Registration reform for comparable countries' nurses

A record number of nurses from overseas are joining the Australian health workforce, with 16,622 internationally qualified nurses registering to practise here in the past financial year — close to three times more than the 5610 nurses that joined in the final year before COVID (2018/19), according to the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Aged Care.

Of the 27,810 nurses who registered to practise in Australia from overseas in the past two years, 70% came via New Zealand under a Trans-Tasman agreement while 4476 nurses, or 16%, have qualifications from a group of comparable countries that include Canada, Ireland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Internationally qualified nurses from these comparable countries will be fast-tracked to register and work in Australia from March 2025, the government said. Assessment and registration will be streamlined, while nurses with relevant qualifications and experience in these comparable countries will no longer need to sit additional examinations or upgrade qualifications in order to gain registration.

“From March, internationally qualified registered nurses who have practised for at least 1800 hours in these comparable countries will be fast-tracked, cutting the application time by up to 6–12 months, in some cases,” the Australian Government’s Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said.

As part of the new standard, the minimum 1800 hours are since 2017, with comparable countries including Ireland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. All internationally qualified registered nurses must still meet the same regulatory requirements as Australian-trained nurses when applying for registration, to ensure that high standards of patient safety and quality of care are maintained.

“For too long highly-educated nurses with experience from countries like the UK, Canada and Ireland are left waiting on red tape approvals before they are able to work in our hospitals, aged care facilities and general practices,” Butler said. “Australian patients will ultimately benefit from these changes, since these highly educated nurses can start working and providing care to Australians sooner, without waiting needlessly on red tape.”

The new registration process supports implementation of the Kruk Review that recommended changes be made to make it simpler, quicker and cheaper for internationally qualified health practitioners to work in Australia. In the 2024–25 Budget, $90 million has been allocated to implement the recommendations of the Kruk Review, to grow and support the nation’s health workforce.

The reform represents a collaborative effort between the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), and all Australian governments to address unprecedented workforce shortages while maintaining Australia’s rigorous safety and quality standards for health care.

In October 2024, a fast-track pathway for general practitioners from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland began. Since then, Ahpra has been receiving an average of around 11 applications a week from such GPs looking to join the Australian health system. Similar pathways for other specialist medical practitioners will get underway this year, the government said.

Access to the final report of the Kruk Review is available here.

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