Moving from European country to Australia

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csvb

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Hello everyone,

I'm aware that this topic has been hugely debated on this forum but I also find the information to be slightly confusing and thus I'd be really appreciative if someone could explain it to me clearly.

About me: I'm a medical student who will be graduating in the Spring of 2018. I'm Portuguese but my medical degree is from the Czech Republic (I'm studying in an English programme). I plan to go back to Portugal once I finish my studies and do my whole residency there.

I have been considering moving to Australia after finishing my residency in Portugal. So, I'd be moving as a specialist already (for instance, in Oncology).

So, I have loads of questions...

1) Can someone explain clearly what are the steps and options that are available for a physician in my (future) situation, regarding moving to Australia?
I've heard about the "specialist pathway", but still I don't have a clear picture on my mind.

2) The 10 year moratorium?

3) How expensive is the whole process?

4) How long does it take to take care of the whole thing? i.e. How many years before should I begin the process?

5) Which exams are required for me to do

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Have you seen the following thread yet?
https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/us-doctor-moving-to-australia.810914/.
OP is a US MD who moved to Australia.
essentially the answers to all or most of your questions can be found there.

He's covered:
- VISA and PR
- 10 year moratorium
- the multiple different pathways to either residency in Australia or positions as fully qualified doctors.
- the exams you have to take, aka the AMC - written & OSCE style exams
- the maldistribution of doctors in Australia (which actually afflicts many Western countries for logical reasons - and is essentially why the moratorium exists)
-- chronic shortage of rural and remote doctors (mainly primary care - so your pathologists, general paediatricians, GPs, general medicine physicians)
-- acute oversupply of metropolitan doctors (any hospital based specialty and surgery)
- chances of getting a job as a specialist after residency etc.

The other official site to visit would be AHPRA.
http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Registration/International-Medical-Graduates.aspx

Sorry I can't add much or answer your questions!

What I will say is that it's hard even for fully qualified and trained Australian locals to get "specialist" hospital based positions. (oversupply of metro doctors, large number of medical students and now residents, due to poor insight/foresight on the part of bureaucrats, but what else is new).

Generally it's hard work to move to any Western country as a "Foreign" doctor (unless you're willing to work as rural GP or area of shortage). Doesn't really matter your background or nationality. For one, it's really expensive to train a doctor (by a government) so they are going to protect their own first. Among other things.

For another, people like to hire who they "know". In other words, those most familiar with their system, their culture, their peoples, their peculiar and particular way of doing things. There's idiosyncracies in the practice of medicine in each country..state and sometimes even hospital. So you're also competing against people who've trained along side those on the other side of the hiring process, who've proven to be trusted, reliable and hardworking.

Not saying it's impossible, but it's hard to be an outsider, and have people take a chance on you (unless they are desperate, which most rural hospitals continue to be). It's hard to even move from hospital to hospital or state to state in this profession, at least in this country.

why's it gotta be so hard?

upload_2017-3-9_20-21-25.png


Being a doctor, while it is a privilege, doesn't necessarily entitle you to a whole lot of things.
 
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Hello everyone,

I'm aware that this topic has been hugely debated on this forum but I also find the information to be slightly confusing and thus I'd be really appreciative if someone could explain it to me clearly.

About me: I'm a medical student who will be graduating in the Spring of 2018. I'm Portuguese but my medical degree is from the Czech Republic (I'm studying in an English programme). I plan to go back to Portugal once I finish my studies and do my whole residency there.

I have been considering moving to Australia after finishing my residency in Portugal. So, I'd be moving as a specialist already (for instance, in Oncology).

So, I have loads of questions...

1) Can someone explain clearly what are the steps and options that are available for a physician in my (future) situation, regarding moving to Australia?
I've heard about the "specialist pathway", but still I don't have a clear picture on my mind.

2) The 10 year moratorium?

3) How expensive is the whole process?

4) How long does it take to take care of the whole thing? i.e. How many years before should I begin the process?

5) Which exams are required for me to do
You should start looking for a position in Australia once you get into year 5 of your training. Get a resident or junior registrar position and make the move, then continue to pursue your medical training in Australia. Hopefully in the end, you'll get into the physician training program and become a consultant in Australia.

5 or more years under your belt is a good time to start, any less is too junior and the current Aussie market is filled with RMOs and SRMOs. Very hard for IMGs to get in. Registrar positions are a bit better on the job front, this is where you should try and get a job. Find a job first and everything else will follow. You'll only need to do your AMC MCQ part I to get started.

Specialist qualification from Portugal won't be compatible, you'll end up working as a registrar anyway.

Disclosure: I own and operate a recruitment agency assisting doctors find work in Australia.
 
Why the need to revive this thread....
Its 9 months old. Op is long gone.
Advertising?
Are you a doctor practicing in Australia too?
Op is asking re: Onc. That's highly competitive even for domestics right now it is not likely to ease up. Also applicable to any med subspec or surgery. to be considered for RACS it's taking till PGY5-6 (if not more) now.

Some basic physician trainees are doing PhDs or a few years of Senior med regging to even get onto fellowship or advance trainee positions. Some of those who escaped doing phd's are now doing them to get consultant positions. If you want to be a rural physician, easy. but not a subspecialty that relies on a tertiary hospital for employment.

These are very vague statements you are making. What reg positions exactly? You realize they vary in availability and competitiveness. I would not recommend finding a job first as a pgy5 and then hope for the best. All royal colleges look for specific things, quite often there's points systems. It can take years to build the appropriate CVs and take necessary entry exams (outside the AMCs), depending on the program. If you're talking psych or rural GP sure. So long as you pass AMC currently its an easy in.

As for current job (over) saturations in the rmo workforce. (which is accurate)
exactly where do you think all current junior docs are going to go? Not be consultants and registrars? Locally trained RMOs will always be preferenced over IMGs so it's rather cruel to imply they shouldn't worry later. There was already a shortfall in advanced trainee positions this year with more to come.

"we are not providing enough prevocational and specialist training places for our medical graduates. Next year, we face a shortage of 569 first year advanced specialist training places." NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL – GOOD INTENTION UNDERMINED BY BAD POLICY

Its too high stakes to not encourage more thinking over this. We're talking, people giving up everything they know, to move to a new country, with such hope. So I finding it very concerning whenever vague advice is being tossed around. At worse, you run the risk of giving false hope and setting vulnerable people up for disappointment. Unless they have absolutely nothing to lose or would love to dive into a few years of rural med.

No offense intended. Generally fan of recruitment agencies, great for finding locums and sending rural docs of any background into communities that need them. Dont get me wrong. Its a great service being provided. But I worry over the implications of what you're generalising, and some people are going assume that being part of a recruitment agency makes you an expert in the field.

If you're going to do this, come onto a public forum to help IMGs great, but given your position I think you should be specific. Like maybe attempt to alert them to current job vacancies suitable to their current situation (not hypothetical futures) - there's a guy from India in these threads looking for pathology for instance.
 
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