What are the pathways for international students/doctors to practice medicine in Australia?
Generally, there are three pathways for international students (IntStuds) to become an Australian doctor. I would call them AMC, PR/Med and Int’l/Med pathways. Each pathway has its own pros and cons. And I will explain more in this post.
Firstly, the AMC pathway might cost the least but risk the most in the pathways for international students/doctors.
AMC stands for Australian Medical Council. I call this AMC pathway because it entails obtaining a non-Australian medical degree and taking exams organised by AMC. I also visualised this pathway in the diagram below.
Not so costly
This pathway will cost the least amongst the three pathways for international students. The reason is that in non-English speaking countries, medical schools will not cost students a fortune. Especially in some countries, a medical degree can even cost much less than an Australian diploma, let alone a medical degree.
For example, a Vietnamese medical degree costs a student only 4k AUD per year. Meanwhile, an Australian Bachelor’s degree normally cost an IntStud 20k to 40k AUD per year (1), which means 60k to 120k AUD in total.
But highly uncertain
With a non-Australian medical degree, international medical graduates (IMGs) will have to go through several AMC exams. And the amount of exams depends on which AMC pathways they would like to take on, standard pathway or specialist pathway. The standard pathway is for junior doctors who just graduated or has a few years of experience. This pathway requires the applicant to take an AMC theoretical exam and either a clinical exam or a work-based assessment. If the applicant is successful, they can obtain a general medical registration, with which they can apply for an internship. The specialist pathway is for senior doctors who has had years of experience in a specific specialty. This pathway requires different assessments depending on different specialty colleges. But overall, the assessments of specialties’ colleges are very difficult, even for domestic doctors, and they are very costly as well.
So, AMC pathway is much more affordable than other pathways, but it is extremely uncertain and competitive. And even after IMGs obtained their general registration, they still have to face the challenge of finding an internship place. More details were written in my previous post.
Secondly, the PR/Med pathway might not be affordable for some but is the most certain in the pathways for international students.
PR/Med means Permanent Residency then Medicine. So, the name might give you a hint that this pathway starts with the first goal of obtaining PR then leads to entering Australia medical schools. I also visualised the pathway in the diagram below.
PR as the first goal
With the first crucial goal, it is costly. To obtain Australian PR, immigrants need to spend a substantial amount of money on studying courses, finding a job, learning English, and applying for their visas, let alone the addition of living expense. Particularly, one might have to spend up to 80k-100k AUD in total, including living expense. However, after obtaining a PR, you might spend some time to work to save money for your medical school or to return the money that you invested for your Bachelor’s degree. And for your interest, the average salary for professional jobs is around 66K AUD per year.
Regarding PR, the process of obtaining a PR was much more straightforward and certain in the past than it is now. And in my opinion, it will be even harder in the future. More details about PR and immigration will be written in future posts.
Medical school: the later but essential goal
For the next defining goal of getting into medical school, it is not easy but not impossible. Medical school is very competitive around the world, and Australia is not an exception. I have dedicated a whole category to medical school application, which I will write more about in future.
Having stated that, once a student has got their PR, they will be considered as a domestic medical student if they successfully get into a medical school. And most domestic students are required to pay only up to 10k to 12k per year. Especially, domestic students who have Australian citizenship can even borrow the Australian government to pay for their tuition fee up to 150k.
Furthermore, for the near future, a domestic medical student will be guaranteed an internship place in their states after they graduate. Therefore, despite the lengthy route, if one successfully achieve a PR and an entrance ticket to a medical school, they will highly likely be able to practice in Australia for the rest of their lives.
Thirdly, the non-PR/Med pathway is very unaffordable, even for myself, and is not much more certain than other pathways for international students.
Non-PR/Med means going straight into medical schools as an IntStud. This pathway is highly unaffordable due to the cost of up to 300k to 400k just for tuition fees. For example, the fee of Uni of Sydney is shown below in my screenshot to be 84k AUD per year. However, this might be the shortest pathway in the 3 pathways and might be the easiest to start. I also visualised the pathway in the diagram below.
The highly unaffordable but might be the shortest
Depending on the medical school, an IntStud needs to take ISAT, MCAT or GAMSAT, and they can apply right after they graduate from high school. Moreover, the competition for IntStuds to get into Australian medical schools, in my humble opinion, is slightly less fierce than for domestic students due to unspoken obvious reasons.
The challenges will come later
Despite having a better start, IntStuds have to compete extremely hard after they graduate to practice medicine in Australia. The reason is that graduating from medical school does not guarantee you either an internship place or a PR. More details were mentioned in my previous post.
Therefore, despite costing a large amount of money, this pathway does not have a higher level of certainty than the PR/Med pathway. Particularly, an Australian medical degree does not give IntStud more points for your PR application than a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. And the nursing degree only costs the student as much as one-third of the medical degree. Furthermore, the competition in getting an internship place in Australia for IMGs seems to be much more fierce than the competition for domestic students in getting into a medical school.
To sum up, each pathway has its own cost and challenges. I have chosen the PR/Med pathway, and fortunately, I am now a medical student. However, I would not rate which one is the universally best. Because it depends on you. It depends on how much you can afford, how determined you are, and your personal circumstances.
On a final note, I hope all this information might help you choose the best option for yourself and start embark on your unique journey!