# Skill Assessment for Partner (doctor)



## Ashfaq (Oct 11, 2009)

Hi,

I did engineering and MBA and have working experience of around 18 years. Working in Saudia from last 10 years. My wife is a doctor (dermatologist). We are planning to PR. Please if some one guide us on:

1. Who should be principal applicant, me or my wife?
2. Do both of us need to submit skill assessment? (to get 5 marks for spouse education).
3. In CDR which category carry more marks, professional engineer or engineering manager? 
4. Do I need to mention MBA for skill assessment as professional engineer? 
5. Appreciate if someone send me sample CDR for Mechanical Engineer and engineering manager. 
6. Do doctors need to pass exam before skill assessment?
7. Anything else which can help us? Will be thankful for sharing related information. 

I hope to get a guideline for a successful PR application.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Hi Asfaq and welcome to the forum,

Your wife to work as a doctor in Australia will need to be registered and from that aspect it may be better for her to be the primary applicant.
Check out the Doctor Connect site from Working in Australia as a Doctor - Doctors and Nurses - Workers - Visas & Immigration re registration and other medical issues.

As an engineer, you yourself do not necessarily need to be registered but it'll likely help with many employers if you are and there'll be some industries that do require it.
Going through the IEA for assessment via CDR is likely to take a bit longer than just an assessment of approved engineering qualifications but have a look at the IEA web site and you can find that on the end of the SOL list which is second link on Professionals and other Skilled Migrants - Workers - Visas & Immigration .

The SOL list also shows the number of points any occupation will get, engineer and engineering manager likely to be both 60 points for engineers are.

Following the Visa Options link you'll see the 175/176 visas and both under *eligibility * section have a points assessment table and yes to get the extra 5 points [if you need more] the secondary applicant will need to have qualifications assessed.
Another way of reducing/getting points is to apply for a State Nomination, only 100 points needed and 10 given for State Nomination - the 176.

With both careers being on the MODL/CSL either may also be eligible for additional points for specific work and you can get points for any of the headings in the table where it says so and an applicant is eligible, not just one or the other.

If either of you is already 45 years of age, then the other if not 45 should be the applicant, 45 the cut-off age re eligibility.

Use the *Checklist* in the *applying for this visa *section under any visa and all should be well.

Best Wishes and Happy NY.


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## MZmigration (Jan 3, 2010)

Hi Ashfaq,
I actually specialise in the migration of doctors to Australia, so I am very experienced with the Australian medical registration process. For a doctor to apply as the primary applicant for a skilled migration, the skills assessment encompasses the requirement of holding full medical registration. To obtain full registration in Australia means obtaining Fellowship with the corresponding specialty college. This can be a very lengthy process as you will need to apply to the Australian Medical Council for verification of qualifications, then in your case the Australian College of Dermatologists (ACD). It is also a very expensive process (costing in excess of $8,000), so you want to be sure of your wife's eligibility and potential ACD requirements before lodging applications).

The AUS Medical Council will take approximately 8 weeks to process the application, then ACD will take a further 12 weeks before organising an interview. Furthermore, interviews are only offered every 12 weeks, so if you miss the cut-off date you could be further delayed (interview costs AUD$3,465). The interview generally needs to be completed in person for Fellowship, and this interview assesses qualifications, experience, and usually encompasses clinical questions. Following the interview, the candidate will either be found Substantially Comparable, Patially Comparable or Not Comparable.

Since I do not have details in regards to your wife's qualifications I cannot completely advise, however I can say if she completed her qualifications in Saudia she will not be found Substantially Comparable. So this means after the interview, if she is found Partially Comparable, ACD will then issue a Report 1 which states the further requirements for her to achieve comparability to an AUS trained Dermatologist (i.e. further training, exams, etc.). Until she is found Substantially Comparable she will not be eligible for Fellowship and hence could not apply for PR until complete.

All in all, if you are looking to apply for PR soon and you are eligible as a skilled Engineer, I would suggest that you apply as the primary applicant due to the lengthy process for medical practitioners. Your wife would then not be required to submit her skills assessment as a secondary applicant (although obviously you wouldn't get the 5 extra points). 

Alternatively if you are seeking employment in Australia and obtain a job offer, your other option is to come initially under a subclass 457 sponsored visa to work in the interim while applying for PR. Doctors are very much in need throughout Australia, so finding employment as a Consultant Dermatologist is always a possiblity. In this case your wife could apply for Area of Need (supervised) medical registration which is sponsored by an employer, and she can work under this registration while her Fellowhsip requirements get completed.

If you need more clarification please let me know.

Regards,
Michelle Zaretzky
Australia Migration Agent: 0958090


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## Deekay (Jan 21, 2011)

Hi there. I am a newly qualified pathologist who trained with royal college of pathologist of Australasia. I hold a MBchB medical degree from Auckland university. I hold a resident visa in new zealand but i am Malaysian by nationality. I am thinking of migrating to Australia in a year or two. My wife is also a medical doctor (medical registrar) who graduated from Auckland university. My questions are:

1) Do we need to take the IELTS english test for medical council registration? I know i will need it eventually for immigration but immigration wants general module while i suspect medical council may want a academic module test.

2) for registration, do i do it with AMC or APHRA? Do i need the entire medical training transcript or do i just photocopy my medical degree cert?

3) do i have to have a current registration with AMC in order to apply for a skilled migrant VISA? I may want to stay in NZ for a few more years but would like to sort out my aussie visa first. But at the same time i am reluctant to pay the Australian medical council annual registration fees for years and years when i am not actually practising there yet.

Can Michelle or anyone help me with the questions? Thanks heaps.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

You can get plenty of information yourself on the process by having a read starting with Doctors and Nurses - Workers - Visas & Immigration , there being options for an initial temporary residency visa and from there you can move to permanency or go for PR straight off.

For any visas, you need to have an occupational assessment and for doctors that will mean registration in Australia.
What standard of english you need for registration will be indicated on the relevant site and though I haven't looked it up recently, pretty sure it is an IELTS 7 for doctors or lets say it was in the past.

There are new Immi regulations being introduced in mid this year where a higher IELTS8 will give extra points and so I'd not be surprised if the AMC would do something like that.

The study with Royal College of Pathologists, Australia would I would have thought qualified you for registration in that specialty within Australia and as in fact both of you studied medicine in New Zealand, you may find that registration for Australia is much more straightforward for there is quite a bit of interchangeability between Australia and New Zealand in all areas including medicine, radiographers I know for sure from NZ come across to work in Australia and would likely get registered with the AIR with little difficulty.

So follow that link through to the Doctor Connect site and you may find it'll be a reasonably simple approach.
Once registered, you could even work in Australia unrestricted without a visa if you have New Zealand citizenship and a NZ passport.


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