FAQ: Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs)

Use our self-assessment tool to see which registration pathway you are eligible for. To practise medicine in Australia you need to be on a pathway to registration.

Use our self-assessment tool to see which registration pathway you are eligible for.

Use our self-assessment tool to see which pathway you are eligible for. Your qualifications determine which pathway and the registration type you can apply for. Each pathway page has more information about registration types and how to apply.

A new Expedited Specialist pathway started in October 2024. It is a fast-track to specialist registration in Australia. SIMGs with a specialist qualification on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list can apply directly to Ahpra for specialist registration. See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information.

There are no changes to the existing specialist pathways.

A new pathway to specialist registration in Australia opened in October 2024. The Expedited Specialist pathway is a fast-track to specialist registration for SIMGs with a specialist qualification on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list. If you have a qualification on this list you can apply directly to Ahpra for specialist registration. See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information.

There are no changes to the existing specialist pathways.

The Expedited Specialist pathway is a fast-track pathway to specialist registration for SIMGs with qualifications that have been assessed by the Medical Board as substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies to an approved qualification for the specialty.

SIMGs who have a qualification on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list can apply directly to the Medical Board for specialist registration. Only specific GP qualifications are on this list now. Qualifications in other specialties will be added in the coming months. 

All other SIMGs can apply to the relevant specialist medical college for an assessment of comparability under the existing Specialist pathway - specialist recognition. 

SIMGs on both these pathways must complete a period of supervised practice in an approved position.

Australia’s health ministers demanded urgent changes to speed up the registration process for international medical specialists after an independent review into health practitioner regulatory settings.¹ The Medical Board and Ahpra set up the new Expedited Specialist pathway to registration for some SIMGs, against tight deadlines, to get more medical specialists practising safely in Australia quickly. 

1. Overseas Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings Review - Final Report, 2023 conducted by Ms Robyn Kruk AO (the Kruk Review)

General practitioners, anaesthetists and psychiatrists with a specialist qualification on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list can apply through the Expedited Specialist pathway.

Specialist qualifications in obstetrics and gynaecology will be next after they have been assessed by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and approved by the Medical Board.

Qualifications in other specialties will be added over time as Australian health departments identify priority specialities. The next priorities identified by health departments are general medicine, general paediatrics and diagnostic radiology.

Eligible qualifications will be added to the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list progressively, after they have been assessed by the AMC and approved by the Medical Board.

Health departments decide on the priority specialties, based on national workforce priorities.

The Medical Board has engaged the Australian Medical Council to assess each qualification for suitability to be added to the Expedited Specialist Pathway: accepted qualification list.

The AMC assesses each qualification referred by the Medical Board for assessment, against the Australian approved qualification. Qualifications are assessed against the Qualifications assessment criteria.

The criteria and the process are published on the Assessment of qualifications for the Expedited Specialist pathway page.

Qualifications on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list have been assessed as being ‘substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies to an (Australian) approved qualification’.

It is possible that your qualification has not been assessed or has been assessed and not found to be eligible for the pathway.

In terms of process, the Board seeks the advice of the specialist medical colleges about what qualifications might be appropriate for the pathway. The Board then asks the AMC to assess the proposed qualifications. The Medical Board makes the final decision.

As time progresses, more qualifications will be assessed and may be added to the list.

No. Your qualification must match the qualification exactly as specified on the list. You can apply for the Specialist pathway - specialist recognition.

You can apply for the Specialist pathway – specialist recognition (if you meet the eligibility criteria for this pathway).

Applications open on 21 October 2024 for general practitioners and 23 December 2024 for anaesthetists and psychiatrists with a specialist qualification on the Expedited Specialist pathway – accepted qualifications list.

The Expedited Specialist pathway is expected to open to internationally qualified specialists with eligible qualifications in obstetrics and gynaecology in early 2025. Health Ministers have nominated general medicine, general paediatrics and diagnostic radiology as the next specialties to be considered for the pathway.

There is no closing date for the new pathway.

If you submit all the required documents and your application is complete, applications for specialist registration are usually processed within four to six weeks.

There are different fees charged by different organisations for different purposes. 

• The AMC charges a fee to establish an AMC candidate account for you, so it can arrange primary source verification (PSV) of your qualifications. All IMGs, regardless of registration pathway, incur this cost. 
• ECFMG charge a fee for the EPIC PSV service. All IMGs, regardless of registration pathway, incur this cost.
• Ahpra and the Medical Board charge an application fee and a registration fee for specialist registration. 
• You will be responsible for the costs of assessments completed as part of a Supervised practice plan.

See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information on fees. 

No.

To be eligible for specialist registration, you must meet the English language skills requirements in the Board’s English Language Skills Registration Standard. You may meet the English language skills education pathway or you may need to sit a test.

See the registration standard for more information.

You will need a specialist level position in the specialty. There must be appropriate supervision for the first six months. The position and the supervision arrangements need to be approved by the Medical Board before you start work.

You can apply for specialist registration before you have a job offer but you won’t be allowed to start work until your position has been approved by the Medical Board. SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway must complete six months supervised practice in an approved position.

Yes.

Yes, but your position will need to be approved by the Medical Board before you can start practice. There may also be other requirements that affect where you can work such as the 10-year moratorium.

Your qualifications will need to meet the eligibility criteria for registration.

Contact Ahpra for further information about the process.

No – you can only work in the specialty in which you have been registered. If you hold more than one specialist qualification, contact Ahpra to discuss your circumstances.

You application can be refused by the Board if you do not meet a qualification, registration or other suitability requirement. Examples where the Board may refuse your application: 

• you do not hold a recognised qualification 
• you’re deemed not fit and proper to hold registration because of criminal history or other serious conduct (such as a professional conduct issue) 
• you have a serious health impairment 
• you cannot meet one of the Board’s registration standards such as the recency of practice standard because you have not practised for such a long time and putting conditions on your registration would not mitigate any risk posed. 

If the Board intends to refuse your application, you'll be informed before it happens. You will be given an opportunity to make a submission to the Board. The Board will consider your submission before making a final decision. Should the Board still refuse your application, you can appeal to a Tribunal in your state or territory.

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you must complete six months supervised practice, an orientation to the Australian healthcare system and cultural safety education. The Medical Board puts conditions on your registration to reflect these requirements. These conditions will be specified in the public register of medical practitioners until the conditions are removed by the Board once all requirements are met. 

The Board will consider on a case-by-case basis whether other conditions are necessary. 

When you have satisfactorily completed the supervised practice, orientation, cultural safety education, along with any other requirements, you can apply to the Medical Board to have the conditions on your registration removed.

See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for the process and the relevant form. 

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you need to satisfactorily complete six months Board-approved supervised practice. In some circumstances (such as if you have previously practised in a specialist level position in Australia), exemptions to this requirement may apply.

See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information.

Yes, you can complete your supervised practice part-time. It will just take longer because it’s calculated pro rata. Full-time equivalent is 38 hours per week and involves six months supervision. So if you work half time (i.e. 19 hours per week), you will need to work for 12 months in supervised practice.

The Board needs to approve your proposed supervision arrangements before you start practising. We don’t specify a minimum number of practice hours per week – this depends on your position and your employer's requirements.

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you need to complete an orientation to the Australian health care system. In some circumstances (such as if you have previously practised in Australia), exemptions to this requirement apply. 

See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information.

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you need to complete cultural safety education through an approved provider. In some circumstances, exemptions to this requirement apply.

See the Expedited Specialist pathway page for more information.

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you must have your position and supervision arrangements approved by the Medical Board before you start practising. Any proposed changes while you’re on the pathway must be pre-approved by the Board.

See ‘Change of circumstances’ information on the Supervised practice framework page.

You must have your position approved by the Medical Board before you start practising on the Expedited Specialist pathway. Any proposed changes to your position and supervision arrangements while you’re on the pathway must be pre-approved by the Board.

See ‘Change of circumstances’ information on the Supervised practice framework page. 

You can choose any of the AMC-accredited CPD homes suitable for your scope of practice. You can choose a college or a non-college CPD home. 

There is a list of CPD homes on the Board’s About CPD homes page. 

If you are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, you need to satisfactorily complete six months of Board-approved supervised practice. In some circumstances (such as if you have previously practised in a specialist-level position in Australia), exemptions may apply. When reviewing an application for specialist registration, the Board will consider all available evidence against the Policy: Supervised practice requirements for specialist registration to determine the requirements for your supervised practice. This policy is available on the Board’s website.

You will need to nominate your own supervisor. This is usually done with assistance from your employer.

The Supervised practice framework outlines the general requirements for supervisors. Supervisors must:

• have relevant experience (including their qualifications, responsibilities and relevant scope of practice), and
• not be subject to supervised practice, conditions or undertakings that would affect their ability to effectively supervise.

For SIMGs who are on the Expedited Specialist pathway, the Board has also decided that supervisors must:

• be specialists who hold specialist registration in the same specialty field
• have practised in Australia for a minimum of 12 months full-time equivalent experience as a specialist in Australia with specialist registration, and
• be able to show that they have the demonstrated skills and competency to supervise specialists on this pathway.

Further information has been published as part of the Board’s Information sheet: Supervised practice arrangements for specialist international medical graduates on the Expedited Specialist pathway (151 KB,PDF).

The Supervised practice framework (the framework) describes four levels of supervision at Appendix 4. Not all supervision levels in the framework apply to SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway, given these SIMGs are highly qualified and are not trainees.

Yes. If your practice is supervised across multiple sites, all sites need to be included in your supervised practice plan. You can only carry out supervised practice at multiple sites if these have all have been approved by the Board.

No. You can only start or restart your practice after the Board has approved your supervised practice arrangement.

If you propose a supervised practice arrangement with your application, these will be considered at the same time. However, the time taken to approve your supervised practice arrangement may vary for reasons such as:

• whether all required information has been provided
• whether the proposed supervised practice arrangement, including your nominated supervisor(s), are considered suitable to address your individual supervised practice needs, and
• whether the proposed supervised practice arrangement is considered safe and fair.

Ahpra will communicate with you about this approval process, including if you have provided all required information.

Yes. Information about your supervised practice is shown on the public register of practitioners as one, or a combination of, the following:

• A registration requirement
• A notation on your registration, and/or
• A condition or undertaking recorded on your registration.

There may be. The supervisee is responsible for any costs associated with the supervised practice arrangement, such as payment to a supervisor, if applicable. Ahpra and the Board cannot give you advice about paying a supervisor.

See Medical Board of Australia - Comparison of the supervision levels described under the Supervised practice framework and the Guidelines: Supervised practice for international medical graduates (226 KB,PDF).

To ensure that SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway are appropriately supported as they start work in a new healthcare system, the Board requires them to practise with a closer level of supervision (Indirect level 2) for a minimum of three months full-time equivalent before remote supervision can be considered.

The Board will not normally allow a supervisor (either the primary supervisor or alternate supervisors) to have direct supervisory responsibility for more than four doctors. This total includes IMGs with limited or provisional registration and SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway. Prospective supervisors who are applying to supervise more than four doctors must provide a proposal to the Board which details how they will safely supervise each registrant.

No. The Board does not currently require supervisors to complete specific supervisor training. However, this may change in the context of the findings of the Final Report of the Independent Review of Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings, led by Ms Robyn Kruk AO.

One of the requirements to supervise SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway is that the supervisor can show that they have the demonstrated skills and competency to supervise specialists on this pathway. A description of any experience or training they have had as a supervisor must be provided in their curriculum vitae, which must be attached to the supervised practice plan.

The SIMG must complete the following workplace-based competency assessments (WBAs):

• A multi-source feedback (MSF) assessment conducted by a Board-approved provider.
• One other additional assessment which must be appropriate for the specialty – choose from:
  • mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX)
  • direct observation of procedural skills (DOPS), or
  • case-based discussion (CBD).

The additional assessment must be specified as part of the Supervised practice plan.

Read more about the supervised practice requirements for specialist registration.

The Board generally requires SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway to practise with Indirect level 2 supervision for at least the first three months. This level of supervision requires supervisors to be available to attend the workplace or practice environment to observe and regularly discuss the management of patients, and/or performance of the supervisee. They must also be available to facilitate the workplace-based assessments required for this pathway.

Supervisors should carefully consider whether they can satisfy the role and responsibilities as outlined in Appendix 3 of the Supervised practice framework before being nominated as a supervisor. The supervised practice plan must describe how they will be able to provide the level of supervision specified (including attendance at the SIMG’s place of practice) if they work at a different site to the SIMG.

Before the supervised practice arrangement starts, you need to make sure that you have the necessary professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements in place. You should refer to the Medical Board of Australia’s PII registration standard and check with your insurance provider (or employer/other entity arranging cover) to make sure you meet the minimum requirements and to confirm that your supervised practice arrangement meets the requirements of your insurance cover.

You may need to seek advice from your employer if your PII is given under an organisational policy.

The 10-year moratorium will apply to SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway. Check with the Department of Health and Aged Care to understand how the moratorium applies to you. The Medical Board and Ahpra do not decide who the 10-year moratorium applies to.

Medical practitioners on the Specialists Register, including those on the Expedited Specialist pathway, can apply for a Medicare provider number. Check with Services Australia for more information on provider numbers and how to apply.

The Medical Board and Ahpra do not decide who is eligible for a Medicare provider number.

Medical practitioners on the Specialists Register, including those on the Expedited Specialist pathway, can apply for a prescriber number. Check with Services Australia for more information on prescriber numbers and how to apply. 

The Medical Board and Ahpra do not determine who is eligible for a PBS prescriber number or which rebates apply. 

The Medical Board and Ahpra do not determine who is eligible for permanent residency.

Check with the Department of Home Affairs to confirm if you are eligible.

The AMC-accredited colleges assess SIMGs on the specialist pathways (specialist recognition, area of need and short-term training). They do not assess SIMGs for the Expedited Specialist pathway. Colleges assess and award fellowship for SIMGs on the Specialist pathway – specialist recognition and for those SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway who are seeking fellowship as well as specialist registration. 

The colleges are also accredited CPD homes.

The 16 AMC-accredited specialist medical colleges assess SIMGs for the Specialist pathway – specialist recognition, in all the recognised specialties and fields of specialty practice.

See the Specialist pathway – specialist recognition page for more information. 

No. You can apply directly to the Medical Board for specialist registration. 

While not necessary for registration purposes, you may choose to seek fellowship from the relevant college and/or you may join the college CPD home.

Contact the relevant college for further information on fellowship and college support and resources.

You will get specialist registration on the Expedited Specialist pathway, but you will not get a fellowship (which is a qualification) from the relevant specialist medical college. Contact the relevant college if you would like to get the Australian specialist qualification (fellowship) and access the support and resources of a specialist college.

No, but you might choose to. The Medical Board encourages SIMGs to consider applying for fellowship. If you are eligible for the Expedited Specialist pathway you may also be able to apply to the relevant specialist medical college for fellowship.

Contact the relevant college to learn more about the benefits of college fellowship.

You can get specialist registration through the Expedited Specialist pathway, and practise as a specialist, without a college fellowship. To maintain your specialist registration, you’ll need to keep meeting the Board’s registration standards (including by having a CPD home) and any other Board-imposed conditions on your registration.

While you don’t need to attain fellowship for ongoing specialist registration, we encourage you to talk with the relevant specialist college about the benefits of fellowship. The college can talk to you about the process for gaining fellowship.

While the Medical Board encourages SIMGs to consider applying for fellowship, it is not a registration requirement. If you are eligible for the Expedited Specialist pathway you can also apply to the relevant specialist medical college for fellowship.

Contact the relevant college to learn more about the benefits of college fellowship including joining the college CPD home.

The Medical Board encourages SIMGs on the Expedited Specialist pathway to consider engaging with the relevant specialist medical college. The SIMG can seek fellowship, and also has the opportunity to join the college CPD home. Colleges can provide support for SIMGs, access to a professional network, involvement in training and education as well as advocacy for the profession.

You will be able to access supports provided by your employer. Ask them if they offer employee assistance programs. 

If you also seek fellowship with a specialist medical college, you will also have access to a range of professional and personal supports they offer SIMGs, including professional development.

Contact your employer and/ or the relevant specialist medical college for more information.

If your specialist qualification is on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list, you can apply for specialist registration via the Expedited Specialist pathway.

If you would also like to seek fellowship of a college, you can contact the college to ask about the process for completing fellowship requirements while you’re on the Expedited Specialist pathway. 

If you are not seeking fellowship, you may choose to withdraw your application to the college - after you have confirmed you are eligible for the Expedited Specialist pathway by being granted specialist registration. You should also check with the college about any fees already paid.    

If your specialist qualification is on the Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list, you can apply for specialist registration via the Expedited specialist pathway.

• If you hold limited registration, you can apply for specialist registration through the Expedited Specialist pathway when it opens OR wait to apply until your limited registration is due for renewal and surrender your limited registration when your specialist registration is approved. If you have not met the relevant supervised practice requirements, your specialist registration will be subject to conditions that enable you to meet this requirement
• If you hold provisional registration, you can stay on the Specialist pathway with provisional registration OR apply for specialist registration when the Expedited Specialist pathway opens. If you have not met the relevant supervised practice requirements, your specialist registration will be subject to conditions that enable you to meet this requirement. When all requirements are met, you may be eligible for both general and specialist registration.

If you have an application for limited registration pending when the Expedited Specialist pathway opens (including an application for renewal), Ahpra will contact you to discuss your options.