Relocating to Australia as a General Practitioner requires careful planning to ensure a smooth transition. At Doctor Connect, we help overseas-trained doctors navigate every step, from arrival planning to starting work, so you can focus on your career and settling your family. Before You Arrive To hit the ground running, complete these essential tasks before leaving your home country: Plan your arrival and start dates with your practice and Doctor Connect consultant Book flights Secure Private Health Insurance (required for Skills in Demand 482 visa) Find rental property or short-term accommodation Apply for a Tax File Number (TFN) Apply for an Australian Business Number (ABN) Connect with an Accountant Book a rental car Open a bank account Arrange airport meet and greet Obtain Medical Indemnity Insurance After You Arrive Once in Australia, you’ll need to finalize administrative and professional requirements: Apply for your Tax File Number (TFN) Complete Medicare billing and prescribing introduction Connect with your Medicare Local / Primary Health Network (PHN) Office Meet your local RACGP representatives Complete practice induction including supervisor shadowing Start consulting with patients Private Health Insurance Private health insurance is mandatory for the Skills in Demand (SID) 482 visa. Visit PrivateHealth.gov.au to compare policies, coverage options, who the policy will cover, and suitable plans for your location. Banking Set up a bank account to manage day-to-day life and receive your income. You can begin the process before arrival and finalize it once in Australia. Bring your passport, visa, and boarding pass when visiting the bank. A Bank Relationship Manager can assist with setup and electronic card collection. Medical Indemnity All health practitioners in Australia must have Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) that meets AHPRA registration standards. Consider working with an industry-experienced insurance broker to ensure compliance. Tax File Number (TFN) A Tax File Number (TFN) is your personal identifier for tax and superannuation purposes. It is free to apply for online if you have a valid visa with working rights in Australia. TFNs are mailed to your nominated address within 1-2 weeks, and are never sent by email. You can also view your TFN through your myGov ATO account. Australian Business Number (ABN) As a GP working under a service agreement, you must have an ABN in addition to your TFN. You can apply online via business.gov.au even before arriving in Australia. An ABN is essential for tax reporting and other business purposes. Accountant Partnering with a qualified accountant is highly recommended. A doctor’s accountant ensures compliance with income tax, GST obligations, and can help you grow wealth and reduce tax legally. Ideally, choose an accountant experienced in working with medical professionals to ensure expert guidance from day one. Start Your Australian Career with Confidence By planning ahead and completing these essentials, you’ll be fully prepared to start your GP career in Australia. The Doctor Connect team is here to provide guidance and support every step of the way, from arrival to consulting.

Answer No-one can guarantee that they will be able to have a result back from Immigration in any given time, this process is unpredictable. However, you’ll have the guarantee of having everything inputted correctly. Also, in the case that there is a delay, then the immigration lawyer will have the opportunity and knowledge to contact immigration to review whether there is any issue to be resolved. In some cases, this will assist in in a faster outcome.

Your Practice Manager requires the following identifiers to set you up to be ready to commence seeing patients. Medicare Provider Number Prescriber Number HPI Number The Prescriber Number is created with your initial Medicare Provider Number. You may need to call Medicare to ask for your Provider Number. The HPI will be with your initial information from AHPRA, you will be able to retrieve the HPI when you log into AHPRA.

Reduce Your 10-Year Moratorium Medicare’s 19AB rules require doctors who studied for their medical degrees outside of Australia to work in an area of distribution priority (DPA) for their first 10 years of practice in Australia. By committing to work in certain doctor-short locations, an overseas GP may be able to complete a GP Fellowship, gain permanent residency, and have no restrictions on their work within 4 years of commencing work in Australia. There are two ways to reduce the length of time that you are bound by the moratorium. Moratorium Scaling Medicare operates the Department of Health’s Moratorium Scaling scheme, which automatically calculates additional reductions monthly. Under the scaling system, working in rural and remote areas earns scaling credits. The more remote the location, the more credits you earn. This is measured against the ASGS Remoteness Areas, using the Health Workforce Locator Map . For example, the coastal city of Bunbury is listed as “Inner Regional Australia, RA 2”. According to the table, working there reduces your 10-year moratorium to 9 years. If you work in Port Hedland (Remote classification RA4, two-hour’s flight to Perth) your moratorium will be 6 years. This could be a great option for a doctor who worked in another setting for 4 years and is now moving into primary care. In addition, look below at the second moratorium reduction method. Scaling occurs for each month that you work and produce the minimum Medicare billings in that location. That means that you do not need to be in that location the whole time to see the benefit. Scaling only applies if your work in a General Practice achieves a minimum of $5000 Medicare billings in the month. This means that if you work full-time in a hospital-based role, then you would also need to work in private General Practice for long enough to achieve those minimum billings for the month Note: It is possible to work in a DPA location until you have completed 9.5 years of the 10-year moratorium, then apply for a 6-month locum provider number in a non-DPA location. Note: If you leave the location, you will maintain all of the accumulated reduction of the moratorium. This is different from the Five-Year IMG Scheme, below. The Five-Year International Medical Graduates Recruitment Scheme The 5-year International Medical Graduates Recruitment Scheme (IMG) aims to attract and retain appropriately qualified and experienced Overseas Trained Doctors (OTDs) to work in private General Practices in some of Australia’s smaller rural communities. Contrary to its title, by committing to work in remote locations under the 5-Year Scheme you may reduce your moratorium to as little as three years. To gain the benefits of the 5-Year Scheme, applicants must be willing and able to: Complete the required number of years that you commit to in the location deemed eligible for the Scheme; and Attain Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) or Fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM); and Attain permanent residency in Australia and/or Australian citizenship. Five-Year IMG Scheme Eligibility Hold or obtain appropriate registration with the Medical Board of Australia. Be eligible to be assessed for FRACGP or FACRRM within two years of commencing on the Scheme. Provide at least seven sessions a week (i.e. 3.5 days of full-time equivalent) in a private General Practice as part of their placement (i.e., not in the hospital setting). Five-Year IMG Scheme Locations As the full list of locations is not published, we check each location to determine the number of years required. As an example, currently the scheme offers: Albany                         5 years Broome                       4 years Darwin                        5 years Geraldton                   5 years Hall’s Creek                3 years Kalgoorlie                   4 years Katanning                   4 years Karratha                     4 years Manjimup                   5 years Newman                     4 years Port Hedland             4 years Tom Price                   3 years Note: If you leave the location before your required number of years is complete, you will not gain any benefit from the Five-Year IMG Scheme. However, you will always be able to use the reduction attained from the moratorium scaling, as explained above. Benefits of Rural Work and Lifestyle When making these plans, it is worth considering all the positives of working in the bush. Remember, that there are systems in place to support IMGs in their transition to work in rural and remote placements. The rural workforce agencies, primary health authorities, your practice, colleagues, the colleges, and other agencies ensure that GPs moving to the bush receive a suitable orientation. They are supported to be able to provide good care to the community. You will have a chance to practice a broad range of medicine while developing and refining your skills. There are greater opportunities to develop a GP sub-specialty. The shortage of GPs in many areas means high demand which leads to increased earnings. Higher incidence of private and mixed billing in some rural areas, together with government incentive bonus payments means that rural and remote GPs tend to earn higher incomes. While many IMGs based in rural areas do move to metro practices when their moratorium is completed, others will stay on for much longer as they get used to the pace of life away from the big city. This outlines how you can make a change, fast forward your career, increase your earnings and provide care for grateful communities in need. We have vacancies with rural and remote practices that can help you to reduce your 10-year moratorium. If you would like to find out more, please contact us.