1. Moving to Australia for a UK / Irish Midwife

2. Moving to Australia for a UK / Irish Midwife
It is very difficult to present an exact process for transferring over to Australia, as it is a multi-layered, nuanced application process. You will have to deal with two separate agencies Health Ministry and the Department of Immigration. My advice, is take a step by step approach, be clear on the steps you have to follow, and tick them off.

3. Travel and work in Australia for a year:
If you are under 30 years of age you can
Apply for a working holiday visa.
This allows you to work for up to 6 months with one employer before having to move on.
This will however, depend on you getting AHPRA registration.
See AHPRA for midwives below with regards to possible conditions attached to your registration. This may impact your ability to get short term / temporary assignments.

4. Temporary Move to Australia (up to 4 years)
You can apply for a 457 visa, which allows you to work in Australia for up to 4 years.
It is a temporary sponsored visa, so your employer will have to nominate you.
It also allows your partner to work as well.
If you have school going children it will be more expensive, as you will have to pay full school feels on a temporary resident visa. It is possible to apply for PR during your 4 years on a 457 visa.

5. Permanent move to Australia
You can apply for Permanent Residency (PR). PR is only available for people under 50 yrs old (there are some specific exemptions)
There are two PR visas you can apply for yourself:
Independent PR (189) or
State Sponsored PR (190)

6. PR Points Based System
These visas are decided on a points based system. In order to apply and be eligible for these visas you must have a total score of 60 points.
The points criteria include: – age, experience, English ability, education and a few other miscellaneous categories (qualified interpreter / translator).
For State Sponsored visas you get an extra 5 points, which means someone with 55 points can apply for this PR visa.

7. PR Skills Assessment
Applying for PR yourself requires you to do a skills assessment. This is conducted by the authority who assesses nurses and midwives – ANMAC (Australian Nurses and Midwifery Assessment Council).
Please note your ANMAC assessment is to evaluate if you have the skills to be eligible for a visa (so it is different to AHPRA registration – see below).
Once you have attained your ANMAC assessment you can apply for your PR by submitting an expression of interest outlining your points, and wait to be invited to apply and the process begins.

8. Some Advice from an RN (January 2017)
Have all documentation ready before application for Visa
They will reply within 2-3 working days
You have 21 days to upload required documentation
Due to the time difference it can actually be 20 days
If you miss the cut-off you have to apply again
Garda Clearance in Ireland takes at least three weeks (Police Clearance is a requirement of the visa, so you may want to ensure you have initiated it before applying for your visa).

9. Employer PR Sponsorship
Some organisations can provide PR Sponsorship (186), which means there is no points requirement. You will still have to complete an ANMAC assessment.
In the past PR Sponsorship has been offered by Nursing Homes and private Hospitals. It may also be offered for difficult to fill specialities such as Midwifery.

10. English Language Requirement
Demonstrating proficiency in the English language is essential when applying for AHPRA or if you have to do an ANMAC assessment.
If you are applying for your ANMAC skills assessment and claim to have superior English (award of 20 points) you will have to demonstrate this by sitting a recognised English test.

11. Proving Your English Language Ability
If you have completed primary, secondary and third level education all through English (you must demonstrate this by letters from all these institutes).
If you have completed 5 years consecutive education in Nursing all through English.
Generally speaking, anything outside of this will have to prove their English ability by completing a recognised English test.

12. AHPRA
AHPRA is the authority that process your nursing registration in Australia.
They look after all the paperwork and documentation required to ensure you are suitably qualified to be registered as a nurse in Australia.
The AHPRA process has been subject to a number of changes over the last 8 years, so it is important to keep abreast of any announcements.
If you want, please check and join our Moving to Australia Group (LinkedIn) for any updates.

13. AHPRA for Midwives
There are eight criteria that AHPRA require from Midwives.
These include: your qualifications, educational institute, education programme, that you have the equivalent to an Australian Bachelor degree, content of your programme of study, that you have completed the required supervised professional experience, and your college confirms you completed an assessment in medication management.

14. AHPRA for Midwives
AHPRA provides complete details on all of these criteria
AHPRHA lists UK and Ireland as countries that ‘will likely’ pass the Qualification / Education Program and Institute criterion.
This leaves two areas which may result in an Irish / UK Midwife being awarded AHPRA registration with conditions.

15. AHPRA with Conditions
Providing evidence and meeting Professional experience requirements for midwives.
Medical Management Requirements

16. AHPRA with Conditions
1. Professional experience requirements for midwives.
If an applicant cannot provide evidence of ten Continuity of Care Experiences, the likelihood is that they may be registered with conditions.
Please note that the vast majority of UK (and overseas) midwives are unable to meet this criteria as the maximum cases of COCE usually completed are around three or four in the UK.
You can see more information here about the potential application outcomes and details of the conditions (under the section ‘registration with conditions’)

17. AHPRA with Conditions 2. Medical Management Requirements
If you are unable to provide sufficient evidence of medication management as part of your qualification, you will not meet the requirements for registration.
Medical management means evidence of assessment in administration of medicines, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
However, if your qualification meets all other criteria, or have provided some evidence you may be granted registration with conditions, e.g. a requirement for a certain period of supervised practice.

18. Timeframes The timeframe will depend on many factors:
What visa you require, if you need a skills assessment, if you have to complete an English test.
Once you are awarded your AHPRA Registration, you will have three months to travel over to present your ID (activate your registration).
ANMAC assessments can take anywhere from 3 months (at best) and often delays occur when there is missing or insufficient paperwork.
PR or 457 Visa applications can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months, with missing or insufficient paperwork being the main cause for delays.

19. Immigrating with Children
Moving with Children will require extra work in terms of finding childcare, schools and after school care.
Below is not a comprehensive guide, but will provide you with some basic information to make your research easier.
In typical Australia style half the battle is getting the terminology right.

20. Preschool Care
Long Day Care: Required for working parents, opens from 7.30am/8.00am to 6pm. The fees are between $100 - $150 per day. Centrelink will rebate working parents up to 50% of fees up to the amount of $7,500 per child per year. You get the full benefit of the rebate if you work about 3 days a week. But the rebate runs out very quickly if you work 5 days a week. Waiting lists for day care places are long, so you need to start organising day care asap.

21. Preschool Care Preschool:
Suitable for stay at home mums, runs from 9.00am to 3pm and has school holidays like the primary schools.
Fees are about $60 per day and you need to bring their food in – snacks and lunch.
There is no rebate for Preschools.

22. Australian School System
There are four terms in a School year. First term starts generally the end of January, there are slight variances for each state.
A school term runs for approx. 10 weeks, with two weeks holidays between each term.
Your child will get a reports at the each of each semester (there are two semesters – S1 first two terms and S2 – last two terms).

23. School Fees & Costs
School Fees are paid at the start of the first three terms – last term has no invoice. The first term is the biggest invoice.
The remaining invoices are relatively small and may include dance classes, excursions and so on.
School Uniforms are relatively expensive to start with – winter uniform and summer uniform, bag, hat and library bag Could set you back $300 - $400. But you can buy different pieces during the year.

24. Levels of School Preschool
Information
Online resources
Preschool
$ a day depending on hours of operation (9am – 3pm) (7am – 6pm)
Child enrolled for one year, the year before they start school
Child can enrol from beginning of school year if the child is 4yrs on / before 31st July that year.
Schools accept enrolments from term 2 of the year before the child is due to start.
Primary
Kindergarten to year 6
Begin at 5yrs of age
Legally start at 6yrs
Secondary
Junior High (Yr 7–10)
High School (Yr11-12)
Year 7 to 12
Begin at 12yrs of age
HSC (High School Certificate) – 18 yrs of age
RoSA (Record of School Achievement) - 16yrs of age

25. Types of School Types of School Costs
Finding a School (on-line search)
Government Schools
(Public Schools)
$5000 per year*
$6000 per year*
Not including extras
Catholic Schools
(150 schools run by Catholic Education Office in Sydney);
Diocesan Tuition Fees, Building Levy and Service Different fee structures apply
2014 Annual fees $991 (K-6) to $2053 (Y11-Y12) per child
Independent Schools (Private)
$30,000 and more
*Fees payable if on Temporary Residence Visa (e.g. 457 visa)

26. Next Steps
ICE Group are actively recruiting for Midwives in NSW Health District, so if you are interested in finding out more contact Elizabeth Cox on: Text/WhatsApp: