mujtababilgrami

Hi There,

I am an overseas medical professional with 2 years postgraduate medical experience in medicine and allied specialities back home. I am in UK and am eligible for registration in UK but there is a crisis of jobs for junior doctors in UK. I intend to work in Australia and then apply for immigration after my AMC. In the mean time can any body help me in finding a post of Senior House Officer / Resident Medical Officer or any training posts across Australia ??
I will be very grateful.
Thanking you.

mandj

its not too difficult to find jobs on the internet
for example, the NSW health site for jobs is here
http://www2.health.nsw.gov.au/healthjobs/default.cfm

good luck with your plans - i have been through the AMC process (some years ago now) and it is not easy. the exams themselves are far harder than finals at medical school and test you across the whole range of medicine (including paeds, psychiatry, O+G etc in both written and clinical exams). try to get some experience of these areas if you don't already. Emergency is a good job for keeping all your skills up to date before the exam.

more info on the AMC website
http://www.amc.org.au/

and this site is useful too

http://www.immi.gov.au/doctors/

good luck!

mvt550

And try doctorconnect.gov.au

Madhu

mujtababilgrami

Thanks a lot Mandj and all, for the valuable information.
I wanna ask can we apply for jobs without registration with AMC, as there is a category of conditional registration in which one have to pass AMC with in 24 to 48 months of conditional registration, Is it so?

Also do we have to apply online or the traditional Paper and forms application.

Do we have to attach photocopy of documents also with the application?

Looking forward for your answers.

mvt550

Unlike the UK where the GMC organises registration - the AMC does not register doctors.
Registration is the responsibility of the individual state/territory medical board.
There are various categories of registration.
As a junior doctor you will probably get conditional registration (no need for AMC exams) which allows you to work in a particular post for a particular time (can be extended usually depending on the circumstances). That is the registration I had when I first worked here as an RMO a few years ago. The AMC was not involved in any way.

You can apply for jobs in Australia and sort out your registration once you get the job. The other hassle will be your visa - which can take a while to process!!!

Passing the AMC exams etc means you are eligible for full registration with the different state/territory medical boards - you can organise this once you're here and working with conditional registration.

There are also area of need registration categories for which people generally don't need to have passed the AMC exams - but are in "areas of need" which may or may not suit you...

I must say at this point that I have never had any dealings with the AMC!! (My skills assessment for permenent residency had nothing to do with the AMC - UK qualified GPs with MRCGP can bypass them fortunately!!!).

Good luck
Madhu

mujtababilgrami

Hi, Thanks a lot for the reply. I was woundering that then who will do my skills assessment for permenent residency. Is it the state or territory medical board I guess.

Also when is this assesment possible. After getting job or before and what is the procedure for skills assessment for permenent residency in New South Wales for example.

Waiting for your reply.

Sincerely,
MUJ

armorris007

Hi Madui (and/or any other UK trained GPs living in Oz)

My partner is a UK trained GP whom has recently passed the MRCGP qualification.

Having already obtained a PR visa through my skill assessment as an IT professional, we're looking to move to Australia at the end of the year.

Looking at the myriad of paperwork ahead of her, we "think" we've sussed out the next steps for her, I wondered if you could perhaps comment on the following plan and assumptions:

1. Obtain Fellowship of the RACGP before leaving the UK (i.e. start this process now)

2. Then apply to the relevant State medical board (Queensland hopefully) for conditional registration - sending proof of FRACGP status?

3. Apply for GP positions in Queensland. (with any luck Brisbane area)

4. Move to Australia

5. Apply for a Medicare Provider Number.

6. Apply for professional indemnity cover.

7. Start work (finallly!).

Are there any steps I've missed?

Incidentally, how likely is that my partner would be able to work in (or near) a metropolitan area such as Brisbane.

It seems the Australian authorities deliberately make migration for foreign GPs difficult. The 19AB restriction appears to make things very difficult for us. As an IT person I need to live in or near the city - whereas 19AB enforces the opposite restriction on my partner. Nightmare!

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Andy

mvt550

Hi Andy,
You seem to have sussed it. So from your post - she already has PR right (ie - she was on your application?

1. Assuming your partner also has the JCPTGP or PMETB certficate as well as the MRCGP she is eligible for FRACGP ad eundum gradum.
She needs to fill in the forms (available from the internet) and send in the relevent RACGP subscription fee with copies of her relevent certificates/documentation. This process took nearly 8 weeks for me!!! If she has any probs with this then contact me for the contact details of the best person to contact.

2. Yes - I don't work in Queensland so I have no idea what they require these days but I believe there is a long list of things as well as the FRACGP documentation including prrof of English ability etc.

3/4 - I suppose you can do this in either order! Bear in mind provider number restrictions - so no (point applying for jobs if she will never get a provider number to work there - see below)

5. Yes- and various other forms things the practice should organise once she gets there.

6/7 - Yes!

Assuming your partner didn't go to medical school in Australia or hasn't done the AMC exams before 1997 then she will face provider number restrictions... So central Brisbane itself might be out of the question I'm afraid. I don't know as I have no experience of working there. I know Sydney was for me - which didn't actually matter as I live (and work) in rural NSW (through choice!) anyway - in a town which already had DWS status. If you want more info on DWS - let me know.

I hear what you're saying about Australian migration policies for GPs and it is annoying and I'm surprised at some of the legalities of it (eg I'm surprised they can restrict an Australian citizen (because these restrictions apply to people with citizenship too) as to where he/she can work!) BUT Australian immigration aims to bring in foreign workers to fill the shortage here... the metro areas don't have these shortages of GPs! My personal feelings on this are irrelevent - I'm just pointing out why they've done it.

There is a "spouse" clause that is a saviour for some people - I think it applies if your spouse is working in a field such as nursing for which there is a shortage EVERYWHERE. If your spouse works in a metro area you are allowed a provider number to work in a metro area too. As I have not used this I know little more about it and I don't know if you working in IT would count or not but it might be worth a try for you both.

Also don't forget that there are numerous DWS places not far from central metro areas so hopefully if the spouse clause doesn't apply to you, you should be able to work something out near enough to Brisbane.

Madhu

mvt550

Hi MUJ,

1. What PR visa are you thinking of?
2. What field are you in?
3. Where are you in your training?

Skills assessment consists of full or conditional specialist registration from any state/territory medical board.

So once you've passed the AMC requirements you will apply to the NSWMB for full registration - this certficate (once issued) is your skills assessment (or at least a letter from them to say you are eligible for full registration)

BUT... depending on the PR visa you apply for you may need to meet the recent work experience criteria (in addition to having the correct skills assessment - eg 136 skilled independent visa). The medical practitioner occupations on the SOL are all SPECIALIST or a GP. There is no category for "doctor in training" If this is the route you want to go down check out the ASCO definitions - a registrar in most fields could probably meet these criteria (from memory you need 5 years SPECIALIST post grad experience (except for general practice - but this is specifically defined too) - but I may be wrong about this) but unlikely an RMO would - especially as there is a specific ASCO definition for RMO (and of course RMO is not on the SOL!)

So if you don't fulfil this recent work experience as a specialist then I guess you would need to either wait until you did (if feasible!) or think about a different PR visa without RWE criteria.