There are 260,000 nurses in Australia and forty percent of these Registered Nurses and Aged and Disabled Carers were born overseas as per the Australian Bureau of Statistics census in 2021. This brings huge opportunities for overseas nurses to work and live in Australia.
Nurses are required to be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) under the Nursing and Midwifery Board before they can work in their profession in Australia. This article intends to provide an overview of the two registration pathways and draw a comparison of these pathways based on their costs, processing time, advantages and disadvantages.
Outcomes Based Assessment (OBA)
Implemented in 2020, this is an assessment where the applicant for registration will need to go through Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) exam via National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and upon successful completion of this, will then be required to do a practical exam called the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). OSCE is a scenario-based exam where examinees go through different stations to perform tasks and demonstrate their clinical competence.
The NCLEX exam can be done in any country where there are NCLEX testing centres and can cost about US$350. The OSCE exam is only available at the Adelaide Health Simulation Centre and it costs about AU$4,000. These are the main costs but other costs include the Internationally Qualified Nurses and Midwives (IQNM) assessment and orientation with AHPRA, NCLEX and OSCE review, travel costs and visa fee for test takers who are located outside of Australia, and AHPRA registration fee.
It can take between 8 and 12 months to go through all the steps and the required exams depending on the availability of exam slots and the test taker’s readiness to take the exams.
The advantage of taking this pathway is that its cost is cheaper and the duration can be shorter compared to studying in Australia. However, if the applicant fails the exams then repeating the exams will lead to higher costs and longer processing time.
I interviewed Kate, a Filipino Nurse who was recently registered through this pathway and here’s her advice to the future OBA applicants:
“Be confident and tell yourself that you can do it because it is going to be draining and overwhelming. I suggest that you enrol in a review center once you are in your OSCE stage because it will really help you a lot to familiarise yourself with Australian nursing standards.”
Study pathway
Another way to get an RN registration is through studying Bachelor of Nursing in Australia. There are many universities that offer this course. The most popular in Victoria is the Bachelor of Nursing for one year at Deakin University. There are also Masters of Nursing programs that lead to registration.
The standard Bachelor of Nursing course lasts three years. However, overseas Nurses with recent work experience as a Nurse or who are new graduates and have been issued an RN license from their country of origin are given two years of credit, and are therefore only required to study for one year.
The tuition fee for a Bachelor of Nursing in Australia can cost between AU$35,000 to AU$40,000 per year with the usual intake of March and July. The cost of living in Australia (about $22,000 a year) should also be taken into account along with the visa application costs (about $700 for a student visa), health insurance (about $800 per year), and travel costs.
Some potential students are advised to take a two-year Bachelor of Nursing program as this gives them eligibility for a Graduate Visa which lets them stay and work in Australia for another two years as per the current legislation or four years (from 1 July 2023 according to the recent announcement by the Australian government).
The benefit of taking this pathway is that there are no exams to take but the applicant should successfully complete and satisfy all requirements of the course. However, the cost of studying in Australia is way more than taking the OBA.
Watch the video below for more detailed discussion about the Nurses’ registration pathways.
Whether you choose to go for OBA or to study nursing in Australia, it is suggested that you seek advice from a Registered Migration Agent or an Immigration Lawyer for your visa options to undertake your RN registration as well as your visa options after you have gained your RN registration.
