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Find out what you need to do for graduate registration, including tips to help you avoid unnecessary delays.
Watch our videos to help you get your application right the first time.
We will let you know via email when we have assessed your application and are awaiting your graduate results. If we need any further information, we will contact you.
Once we’ve received your graduate results from your education provider and we are satisfied that you have met all the requirements for registration, we will finalise your application.
Start online application
To help you understand the application process and what information is needed, please:
Download the Certifying documents flyer
It’s important that you get your photographic proof of identity documents certified correctly.
On documents with a photograph, such as your passport or driver’s licence, you must make sure the authorised officer writes or stamps:
‘I certify that this is a true copy of the original and the photograph is a true likeness of the person presenting the document as sighted by me.’
To make sure your documents are certified correctly, please download or print the guide ‘Certifying documents’ and take it with you to get your documents certified.
The guide provides a full list of authorised officers who can certify your documents (including teachers, bank officers, public servants, permanent employees of Ahpra and the following registered health professionals: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, chiropractors, dentists, medical practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, midwives, nurses, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, and psychologists).
Once we’ve received your graduate results from your education provider, we aim to finalise your application within two weeks. That’s if you’ve provided everything you need to prove you’ve met the requirements for registration. A few education providers submit graduate results in late October with the majority sending through their graduate results in late November to mid-December.
While we can’t finalise your application until after we’ve received your graduate results, we begin to assess your application beforehand so that it’s ready to go pending your results. That’s why we encourage you to submit your application early and to check whether you’ve provided everything you need to prove that you’ve met the requirements for registration. This is particularly important during the end-of-year peak graduate period where we receive about 37,000 applications within a few months.
It may take longer to assess your application if:
You can start your application if you’re set to graduate within the next three months. While we want you to apply early, if you submit your application any earlier than three months you will be unable to apply online.
Pharmacy graduates seeking provisional registration have additional requirements and should apply once their supervised practice arrangements are in place.
You can track the progress of your application from your online services account.
We need to receive your graduate results from your education provider. You don’t need to do anything as they send your results directly to us. However, if you are unsure if your education provider has provided your results or would like to know when they will be providing your results, you may want to contact them to confirm.
In your application, you need to demonstrate that you meet the requirements for registration (registration standards). While we receive your graduate results direct from your education provider, you may need to provide documents regarding any health impairments, criminal history or how you meet your Board’s English language skills requirement with your application. It’s important that you provide as much information as you can when you submit your application because assessment of your application may be delayed if we need to contact you for further information.
You need to tell us about any impairments that may affect your ability to practise.
Impairment means any physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder (including substance abuse or dependence), that detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect your ability to safely practise the profession. Most health issues are not impairments.
You do not need to declare well managed health conditions that will not affect your practice. For example, you don’t need to tell us about conditions like needing prescription glasses or hearing aids and we don’t need to know about short-term illness or injury like a cold or a sprained wrist.
Having an impairment will not necessarily prevent you from practising. However, we need to know what you are doing to manage any impairment. We may require current documents about your diagnosis and/or treatment plan and a statement regarding your current fitness to practise from your treating health practitioner. It’s important that you provide all details of any impairments and how you are managing them when you submit your application. Assessment of your application may be delayed if we need to contact you for further information.
In your application, you need to tell us about any criminal history.
Criminal history includes every:
We conduct an Australian criminal history check on every applicant. This cost is covered in your application fee.
You need to supply a complete criminal history with your application irrespective of the time that has lapsed since the charge was laid or the finding of guilt was made. This is because under the National Law, spent convictions legislation does not apply to criminal history disclosure requirements. If you do not supply your full criminal history, your application may be delayed or refused.
Your National Board will decide whether your criminal history is relevant to the practise of the profession.
If you have lived overseas for a period of six consecutive months or more as an adult you will also need to complete an international criminal history check. It is your responsibility to request and pay for your international criminal history check through an Ahpra-approved supplier. The results will be passed to us directly.
We cannot register you until we have received the results of your criminal history checks.
National Boards set requirements for English language skills to make sure all registered practitioners can provide safe care and communicate effectively in English with their patients/clients and other health practitioners.
You must meet the registration standard for English language skills set by your Board.
There are four pathways for how you may meet the English language skills standard, including:
For graduates applying to be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner, your English language proficiency can be demonstrated through the completion of the Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (Practice) or a qualification considered by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia (the Board) to be equivalent. More information is available on the Board website.
We will either register you, register you with conditions or refuse your application for registration.
We will let you know the outcome and if registered, we will publish your name on the national register of health practitioners.
Once your name is on the public register, you can start work as a registered health practitioner.
To help you further understand the application process and what information is needed, please read our frequently asked questions.
We cover how to apply, what to include with your application, how to get your documents certified correctly, English language requirements, criminal history, what happens when you’ve lodged your application, the public register, and staying registered.