed me today. They need more information...for criterion 2, 3 & 8. I emailed the school of nursing and they told me they will have it sorted and posted by Tuesday!

How efficient and cool is that!

Shaun
Hi Shaun
Your thread has been really helpful! Can I just ask you what you put for question 7 on the form? It asks for the address of your principal place of practice - did you already have a job waiting in Oz? I'm not sure what to put as I don't have a job yet.

thanks
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 11:01 am
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Hi Yvette
just wondering what these two forms are that you are talking about referring to the new criteria? Do you just mean those two letter templates or are there other forms that I'm not seeing??

thanks!
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 12:51 pm
  #217  
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Originally Posted by ipster
Hi Yvette
just wondering what these two forms are that you are talking about referring to the new criteria? Do you just mean those two letter templates or are there other forms that I'm not seeing??

thanks!
What post are you replying to?
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 12:53 pm
  #218  
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

Yvette had previously posted about two forms that were on the website that she had sent to her uni to complete. Think it was in a post quite a while back so wasn't sure if I was missing something. So far, I can only see the two letter templates - one for NMC and one for our university?
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Old Apr 27th 2015, 1:44 pm
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Default Re: My experience so far - Applying to AHPRA

You may need to re-visit the AHPRA site as quite a few things have changed since Yvette and Picto posted.
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