Can I work
in Australia?

Registration or accreditation

This covers the professional requirements for your role. Radiographers, nuclear medicine technologists and radiation therapists register with the Medical Radiation Practice Board through Ahpra, and radiologists with the Medical Board of Australia. Sonographers follow a separate route: ASMIRT assesses the qualification and ASAR accredits the sonographer.

Your visa

This is your permission to live and work in Australia, granted by the Department of Home Affairs. Registration does not give you a visa.

Additional licences

Some work also needs a state or territory licence, including certain uses of radiation. Check the requirements where you intend to work.

A migration skills assessment

Some visas also need a skills assessment from a separate assessing authority. It does not register you, and registration does not replace it, so check whether your visa needs one before you pay for it.

Your profession guide explains the professional requirements. For the immigration side, see our Australian visa guide.

Start by checking the list for your profession and pathway. It will usually include:

• Your qualification certificates and academic transcripts.
• Your registration history, a certificate of good standing and your employment record.
• Identity documents, CPD records and English language evidence, where they apply.

Check how each document needs to be certified, translated or sent before you pay for anything. The required format and timing matter, and the list varies between pathways.

Not everyone does. It depends on your profession, your qualifications and where you trained and practised.

For professions registered through Ahpra, the English language skills standard ↗ (opens in a new tab) sets out the ways to meet it, including routes based on where you were educated. Whether you need an examination depends on how your qualification is assessed. Your profession guide explains what applies, so check it before you book a test or an exam.

There isn’t one timeframe or fee that applies to everyone. Gathering your documents comes first and often takes longer than people expect. Once you’ve submitted your application, Ahpra registration usually takes between three weeks and three months for the candidates we place. An extra assessment, an exam or a request for more evidence adds time.

Budget for the application fee and annual renewal, plus the costs around them: document verification, certificates of good standing, any English test or exam, and a state radiation-use licence where one applies. Your profession guide lists the current fees.

We’d wait until your registration and visa are in place before you resign or book flights.

Yes. You can explore roles and apply while your registration is underway, and each employer has its own requirements for interviews, offers and start dates. You can’t practise a regulated profession until you have the required approval, so your start date depends on it.

You don’t need to start again. Carry on with your application and answer any requests from your registration or accreditation body, then check whether any conditions or a state licence apply to the role you’re considering.

If you’d like help finding a role or planning around your application, tell us where you’ve got to.

A break doesn’t automatically rule you out. The relevant authority will look at its recency of practice requirements and your circumstances, and may ask for more evidence or additional steps.

No. Ethicare’s candidate support is free. Registration, accreditation, tests and other services have their own fees, payable to the organisations that provide them.