Hi me, my husband and three children are thinking of moving to Perth in the next year or two. I have a degree in biomedical science BSc Hons. I have worked in hospital laboratories and have experience in haematology, blood transfusion and will hopefully be gaining experience in bio chemistry soon. I know it's a long shot but there isn't by any chance any other BMS's on here that could give me some advice of what exams I need to take to be able to work in OZ.
many thanks in advance
Kelly xxx
Scotland xxx

Hi Myles2008, welcome to BE. I'm not a biomedical scientist, but I have friends who are. There's some info here, ignore the top part about TAFE qualifications, look further down about membership of professional bodies. It also lists the main govt lab in WA (PathWest), the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) lab, The Chem Centre and CSIRO (probably not much biochem at CSIRO Perth, though). There also might be work available at the various unis (lab work and/or teaching), University of Western Australia (UWA), Murdoch, Curtin, Edith Cowan (ECU) and Notre Dame (initials or uni name, followed by .edu.au for websites). There's also private lab services such as CliniPath and Western Pathology. You can also set up job alerts for www.jobs.health.wa.gov.au and unijobs, as well as the general purpose jobs website seek.com.au.

Thank you very much for that. I just feel a little lost with it all at the mo lol so much to think about and sort xx do any of your friends work in PErth by any chance? Was just wondering if jobs came up often? X

Do you have visas allowing you to move to Perth and work? That would be your first step.

www.immi.gov.au is where to start. If you find a visa you qualify for then that's the first hurdle. Once you get that started you can worry about jobs.

Hi we're just looking into visa now. I think I need to some sort of test/exam to be able to work abroad in my profession. Think we have enough points to get a visa x

You are possibly referring to the skills assessment, for some occupations it requires a test. It is nothing to do with working in Australia though, it is a test purely for the visa process.

I agree with Dorothy that the place to start is with the visa and visa process, not with what you need to do to be able to work in Australia, that is a later step.

Yes, I was forgetting about the "minor" issue of the visa, as I rarely answer a first post, so good job you and Dorothy brought that up.

I know that there are some restrictions on working in some labs here, though, depending on your course being recognised, so that could take as long to sort out as the visa process, or longer if the OP has to do some extra training.

Yeh that's why I was asking there's no point getting our visa if I can't work when I get there. I've done some researching and I have to sit an exam over here which is only run twice year in London. Once I've passed that it's valid for three years but it's quite pricey at about £700, but if that's what I need to do it'll just be another cost we have stump up xx

On the AIMS website, it says, "To be able to apply for the AIMS Membership Examination and receive an application form, one must be approved by the AIMS Membership Committee as eligible to sit the exam." Hopefully you can pass the first step of being allowed to sit the exam. The high cost of sitting it and your work prospects depending on it, plus the visa issue, would certainly put your motivation to revise/prepare at the highest possible level.

It might be worth contacting the medical labs here, particularly PathWest, to ask if they employ overseas-trained and AIMS-approved biomedical scientists. PathWest are not the only work option here, but I have been told that they tend to employ graduates from one WA uni only, but that's probably to do with only one course being accredited at the moment. I don't know if they employ people from outside WA. Good luck with this whole process.

It's not just an exam in London you have to do. You must do a skills assessment - probably Vetassess - before you can look at lodging an expression of interest.

Take a good long read of this site http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/ for what you need to do

Why would you not be able to work? You don't think you would be given a visa on the strength of tour occupation and then be unable to work..

You need to focus on the visa first, not jobs .. or childcare for that matter.

In my profession you can't just work anywhere every country will have its own governing body making sure everybody is working at a set standard. Thank you very much bitzenpces for your advice. I've had a good look on the aims website. If I can't afford childcare once I get there what is the point of wasting money on a visa. I can't understand why people are shooting me down for trying to research all aspects of a move which will be massively life chancing and very expensive. All I'm asking for is advice on what I'm asking not on if I've got a visa yet. I know your trying to help by advising me with getting going on our visa which we are just process and my husband is mainly dealing with. I'm trying to research all other aspects.

Wow, you're getting good advice form some very knowledgeable people, if you don't like the advice don't criticize them for it.
I don't think anyone is shooting you down, from their own experience and first hand knowledge they are making you aware of many aspects as you asked.
Moving here is no walk in the park, there is much to get through and definitely no certainties. And when you get here no one will guarantee you anything.

Chill, it's a long road and will have many ups and downs. It's also not without risk and many burn bridges only to find they've made a mistake despite the best intelligence. They guys here are trying to make you aware.

Good luck.

Thank you to everyone who's helped me, I'm actually just feeling quite stressed about the whole process. I'm just trying to gain as much info on all aspects cuz I'm scared of making a massive mistake for the whole family.
Thanks

There is a lot of information to take in and consider, and as EvannTel says, it takes a long time and a lot of effort to work through the process. When you're working full-time and have kids to look after, it can get very tiring and stressful, so take care of yourself.