Due to COVID, it is estimated that there is a shortage of around 7000 Physiotherapists right now.

Optimus Health has always had a bit of an international flair, our 3 Directors are made up of a South African, Irish, and a New Zealander. Since our inception we have had the following nationalities work for us;

English
Irish
Scottish
Canadian
Russian
New Zealanders
Zimbabwean

We’ve always found that internationals bring a certain level of banter to the clinic, made even better during World Cups and the Olympics!

Due to the shortage of physiotherapists, predicted to impact Australia for the next 12-18 months we are looking both inside Australia and across the seas for our next team members.

This page aims to help you understand some of the visa and registration requirements in order to work as a qualified physiotherapist in Australia.

Why work for Optimus Health?

Based in the heart (Richmond, Melbourne) of the sporting capital of Australia, we have a different approach to the ‘standard’ boring sterile clinics of the past. You spend so much time at work and we generally believe that work should be fun.

We encourage our Physiotherapist’ passions, for example, one of our junior physiotherapists has expressed a desire to specialize in hand, wrist and elbow injuries - especially for rock climbers and ninja warriors and so we have built her a rock-climbing bouldering wall in our gym.

Our caseload is exciting and varied, with acute sporting injuries being fed from our multiple sporting contracts (including Rugby, Aussie Rules & Football), the general population from our strong relationships with local GP’s, and passion clients fed from targeted marketing campaigns.

We are well supported by a full-time Practice Manager in Melbourne (from Scotland), who has a strong background in business development, relationship development and leadership PLUS a full-time marketing/recruitment/operational Director (kiwi).

Our Clinical Services include;

Physiotherapy, Exercise Physiology, Dietitics, Remedial Massage, Clinical Pilates and Sports Therapy.

We have a 250sqm High-Performance Gym with all the toys you can imagine including VALD ForceFrame and ForceDecks (as used by teams in the EPL, NPL, NRL, NFL). Our strength and conditioning coaches work with all of our clients, ranging from semi-elite athletes to those wanting to avoid developing chronic health conditions.

Ok, that sounds great, what about registration and visas?

registration

The registration process can be difficult, although compared to 5 years ago, the Australian Physiotherapy Council has made it easier by having a list of degrees that have been ‘pre-assessed’ as equivalent to the Australian Physiotherapy Degrees.

If you studied at one of these universities it is much easier for you to get registration, you can view whether your degree fits the pre-assessed pathway here:

This is a list of the countries that have pre-assessed degrees (this does not necessary mean that your university or degree has been pre-assessed but it will save you some time.

List of pre-assessed countries - if your country is not listed on here unfortunately it makes it very difficult for you to work as a physiotherapist in Australia and unfortunately not something we can support right now.

The next step is to click on the country of your degree and see whether that university program has been pre-assessed; as an example, if I click on Canada, the following degrees come up.

If you studied at any of those Universities, it’s time to talk!

visas

Due to the pandemic, the Australian government has made some changes to the Working Holiday Visa. Historically, you could only work for 1 employer for 6 months, meaning it was very hard to then go on to Sponsor an employee. This has now changed, you can now work for one employer for 12 months and then if the role fits into a certain category, make an application to extend that for another 12 months and then another 12 months. Currently, any health-related degree would fall into this category.

but I’ve already used my 2-year working holiday visa…

That’s ok! The Australian government has also extended the program into a 3rd year so you can now apply for another 12 months. We would then look at sponsoring you as soon as you passed your probation period.

ok, I am pretty sure my degree is recognised and I am eligible for a working holiday visa - what do I do next?

Send your CV and covering letter to stacey@optimushealth.com.au to arrange a confidential discussion.