Move to Australia as a Diploma Nurse 2023

Emigrate to Australia as a Diploma Nurse

Originally published over a year ago this page is more relevant today than ever before. If you’re a Diploma Qualified Nurse looking to Emigrate to Australia find out how with our 5 minute guide.

Question: Can I Emigrate to Australia as a Diploma Nurse?
Answer: Yes, as a Diploma Nurse you can move to Australia with a top up qualification at Degree Level. You will need to take a modified skills assessment.

One of Let’s Go Global areas of expertise is Medical Migration; specifically, the successful emigration to Australia of Nurses, Doctors, Consultants, Paramedics and those in the managerial side of the medical profession.

Diploma Nurse Migration Experts

We have successfully assisted many with UK Diploma Nurse Australia qualifications with their emigration plans.

We operate a dedicated Medical Migration Center of Excellence whose job it is to stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in Australian Medical Migration as well as deliver consistently exceptional levels of client care.

Take our Free Online Medical Migration Assessment For The Full Facts

Over the years we have advised and assisted many thousands of Nurses and medical professionals migrate to Australia and one of the most common questions we’re asked is, can I move to Australia as a Diploma Nurse?

Thankfully the answer is a little clearer these days although regrettably in general the answer is no, it is not possible to migrate to Australia with a Nursing Diploma unless that Diploma has been topped up to degree level.

Why is it not possible to migrate to Australia as a Diploma Nurse?

The Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority will only license degree qualified nurses to practice in Australia. Therefore, a Nursing Diploma is not a sufficient qualification for migrating to Australia as a nurse.

How to Move to Australia as a Diploma Nurse

One of the key milestones in migrating to Australia as a nurse is securing a positive skills assessment from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, also known as ANMAC. It’s the job of ANMAC to advise Australian Immigration that you have:

1. The correct identification
2. The right educational qualifications
3. The requisite skills to become a nurse in Australia
4. Received the right training
5. Demonstrated the right levels of English competency

ANMAC advises Australian Immigration as to the suitability of a candidate to qualify for skilled migration. Based on a positive skills assessment immigration points are awarded for education and experience.

ANMAC does not have any direct responsibility for your Australian Nursing registration. This job falls to the Australian Health Practitioners Authority (AHPRA).

Traditional Nursing Australia ANMAC Skills Assessment

For those moving to Australia as a nurse with a degree a positive skills assessment from ANMAC is usually the first step in the immigration process. Once a positive skills assessment is received our nursing migration experts construct and submit the very best expression of interest on behalf of nursing Australia clients.

Nursing Australia SkillSelect
At this point, with an Expression of Interest lodged an applicant is in a pool of migration candidates waiting to receive a call forward (also known as an invitation to apply) for their formal Australian Emigration visa.

At this stage in a degree qualified nurses Australia emigration process we’ll start the process of nursing registration with AHPRA.

Why would we start the AHPRA process at the end and not the start?

The final stage of AHPRA registration is to formally present at an AHPRA office in Australia within three months of receiving AHPRA approval. Therefore, for degree qualified candidates it makes sense to time the migration process in this way.

However, what about UK Diploma Qualified Nurses with top up Qualifications?

For Nurses with original diploma qualifications we’ll need to take a non traditional route.

Firstly, we need to remember that ANMAC will never approve a candidate for Nursing immigration to Australia that could never be registered by AHPRA and given the uncertainty surrounding the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s (NMBA) registration requirements for diploma qualified nurses with top up degrees (case-by-case), ANMAC cannot find an applicant suitable for skilled migration if there is a chance they will not be able to obtain registration.

How to Move to Australia as a Diploma Nurse?

In order to successfully migrate to Australia as a Diploma qualified nurse with top up qualification status the usual stages of the migration process must be rearranged.

Migration process Diploma Qualified Nurses migrating to Australia with a Top Up Qualifications

1. Secure a Letter of Determination from AHPRA.
This approval in principle letter can be used at ANMAC skills assessment stage to ‘force through’ a positive assessment outcome. For example, if a candidate is pre-approved by AHPRA then AMMAC will have to approve the skills assessment for migration purposes. Applicants can receive this letter of approval in principle without travelling to Australia and it allows us to then submit the skills assessment with ANMAC.

2. With a letter of determination in hand we then submit ANMAC skills assessment

3. Upon receipt of positive skills assessment we can then move forward with a clients Expression of Interest and the rest of the legal Australian visa processes.

Key points to remember if you’re a Diploma Qualified Nurse with a top up degree looking to move to Australia.

Apply for your Nursing registration in principle with AHPRA. This will cost an extra $660 AUD on top of the usual ANMAC skills assessment fee of $515 AUD and will add approximately 8 weeks onto the overall length of application time-frame.

AHPRA will likely require more information, over and above what they already stipulate on their application form. They are covered by open ended legislation in Australia and don’t hesitate when it comes to requesting further and more detailed information especially around Nursing course components such as detailed pharmacokinetics.

AHPRA will also want to see a copy of your Nursing registration from any country in which you’ve practiced.

AHPRA will most likely delve into the hours spent on your diploma and top up qualifications in terms of isolating and identifying theory and practice hours.

Our Medical Migration specialists are both internal and external to our company because when it comes to clients looking to Move to Australia as a Diploma Nurse it’s crucially important to have the right people working on your case from the start.

Take our Free Visa Assessment to check your eligibility now

UK Diploma Nurse Australia with top up Degrees – Lets Go Global