Australian Migration As A Nurse

I'm an introvert & quite possibly a social misfit. No doubt about it. Social interactions drain me. Solitary times recharges me. I read this book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain. Never has a book speak so loudly to me before. In it, she stated that the percentage of introverts in the US is... a whooping 51-52% which means, extroverts are a minority! Oh well, hardly. But you get what I mean. She suspects that the statistics are similar all over the world. Ok, so why did I bring up the topic of introversion? I wanted to quote a chinese phrase but my chinese is so bad I can only remember the latter half which goes, 出外靠朋友. I've never felt this more acutely than I do now. Having attained our Australian PR, the next step is of course making the actual move. In a foreign land, you need friends to help you along. So I hope just like some people have been a great help to me, I hope I can be of great help to you too. I'll touch on how to get Australian PR if you're a nurse. This is under Skilled Independent Visa (subclass 189).

I lodged my APHRA (which is the equivalent of registering for your SNB licence) in Sept 2011. At that time, IELTS was not required. I'm not too sure if the regulations have changed since then. This is by far the most complicated part of your PR application. It requires you to produce documents which are hard to get coz it'll mean alerting your company that you have intentions to leave. You need a proof of employment which I got from HR (by lying to them that I need it for bank loan). You need 2 professional testimonies from your supervisors (managers, clinician, educator or if you're gungho enough, your assistant director of nursing) by going to 2 nurse clinicians whom I trust & know will keep a secret for me. You'll need certified true copies of your SNB Certificate of Registration (the brown copy with a red seal), your practising cert for the year (the small blue card), qualification certs and transcripts ('O' levels, diploma, degree) & for diploma, you'll need clinical transcripts as well which you have to get from the polytechnic. While you're at it, get a copy of course content (diploma & degree) coz you'll need it for Skills Assessment at a later stage. You need a trip to SNB & get them to send a certificate of good standing. There're a multitude of other documents you will need to send, but these are the hardest to get. Once you get your in principle approval, you'll need to show evidence of the right to enter Australia & for this step, a tourist visa will do.

At this stage, I engaged AIMS Immigration agency to process my PR for me. If you wanna go at it on your own, it's not impossible, just a lot of work & it can be very confusing. Otherwise, you'll need to part with SGD$6300 as agency fees & the price increases every year. I know coz my friend who signed up with them a year before me paid SGD5k++.

Next, I did my IELTS (academic). You need a band 7 in all 4 categories (max band 9) so you need a pretty good command of English. After a certain age (I think it's after 35 or 38, I'm not too sure.) the requirements go up to band 8. Each attempt is SGD$320 & you have to wait 3 months for a retest if you need it. I managed to "pass" on my 1st attempt though I've heard of people taking as many as 6 times yet still "fail". I got a 8.5 for Listening, 9 for Reading, 7 for Writing & 7.5 for Speaking. I felt it was pretty easy though it might have been pure good fortune. Speaking takes place about a week later, depending how how you book your test dates. Trick is to practise, practise, practise. Download free online IELTS mock tests. AIMS gave me a booklet with test practise as well which I went over twice, including the online ones. Oh yeah, don't forget to pray. I chanted (I practise Nichiren Buddhism) for success way before I even signed up for IETLS.

Next up, Skills Assessment with ANMAC. If you've got your APHRA licence, you can do the modified assessment which will cost AUD$320. You'll need similar documents as per APHRA, but this time you need a Statement of Service. This is a letter from your Nurse Manager only (ADON or DON will do as well) stating your position, duration with the hospital, your roles & responsibilities & confirmation of your competency as a registered nurse by your Manager. Waiting time is 4 months. 

When your skills have been assessed as suitable for migration, you can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). It runs on a points system & you need to hit a minimum of 60 points. Waited about 2 week. You'll get an invitation to apply for PR which of course, you do & part with AUD$3060 as visa application fee (spouse & kids at half the price each). Mine was lodged on 15th Nov 2013. Another month of waiting & you'll be assigned an officer who will be in charge of your case. You & your spouse will be required to undergo a medical checkup choosing from a panel of doctors & radiology centers at own cost within a month of notice. This consists of a CXR, HIV test, weight/height measurement, BP taking & physical assessment by the doctor. I don't think they take weight/BMI into consideration coz based on my BMI, I'm definitely overweight & my husband belongs to the obese category. Lastly, you need a Certificate of Clearance (COC) from Police Cantonment Complex at SGD$45 per pax from 8.30 am to 12 noon, Mon to Fri, excluding PH. You'll be given a date to collect the COC which is about 10 days from application. I collected my COC on 30th Dec 2013, submitted it to AIMS who submitted it to Australia Immigration on the same day. I was granted my PR on the very next day, 31st Dec 2013.

All in all, I estimate I spent about SGD$14k though I really should have keep track. It's a lot of work & money just to get the PR (even if you minus the 6k for agency fee). So you need to be very sure about your decision. You'll need to make the 1st entry into Australia within a year & to be eligible for renewal of your PR after 5 years, you need to stay a cumulative of 2 years out of the 5 years. A tip AIMS gave me was if you don't have that many years left on your passport, renew it. Depending on where you decided to settle down, it can be very far to travel should you need to renew your passport in Australia as you can only do it in Canberra.