If, like my missus, you are a doctor wanting to move to Australia, then there are a few steps you will need to complete, which include:
- Application (1) for Primary Source Verification (online) to the Australian Medical Council (AMC): The AMC verifies your primary medical degree and one of your specialist qualifications.
- Application (2) for Reciprocal Fellowship via the Specialist Pathway Programme (online) with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP): hospital doctors, obviously, apply to the relevant College.
- Application (3) for Medical Registration as a Specialist to the Medical Board of Australia to gain specialist registration.
- Application (4) for Temporary Business Sponsored Visa (Subclass 457) with the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).
- Application (5) for a Medicare Provider Number with Medicare Australia.
Gathering your Documents
The first step is to collate the documents required, i.e. all of your medical-type certificates, passport, etcetera. For some steps, doctors only require duplicate documents, whilst other steps require certified originals. If you are utilising the services of an agency they will guide you through the process and will, most likely, require scanned copies of all your documents (yes that is a fun bit!).
Note: If your degree certificate has Latin and English at the bottom unfortunately the whole certificate will need to be translated.
Application 1: AMC
The AMC have introduced a new online application which came into effect on 01 October 2015. As part of the new system doctors will need to have an (epic) identification form witnessed by a solicitor or a notary. It is at this point that the doctor should have their documents certified. The certified documents will be needed for AHPRA which will be Application 3. Doctors will need to upload their passport in order to be able to download the AMC application form.
Application 2: RACGP
Doctors will be required to return to a notary when they are ready to submit their RACGP Online Application (Step 2) as the declaration form must be witnessed by a notary. The Declaration Form is generated online and does not become available until after the AMC application (Step 1) is complete; and so a second visit to the notary is unfortunately unavoidable. If there is any documentation missing for AHPRA they can be certified at this point.
