Arbrodin

Hi Maria,

I know it's seems a very pointless exercise, 81 pages ago I started this thread due to the frustration I was having, I am in the same boat as you in terms of training, I started my training in 1989, the hospital had its own school of nursing, no diploma or degree courses in them days. I am also RNLD trained which is an even bigger spanner in the works.

although I could not get a transcript from my training school, it disappeared in the 90's, the NMC were able to send the syllabus for my course over. This seemed to be accepted at first..

timescales with AHPRA are amazing, I applied in August 2013, well before the changes were brought in, they held my application back and they are assessing me under the new criteria!

other issues with them are that when diploma nurses came out, we were encouraged to do a diploma in an clinical area, so I completed mine in Epilepsy Care, as degree nursing developed, we looked at doing degrees and I completed my MSc in Sleep Medicine with distinction for me which again is another clinical area. APHRA in their wisdom do not think these will be taken into account, as neither say Nurse or Nursing in the title, however, I am on my third or fourth extension now, as I keep pushing and I have got to provide yet a third lot of info on my MSc.

I still think this is a pointless exercise, despite 25 years experience in the nhs. I will keep going to the end, but have resigned myself to not being registered and not being able to move to Aus.

I have since moved from adult LD to another job I paediatrics, working in mainstream and across LD children's services, I had to do something to pick me up off the floor. My new job is great and given me a new challenge, which moving was all about too!

having secured a job which was held open for me for a year, had family so somewhere to live and being ready to go some 12-18 months ago apart from APHRA,

To say I am frustrated with it all, is an understatement, so with no diploma nurses being registered us traditional nurses need to jump thro more hurdles!!

Paul

I trained 1986-89 before diplomas or degrees. My school of nursing had relocated to a University . After 6 weeks of being passed from department to department going around in circles, I wrote a letter complaining and low and behold a sheet of very faded paper appeared from their archives. It wasn't a full transcript but all my study/ practice hours and placements were on it. Not that it will be any good to me as the new criteria has forgotton about us traditionally trained nurses even though I topped up to a degree .

Don't give up, are there any tutors still around who taught you? They may still have a transcript?

Hi All,

my my wait seems endless, having sent my application in mid August, now mid January I emailed again for an update and got the following response

Dear Paul

Unfortunately I am unable to provide you with any further updates. We are still waiting for further instructions from the Nursing & Midwifery Board regarding the assessment process for applications for registration for overseas trained nurses and midwives.

I will contact you as soon as we are advised.

wonder if I will ever receive a LOE

Paul

have u heard from Aphra yet?

Hi,

I have had an email this week as below, I find it difficult to believe that having received my documents in August, that they want me to submit further information, they want further info on my Masters degree, as I was only able to submit results at the time and have since attended my graduation. They also want me to document when I trained, when I completed my diploma and then degree, this is because I was trained pre diploma and degree nursing programmes and had to keep pace as it were, with students education.

Paul

I would recommend at this point that if you are willing to submit further information to AHPRA it will be added to your application when it is considered by our Registration Committee. Could you please also include your explanation regarding your education pathway that you have provided in your recent email in a cover letter when you submit the documents?

Hi All,

Further emails to and from APHRA below, still no decision as yet, seems a long time since the 12 th August when my documents were first acknowledged. Having gone through the AMNAC process an having my skills assessed as equivalent, now APHRA want to revisit this assessment or so it appears. Does anyone know if this is because my diploma and masters are not in nursing qualification specifically, the diploma being in epilepsy and masters in a medical science. Thanks. Paul

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Dear Paul

Due to the high volume of overseas applications Australia wide, there is currently no time frame available at this stage for outcomes of internationally qualified Nursing and Midwifery applications.

I am unable to comment on the outcomes of other applications submitted. It all comes down to education equivalence to an Australian Bachelor Degree which is part of the assessment process.

Please be assured that I am aware of your pending application and will contact you as soon as we have further information regarding the status of your application.

Then

You are welcome to contact AHPRA with questions at any time.

Can I please ask if the Master of Science Degree was specific to nursing? I do not have the delegation to advise if your Master of Science MSc Degree in the medical sciences field could be taken into consideration for your current application for general registration as a Registered Nurse.

You are welcome to submit further information/evidence of this qualification to add to your application if you wish.

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When we did the skills assessment we had all the documents certified by a JP so they should be good to go for AHPRA, for those that have had ANMAC forward there documents on what additional documents have you send or had requested, I know the CV will be one of them, has anyone had to send anything else?

 

Cheers

Baz

I had to resend the my CV and give cpd evidence, also because my yearly NMC renewal date passed, I had to get the NMC to resend confirmation of registration again! At a cost!

When we came over on holiday, with our 6 and 8 yr old, we did Heathrow to Kuala Lumpa, very short stop, less than an hour I think, then on to Sydney. I think this was better than if we had a longer stop, they coped better than I did, we did try to plan their sleep etc on the journey, and they had plenty to occupy them.

am pulling my hair out now...lol 2nd call to Aphra and no useful information... I called them 1st about a month ago and they said they are doing further checks and that's all they can say could not confirm if they received the documents i sent in September. The phone call from today they confirmed that they received the documents and my application is still being assessed and have to keep an eye on my emails. Its just a waiting game and its painful..i have my BSc to finish while i wait, i guess that will keep my mind occupied :-)

Hi, I know how you feel, I am about a week behind you in APHRA acknowledgement and had to provide further documents which they received in September. I will keep an eye out for your cheer when yours arrives, may keep me positive that mine will not be far behind. Paul

Hi, I started a separate thread on APHRA some time ago, my docs were received mid August and have recently been advised that there is still no timescales for international applications, however someone posted they had received theirs, having applied in July. Frustrating is the word!!

Hi, as I have been in the aphra system since mid august, 4 months since acknowledgement email, is there anyone currently receiving registration confirmation. Is there anyone else who has been waiting this long? Paul

Hi all, I had my documents acknowledged with the Victoria office back in mid August, have had various emails from you will here in the next 2 weeks to you will here in the next 2 days. My latest response to my email asking for a timescale is below. It is not very encouraging!! Paul

Dear Mr Andre

Thank you for your enquiry.

As you are aware the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) and AHPRA are currently reviewing and strengthening the process in place to support the nationally consistent assessment of applications for registration from internationally qualified nurses and midwives (IQNM).

Due to the high volume of overseas applications, there is currently no time frame available at this stage for outcomes of internationally qualified Nursing and Midwifery applications.

If there is any further information that the Registrations Team requires from you, we will contact you directly as soon as possible.

Hi, has anyone else experienced similar email from APHRA. As you can see from my timeline, my APHRA acknowledgement of receipt of my application was August, I was requested to send an updated cv and transcript of registration, these were both received by APHRA on the 10th September and 25th September. I had an email from APHRA on the27th September saying I would receive an outcome within 7-10 working days. On the 21st October I enquires and got an out of office reply so I emailed enquiries. The reply was I would hear in 2 working days. On Monday of this week I received the email which is copied below. Has anyone else experienced this message or will have had to wait this long in the process.

- - - - - - - - -

Dear Paul

Since you last received correspondence from your registration officer AHPRA and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia have strengthened the processes in how we assess applications. At this stage your application is still currently under review. Once your application has been fully assessed we will be in contact. Please contact us in six weeks for an update on your application if you have not heard from us in the interim.

Regards

- - - - - - - -

Thanks

Paul :arghh:

I don't think the risks are any higher than they have ever been! Well certainly not in the last forty years or so anyway - people just talk about it more now, but the risks were always there, there were always perverts and child abusers, it's not a modern day phenomenon! If anything, many risks are less now, with mobile phones etc!

The risks may not be higher but with media they are known about more and quicker, the obvious additions are more ways of carrying this out, online grooming, social media risks etc, it is just important to educate as best you can.

Agree with Rupert - why does your wife need to stay at home? Both me and my OH work full time and the kids go to childcare after school and in the school holidays. In fact the youngest often chooses childcare to being at home during the holidays when given the choice. I'd be asking more about the logistics of her getting a job and finding childcare than how she will cope not working.

 

I also agree with Rupert about the lifestyle thing. Life is what you make it. For us we have a much worse work/life balance as I used to work part time in the UK and we both have much longer commutes here. However we now live in an area with more to do close by and we are more motivated to make the most of the things there are to do. It is possible to have a better lifestyle living where you are now by making changes, you certainly don't need to move half way round the world to do it.

 

What Rupert hasn't mentioned is that you have to accrue annual leave here before you can take any time off, so even though you normally get 20 days a year you can't take leave until you have accrued it, although some companies will let you take leave before accruing. Sick leave also has to be accrued so if you have to take more time off sick than you have sick days available you will not be paid for the days you don't have sick leave for. I'm lucky in that I work for an organisation with generous leave arrangements so I get 20 days holiday a year, plus I can trade in my leave loading for another 4 days, plus by working a few extra minutes everyday on top of the contracted hours I get an extra 4 days off over Xmas for free as well. And I get 9 days careers leave a year on top of my sick leave and I don't have to accrue this time (I can't carry it over to the following year either).

 

I do love it here and I am very much pro Australia but I am realistic and know it doesn't suit everyone and life isn't going to be magically much better just because you move. The kids still argue, the washing still needs doing and I still get bored and fed up sometimes. If you fancy an adventure or a change then move over and see how it goes. Don't move for some magical better life as it may not happen.

Thanks for the info, we understand the risks, what we would give up here, but I wanted to try to get a balanced view of what to expect, the issues that worry us are not major, but do impact upon some degree of happiness or success for us, my wife would not be happy if she could not work, using childcare is what we have to do here, but use sports and school holiday clubs, hopefully this would be the same. We know it will be hard socially initially and will need work from us. I think it is natural to worry about major life changes and hope that we are no different in this respect than anyone else.

in terms of leave, I imagine you adapt to whatever the situation is, luckily I have been healthy and not had a sick day for over 4 years now, holidays are important, but last year we came out to Australia and I virtually used up all my years leave in one go, just had to make the most of weekends and public holidays for the rest of the year.

We love our lifestyle now, I read a lot about don't use migration to change an unhappy life and poor lifestyle, quality of life etc, so if we do it we should when we are happy, with a view of positives and negatives. Hopefully that is what you are giving, a balanced view. It may be that we get to the end of the process and stop or we go for it, I guess you never really know until it is a reality and you have to jump one way or the other

My thoughts:

 

1)and 2). Why have you decided that your wife will not work if she wants to work? There is such a thing as child care, I think most people use it.

 

3) No, Australia does not provide a better lifestyle. The lifestyle you will lead is all down to you. We are happy here, but our lifestyle is pretty much identical to the UK, because guess what it is the lifestyle we have implemented for ourselves. You might hear about the better lifestyle on TV programs or from people thinking of moving, but you don't get that many who have actually made the move going on about it, even amongst the happy migrants. Work life balance is often unfavourable; Australians are hard working and often need to be to manage the high cost of living and leave allowances are very stingy compared to typical European allowances, that includes annual leave, parental leave, sick leave etc.

 

4) See 1 & 2 above. Why you have you decided that she is to stay at home?

No, my wife wants to work and could not imagine not working, that is more of the issue, we are not blinkered we have to use childcare now, occasionally family, but holiday clubs by the school, sports activity clubs etc. no matter how excited or positive we are, and I do not want to be blinded by media views, I guess we will always worry.

If you have so many worries, do you really want to go?

 

There are no guarantees that your wife will get a job in what she does, there are no guarantees for anyone, its the luck of the draw. She may have to do something different to get school hours and school hour jobs are highly sought by all mums.

 

Migration is not easy, its different, nothing is the same here as it is in UK. Bits of paper are the key to getting work. Degrees are becoming the passport for employment in a lot of careers that previously relied on technical certificates.

 

Whether you succeed or not as a migrant depends on acceptance of difference and non comparison, once you start hankering for what you had or how things were done, misery follows.

 

Good luck

thanks, i the closer we get in the process, it is natural to worry, we have no idea how easy or difficult it will be for my wife to find work. We will only move if I have a job to come out to, but that is different for her. As it is, she would change jobs tomorrow, so that is something I guess.

There will probably be information that the police have that will not have been released I would suppose. I find it interesting that opinion today seems to be not to let your children out of sight - I remember going on holiday to the then Butlins in Ayr (now Haven Craig Tara I think) in the early 1980's and remember the red coats going round the chalets at night (when the parents were out enjoying themselves at the various things going on in the camp) and reporting back on babies and children crying. There were large boards with numbers on them which were light up with a sign - "baby crying in chalet no ......" so the parents could go back and settle their child! Also a point to note that children are abducted from their homes while the parents are there in bed sleeping or just in another room. There was the young girl in England who was in the bath and someone came in and took her out of the bath under her parents nose. I lived in Melbourne in the Airport West/Essendon area during the "Mr Cruel" child abductions and murder - girls taken from their bedrooms at night while other siblings were in the same room and parents in their bedroom and taken to a house somewhere on the flight path to Melbourne Airport. Despite all the publicity about the girls reporting hearing planes overhead - we never had a visit from the police at all (and we were on the flight path) - the only thing was a flyer put through the door asking if we had noticed anything suspicious going on???

yes, it was a very different world now from the 80's, this was common then, however with the global 24 hr media people are more aware and the risks are heightened. Parenting and laws have changed, maybe not all for the better, but child protection is higher on the agenda in the public domain

I think people that work in areas such as you do obviously have a slightly skewed vision of what happens in the world, as you see so many of the bad things in comparison to all the good things. I'm not having a go at you honestly, I couldn't do your job and have great admiration for those that do work in such areas. But I still believe there are vastly more good people in the world than bad, and if we never let our kids do anything that might be the slightest bit dangerous, because of what might happen, we would have to keep them in a bubble sealed off from the world! A friend of mine who works in child protection in the UK has recently stopped her 18 year old daughter coming over to Aus to travel for a few months with a friend, because she "knows what goes on in the world" - she probably thinks everyone that 'allows' their adult kids to come over on a WHV is totally stupid, but in my view, she's just being ridiculous herself!

 

I once went out to the car to get something while my baby was asleep inside, and the door slammed in the wind leaving me locked outside without a key! Yes, something bad could have happened and after that I was doubly careful to prop the front door open if I ever did that again, but you can't turn the clock back - however much Madeleine's parents probably wish they could.

Maybe I do, but it is about a balance, there are some 18 yr olds who are mature, problem solvers and emotionally stable to cope with a working holiday in another country, and those who are not, with capacity and consent, at 18 all parents can do is advise, they have no power to prevent. I agree that children should be given as many opportunities to help them to develop, but there will always be a line. Everyone is individual and decisions should be made on this rather than the same rule for everyone. You make a good point though in wrapping your kids up to much.

Hi, we are looking to migrate, I am a nurse, completed AMNAC, waiting for outcome of APHRA then will submit Eoi, following a holiday to visit my sister in Sydney, we were raring to go in the process. What are our concerns that may impact upon moving.

1. My wife is very in dependant, has always worked, as a hca for the NHS for 20 years in different services, adult, child, specialist complex care, if she moves, she will want to work, however, with losing our support for childcare, she will need to be on hand for kids schooling and school holidays. How is she going to be able to find work that fits in with our needs.

2. She will also not want to be dependant financially, she never has been and probably never will, she has always had her own money etc. work is important.

3. Is lifestyle better in Australia than in Britain, you hear so much about a better quality of life for families, is this true, work life balance, a better place to bring up kids. It is not about earning more money for us.

4. Socially, I am guessing I will gain a social circle with work colleagues, she will need to find a way to,do this, hopefully through links with the children etc, is this a reality.

it is such a big life changing decision, maybe I have been reading to many negative posts on the forums, peoples views would be gratefully received. Paul

I agree whole heartedly with this post. It goes without saying that obviously it is not advisable and in many people's opinion unthinkable to leave children alone in a room and go elsewhere, maybe especially so in a foreign country, but all this 'burn the witch' crap gets on my wick and in my eyes without wanting to sound like a bible basher here, because I'm not into bashing of any sort and certainly aint no saint believe me- those without sin can cast the first stone....we all make mistakes and we all do things differently, especially the way we choose to parent our children. I remember going to a meeting at the school about new sex education lessons for primary school children and we were asked our thoughts on whether we thought the prospective contents of these lessons were thought out well....I distinctly remember one mother going on and on that 'we should all work together and agree on what we are going to say to the children when they ask this, that or whatever' and thinking are you for real woman??!! Who the hell parents their kids the same way as someone else does?!! I found it hard to comprehend how she thought this 'agreement' would 'work'. She was disgusted when she knew I didn't agree with her way of thinking and she herself couldn't comprehend how I didn't think her way of doing things was right- but it just wasn't right for me. I read a post on facebook the other day and had to stop myself from an outburst..it went along the lines ''The evil b@st@rds, who leaves kids on their own for gods sake they deserve everything they get. I think she's dead, why are they doing all these appeals again its all been done, its their own fault. What about all the other kids who have went missing, who is looking for them?'' This disturbed me to say the least. I say God help people like this.. as well as poor Madeleine McCann and her family, I hope they find and end to their torture in some way or another.

I have to say it is very difficult situation, as much as I feel desperate for the family, I do not know anyone who would while on holiday in a foreign country, put their children to bed and go out to a bar, out of sight of the apartment. Especially the ages of the children, the youngest ones being about 1 yrs. then to hear that on previous nights this happened and one of the children asked their mum where she was when she had woken up, the following day. Hindsight is a great thing, however, hoe many parents would really do this. I would not leave my children in bed at home and go out let alone when on holiday in a strange country.

Maybe working in the NhS and experience of the child protection and adult safeguarding issues, I am over cautious with my own children.

Hi, I have just received email confirmation that my APHRA application form and supporting documents have arrived, the application date is the 12/08, in the email it states there is no timescale due to the high volume of applications, is there anyone in the process of obtaining registration and how long did they currently wait. Thanks. Paul

Ugh, getting so frustrated with waiting for ANMAC skills assessment. They received all documents on 28th May, still waiting. I know it can take 13 weeks or more, but I'm getting so fed up of waiting now to get the next part of the migration process underway.

Looking at AHPRA, it seems just as tedious a process for registration. Anyone got any tips to help cope with the frustration of waiting?!

Hi,

i understand the waiting is very frustrating, I received my LOD last week, it took fourteen weeks before I received the email stating it was completed, then five days later the letter arrived in the post. Just looking at Agos 40 reg form now, not straight forward at all and about a 9 week wait once all the docs are in. You have to keep the faith. Paul

Hi All, I have a question regarding APHRA offices. Does it make a difference which office you apply to, I want to move to melbourne or Sydney areas, not sure which as yet, my AMNAC application is in for assessment, I was going to apply to Victoria APHRA, any advice would be welcome if there are differences to where you apply. I was going to ask AMNAC to forward my docs after the assessment was completed. Thanks. Paul

Great thread, when we were on holiday visiting family, they had to tell me to stop packing the shopping into bags at the supermarket, the checkout lady was not amused with me. Having to stop to give way to pedestrians when you get a green filter light to turn left meant I nearly mowed down a few people, then when walking it feels like you should not be crossing. Everyone seemed to get very excited about Bunnings stores, Dan Murphys was great tho. Paul

Hi, thanks, that is true,the whole process means you have to have patience. AMNAC emailed me to say the 12weeks is from the time they receive your application, this is good news. They also say they will forward all the file to APHRA once the assessment is completed. Paul

Hi, my documents have been received by AMNAC, I have had an email to say they will let me know when the assessment is started, does anyone know the current wait time, I see on the website that it can take up to 12 weeks for the assessment too. Thanks. Paul