AussieIMG Jobs and Registration, Visa

Application for Permanent Residency

As mentioned here, your 482 work visa can last for a maximum of 4 years only. If you want to continue to remain in Australia and enjoy all social benefits, you will eventually need to apply for a permanent residency (PR).

Employer sponsored permanent residency is not really an option for most IMGs (except if you are a consultant, working full time and commit to work for that hospital for certain years or working in a rural hospital for many years).

Australia has a point based PR system, which means that the government has a pre-set PR quota every year and they choose to give it out to those who have the highest number of points as per their EOIs or Expression of Interests. You can use this points calculator to know where you stand.

As a doctor, you may apply for permanent residency only after you get General Registration with AHPRA (after atleast 1 year of work in Australia)

This process of permanent residency is getting more and more competitive every year. Unfortunately, doctors DO NOT have the ability to earn extra points by doing certain courses, which other professionals like engineers can. Also, unlike doctors who require atleast 1 year of Australian experience to apply for a PR, other professionals can put in their EOIs even if they are not in Australia. Furthermore, the entire process- from lodging an EOI to getting your final application approved can take months to years.

This means as doctors we are left with 2 options

  • Put an EOI and wait in hope
  • If your spouse is from a different profession, get them to apply for a PR

There are 2 different subclass of PR that you can apply/put an EOI to:

  • Skilled Independent Visa (189 Subclass)
  • Allotted from the federal government quota
  • Difficult to get/ need higher points
  • Skilled Nominated Visa (190 Subclass)
  • Allotted from the state government quota
  • Relatively easy to get
  • Each state government might have their own rules for nomination
    • Eg: You may put an EOI for 190 for the state of Queensland only if you have worked in the state for 6 months
  • Need to stay in that nominating state for atleast 2 years
  • Can apply only when the state opens their nomination window

Steps to apply for a PR:

  • Put an application for expression of interest via SkillSelect website (both 189 and 190)
  • Please note that an application for 190 will be picked up only if applied when the respective state opens the nomination window
  • Gather all the documents needed
  • Once you receive an invitation, lodge your formal visa application and upload all documents.
  • Wait for a case officer to be allotted
  • Once allotted, the case officer will go through your documents and ask for any clarification
  • PR finally gets approved

Note that if your 190 EOI gets picked up before 189, the state will ask you for additional documents (like evidence of commitment to state, job offer in that state etc) before you receive a formal invitation to lodge your visa application.

Each Australian state may have their own requirements to be met before you can apply for the 190 visa. Eg. For Queensland, your EOI will be picked up only if you have worked in Queensland for 6 months before you put in your application.

AussieIMG Jobs and Registration

My Unique AHPRA Registration Pathway

As you read through the AHPRA website, you will realize that there are multiple minute ‘pathways’ towards getting your registration.

When I first decided to move to Australia, I had just 7 months of UK experience post my GMC registration via PLAB route, which meant that I could NOT apply for provisional registration via the Competent Authority Pathway. Going back to UK to complete a year of work was an option, but I wasn’t too keen on doing that. So, I decided to take AMC part 1 or the AMC CAT MCQ test and booked the next available exam.

After passing my AMC 1 and successfully landing a job, I applied for limited registration under the Standard Pathway and started working. I did NOT take my AMC 2 ever. After successfully completing 47 weeks of clinical work, I directly applied for General registration via Competent Authority Pathway. Are you wondering how?

It was possible due to the following clause in the AHPRA website:

Australian clinical experience can be substituted for the post-examination or post training experience for the purposes of meeting the criteria for eligibility for the Competent Authority pathway.

This period of practice in Australia may also be accepted as meeting the requirements for the 12 month period of supervised practice which is required to gain general registration via the Competent Authority pathway.

The take home message here is there is NO hard and fast rule towards getting your general registration in Australia. Personally, I have not come across anyone who followed this path. My piece of advice would be to read each and every line in the AHPRA website carefully and pick up the bits that are useful for you.

AussieIMG Basics

Hierarchy and Types of Jobs

  • Intern
    • The newbie doctors
    • These are supervised positions
  • Resident Medical Officer
    • The job and an RMO will almost be the same as an intern, but you are expected to have a bit more knowledge and be more autonomous in your day to day work.
  • Registrars
    • Registrars essentially run the show in a hospital, from admitting patients to reviewing sickies and escalating to the consultants.
    • Compared to the UK, the job of a registrar is much more supportive in Australia and consultants are almost always a call away.
  • Consultants

It is highly recommended that IMGs complete the intern year in their home country before coming here. At the moment, there are just about enough intern jobs (if not less) for Aussie graduates.  An IMG will very likely have no chance of landing an intern job

Training vs Non Training Jobs

To get into a training position in Australia, you need to find a job/ position that is accredited for training. Once you do so, you will apply to your respective college (For instance, once you get an accredited surgical training post, you need to apply to your college, which in this case is the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons).

Whilst most surgical specialities require you to be working at the level of a registrar to enter training, it is not the same for medical specialities. Every college has their own entry requirements which need to be met in order to enter training.

Please note that you may enter training only AFTER you get General Registration, which means that your first year of work in Australia will be as a non-trainee.

AussieIMG AMC 1

AMC 1- My Prep

I prepared for about 25 days for my exam and I passed. This is because I had taken my MRCP 1 just 4-5 months before my AMC1. In hindsight, it was a bold risk that I took and would NOT recommend anyone to take this test with such a short duration of prep.

Ideal prep time would be around 2-3 months if you have strong basics and 4-6 months if your basics are weak.

I personally used only 2 resources:

  1. AMC handbook for MCQs
  2. John Murtagh General Practice- selected topics, read local guidelines

Some other recommended books that I did NOT use are:

  1. Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine
  2. Anthropology of Medical Conditions
  3. Harrisons Principles of Internal Medicine
  4. Kaplan USMLE Step 2 CK

There are quite a few qbanks available online which you might use for your prep.

AussieIMG AMC 1, Uncategorized

AMC 1- Exam Pattern

About AMC 1 or the AMC Computer Adaptive Test MCQ Examination

Duration: 3.5 hours

Mode of delivery: Online, at Pearson VUE test centres

Exam dates: Generally held in the third week of every month (From Monday to Friday, i.e 5 days/ month). When you pay your exam fee, you will be issued a 12 month authorisation to schedule for one MCQ examination event covered in that 12-month period.

Number of questions: 150

Number of questions from each subject:

1. Medicine -35
2. Surgery Questions-25
3. Obstetrics and Gynecology Questions-15
4. Pediatrics Questions-15
5. Psychiatry Questions-15
6. General Practice and Public Health Questions-15 

Non-scored Questions or Trial: 30

Passing score: You need a score of atleast 250 to pass.

This is what the AMC website says about the scoring system:

candidates are expected to answer all 150 MCQ questions in the examination.
It is important to note that the determination of a candidate’s ability is not based simply on the
number of correct answers given by the candidate. Because of the CAT component of the
examination some candidates would have been administered difficult questions whilst others
would have been administered easier questions – depending on the correct or incorrect
answers to previous questions. Therefore, if candidates have the same number of correct
answers, the ability of the candidate that answered the difficult questions will be higher than
the ability of the candidate that answered the easier questions.
The AMC score is based on measurement of the candidate ability level and (for convenience)
represented on a scale of 0 to 500. A passing score is represented on the scale at 250.
Failure to complete all 150 items in the AMC CAT MCQ examination may lead to insufficient
information for a reliable ability to be determined and therefore a result on the AMC adaptive scale.

Results announced in: 4 weeks time

AussieIMG Jobs and Registration, Uncategorized

Job Interview Questions

Some of the common interview questions ( junior doctor level- Intern, RMO )

  • What did you learn during your internship? What was your day typically like?
  • Tell me one instance which demonstrates your team work?
  • What is your biggest strength and biggest weakness?
  • What are you future plans? How do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
  • Why did you apply for this job?
  • Tell me one mistake that you made at work. What did you learn from it?
  • Clinical scenario: MI, PE, DKA, Heart Failure, Pneumonia
  • Ethical scenario: Patient’s son calls you and asks about his father’s condition.
  • Questions about audit, clinical governance and research.
  • Some informal questions about my city, bollywood and my favourite bollywood hero.
  • Do you have any questions for us?
AussieIMG Jobs and Registration, Uncategorized

Job Application Overview

  • Jobs contracts in Australia (for junior doctors) are given out for a maximum period of 1 year.
  • This means that every junior doctor (including trainees) needs to re-apply for a job every year, even if staying in the same hospital (in which case, it is more or less a formality)
  • For this purpose, every year, around May to September, each Australian state runs an annual recruitment drive called the ‘Campaign’.
  • The posts that are not filled through the Campaign are advertised/ filled later.
  • Getting your first job in Australia through the campaign is less likely. Applying to each hospital individually gives you a higher success rate of landing your first job.

Websites:

  1. Queensland: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/employment/job-search
  2. New South Wales: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/careers/Pages/search_job.aspx
  3. Victoria: https://careers.vic.gov.au/jobs
  4. Western Australia: https://medjobswa.mercury.com.au
  5. Tasmania: https://careers.jobs.tas.gov.au
  6. Northern Territory: https://jobs.nt.gov.au

Jobs are also advertised through the following websites:

  1. https://www.seek.com.au
  2. https://au.indeed.com

Interview:

  • Successful candidates will be notified about their interview date and time via email.
  • Most interviews are held online (via Skype, teams etc) or via a phone call
  • Remember that you are almost always guaranteed a job if you get an interview, unless you royally mess it up.
  • Most interviews last for <15 min.

Wondering how to prepare for the interview? Read about this here.

AussieIMG Basics, Uncategorized

Australian Healthcare System Overview

How does the Australian healthcare system work?

Note that this is an extremely simplified explanation of the Australian Healthcare System. In reality, the system is much more intricate.

Australian healthcare system is undoubtedly one of the best in the world.

There are two parts to this:

Public system

  • Which is fully funded through the State government and Medicare

Private system

  • Most Australians will have some sort of private health insurance which will enable them to access the private health system.
  • If your income is above a certain thresh-hold, you will be required to pay a ‘surcharge’ to the government if you do not hold private health insurance. This arrangement has been in place to encourage high income individuals to take out private health insurance and thus reduce the pressure off the public health system

What is Medicare?

  • Medicare is Australia’s universal healthcare scheme.
  • It is available to Australia citizens, permanent residents and people from countries with reciprocal agreements.
  • Medicare covers the entire cost of public hospital services, services provided by GPs and specialists.
  • The Medicare also includes the PBS or Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which provides subsidy on medicines.

How does the Private System work?

  • Billing in a private healthcare system is slightly complicated with lots of rules and regulations. I am only going to talk about the very basics here, in a very simplified way.
  • Say, you are having an outpatient Gastroscopy, for which the Specialist charges AUD100 from you.
  • Medicare will contribute a pre-fixed amount eg AUD85
  • Your private health insurance may contribute a part/full of the remaining AUD15, depending on your health insurance cover.
  • Some specialists (or GPs) may choose to ‘Bulk’ or ‘Medicare’ bill- which means that they will only charge AUD85 for their services, which will come directly from Medicare (no out of pocket expenses).
AussieIMG Basics

Standard pathway steps

  • Check whether your Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) is acceptable.

The general principle is that your institution must be listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools

  • EPIC verification of your primary source verification or verification of your degree certificate
  • Establish an AMC (Australian Medical Council) Account/ Portfolio– You will receive an AMC number. Note that you need your EPIC number to establish your portfolio.
  • Book a date for AMC 1 exam via the portal and successfully pass your exam
  • Pass English Language Proficiency Exams
  • Ensure recency of practice
  • Start looking for jobs
    •  If successful, apply for limited registration with AHPRA and start work
      • If you get a place in a WBA accredited hospital, apply for limited registration and complete the WBA program successfully
      • If you get a place in a non WBA accredited, apply for limited registration and prepare for AMC 2
  • If unsuccessful, utilize this time to prepare for AMC 2. If you get a job after you pass your AMC 2, apply for provisional registration
  • Receive AMC Certificate after you successfully pass both the examinations
  • After successfully completing 47 weeks of supervised practice, apply for general registration.

In general, it is slightly more difficult to find jobs via the standard pathway compared to the competent authority pathway.

AussieIMG Basics, Uncategorized

Competent Authority Pathway Steps

Check whether you are eligible to competent authority pathway here

  • Check whether your Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) is acceptable.

The general principle is that it should be your institution must be listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools

You may not need to take an English exam if you are applying via competent authority pathway.

AHPRA will accept successful completion of PLAB test as a proof of your English language ability provided they were obtained:

  • within the two years before the date you lodge your application for registration, OR
  • more than two years before the date you lodge your application for registration if, in the period since the test results were obtained, you:
  1. have been in continuous employment as a registered health practitioner in the medical profession (which commenced within 12 months of the date of the test) in one of the recognised countries where English was the primary language of practice, and
  2. lodge your application for registration within 12 months of finishing your last period of employment