Hey everyone,

Any info or advice you can give me re the below i'd be greatly appreciated!

I'm in the UK about to graduate with a nursing degree. The job situation here is rubbish let alone working in the area i really want to. Therefore i've thought about moving to Oz for a year (extending if like it there) as a newly qualified nurse. In the UK in your first year you need to do a preceptorship (extra training) which i have read you can do in Oz. After doing lots of research into Visa's and costs etc, the best way for me to get over there would be with a sponsored 457 visa.

So the next step is finding a job and someone willing to sponsor me... is it here where i am now clueless! I have had a look at some websites advertising jobs, however to apply i already need a visa. Im just clueless at where to go next to get a job, and to get the employer to sponsor me. I am unsure what jobs to apply for as in this country nurses are banded from band 5-8. therefore i'd look for a band 5 staff nurse post. Does anyone know what i need to look for as a newly qualified nurse in Oz?

I know once i have a job and sponsorship i can apply for the visa and its processed pretty quickly, it's just getting the job and sponsorship seems like such a mammoth task! Any advice would so so help, im only early 20's, still live at home, finding it all quite daunting with so much confusing information out there. This is something i really want to do so again grateful for any replies!

Cheers
Carly

Hey Carly,

Can't help specifically with nursing bit here, but in general, you'd be better off trying to contact hospitals directly rather than trying to get through the recruiters. If you noticed already, absolute most ads come from them, not the employers. There is an industry association for Nurses, can't remember for the life of me what's it called, perhaps they could be of some help as well?

If you are under 31, you can apply for a Working Holiday Visa, that will give you a year in Australia, with the only limitation, you can not work more than 6 months for the same employer. If you are in Australia and can show up for an interview and they hire you right off the bat, in some cases (guessing that shortage of Nurses gives you an edge over other WHV'ers) progress to 457 or ideally to an employer-sponsored Permanent Residency visa.

Please note that 457 requires you to have some work experience under your belt and is not quite designed for trainee/entry level positions, generally speaking. We had quite a few Nurses passing through BE so there may be someone with a similar case to yours, hope they stumble on thread and air this out.

Hi,
They prefer at least one year post grad to start with so that covers your preceptorship and you need to apply to AHPRA which is the Oz registration board which can take up to six months or as in my case its coming up to 12 months since I sent my docs off the first time.
Most employers will not look at you without AHPRA reg, also you might find more info on the nursing forum on here.

Best of luck Shenni