AHPRA General Registration Requirements for International Medical Graduates

To hold general registration with AHPRA as an overseas-trained doctor you need: (1) a primary medical qualification recognised through one of the Medical Board's three pathways, (2) a completed period of supervised practice or internship on provisional or limited registration, and (3) the registration standards every applicant meets: English language, criminal history, recency of practice, continuing professional development, professional indemnity insurance and identity. Certificates of good standing from every regulator you have been registered with, and the registration fee, complete the application.

This article explains each requirement, how the four types of registration fit together, and how the requirements differ by pathway. It is about eligibility. If you are already eligible and want the list of documents to upload, see what documents you need for an AHPRA application.

Who sets the requirements

Two bodies share the work. The Medical Board of Australia writes the registration standards and decides applications; AHPRA, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, administers the process and keeps the public register. When people say "AHPRA requirements" they mean the Board's registration standards applied through AHPRA. The Board's own summary is the registration standards page.

The types of registration, and why general registration comes last

Type	What it allows	Who holds it
Provisional	Practice under an approved supervisor, in an approved position, with progress reports	Competent Authority and expedited specialist doctors during their supervised year; Standard pathway doctors during supervised practice
Limited	Practice for a defined purpose and period: Area of Need positions, postgraduate training, teaching or research	Standard pathway doctors filling Area of Need roles; some Specialist pathway doctors during assessment
General	Full, unrestricted registration to practise medicine in Australia	Any doctor who has completed the supervised requirements and meets the standards
Specialist	Registration in a recognised specialty (general practice is one)	Doctors whose specialist qualification has been recognised through the Specialist pathway or an Australian fellowship

For an international medical graduate, general registration is the end of a sequence, not the starting application. You first obtain provisional or limited registration, complete the supervised requirement, and then apply to convert. AHPRA assesses a complete general registration application in about 6–8 weeks. See how to move from provisional to general registration for the conversion step itself.

Source: AHPRA registration types

Requirement 1: a qualification recognised through a pathway

The Board does not assess overseas degrees one by one. It recognises them through three pathways, and your training decides which applies:

• Competent Authority pathway: you trained, passed your examinations and hold full registration in the UK, Ireland, the United States, Canada or New Zealand. No AMC examinations. See the Competent Authority pathway explained.
• Standard pathway: everyone else. You pass the AMC CAT MCQ examination, then complete the AMC clinical examination or a workplace-based assessment to earn the AMC Certificate. See the AMC Standard pathway guide.
• Specialist pathway: you hold a completed overseas specialist qualification and want specialist registration. See the Specialist pathway explained.

Whichever pathway applies, your primary qualification must be verified at source through ECFMG's verification service before the Board will assess it, and it must come from a medical school listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools. Verification is slow and should be started first. Use the eligibility check if you are not sure which pathway you are on.

Source: AHPRA registration for overseas practitioners

Requirement 2: supervised practice

Every pathway includes a supervised period before general registration, on provisional or limited registration:

• Competent Authority: 12 months of supervised practice, a minimum of 47 weeks full-time equivalent, with supervisor progress reports to the Board. For GPs this is usually Level 3 supervision, meaning you consult independently and bill Medicare with a supervisor available. The period cannot be shortened below 12 months.
• Standard pathway: a 47-week supervised internship or period of supervised practice in an accredited position after the AMC examinations, covering the core terms the Board requires.
• Specialist pathway: a period of oversight set by the Board or the assessing college, commonly up to 12 months for a substantially comparable specialist.

The position, the supervisor and any change to either must be approved by the Board. Losing your supervisor mid-year pauses the clock, which is the most common way the supervised period stretches past 12 months.

Source: MBA supervised practice guidelines

Requirement 3: the registration standards everyone meets

These apply to every applicant, Australian-trained or overseas, and to every type of registration.

English language skills

You meet the standard either by where you completed your primary medical degree and secondary schooling (graduates from the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada and New Zealand usually qualify this way with no test) or by an approved test at a test centre: IELTS Academic, OET, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT and the Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency examinations. Minimum scores were revised in 2026, so confirm the current thresholds before you book. Details in do UK doctors need an English test for Australia?.

Criminal history

An Australian national criminal history check for every applicant, plus an international criminal history check for each country where you have lived for six consecutive months or more as an adult. The international check is the one people forget, and it can take weeks.

Recency of practice

You must have practised recently enough in your profession for your skills to be current. The Board's recency of practice standard sets the minimum practice within the preceding years; a long career break before applying can trigger a requirement for a return-to-practice plan or additional supervision. If you have been out of clinical work, read the standard before applying rather than after. Registration standards

Continuing professional development

Once registered you must meet the Board's CPD registration standard each year through a CPD home. For your first application you declare that you will comply; for renewals you must show that you have.

Professional indemnity insurance

You must hold, or be covered by, professional indemnity insurance that meets the Board's standard before you practise. Most overseas doctors arrange it as soon as they have a job offer, because AHPRA will not grant provisional registration without it.

Identity

AHPRA verifies your identity against original or certified identity documents, and international applicants can complete the check before arriving in Australia.

Requirement 4: good standing with every previous regulator

You need a certificate of good standing (also called a certificate of status or letter of good standing) from every medical regulator you have ever been registered with, anywhere in the world, sent to AHPRA within its validity window, usually three months. For a UK doctor that is the GMC; for a doctor who also worked in the Gulf or Singapore, those regulators too. Expired certificates are the single most common reason a complete-looking application stalls.

Requirement 5: the fee

AHPRA charges an application fee and an annual registration fee, published in the Medical Board schedule of fees and adjusted each July. Our pathway data budgets roughly $2,700–3,500 AUD across the Board assessment, provisional registration, general registration, police checks and document certification for a Competent Authority doctor, excluding indemnity insurance, visa and relocation.

How the requirements differ by pathway

Requirement	Competent Authority	Standard (AMC)	Specialist
Qualification assessment	Medical Board assesses home registration	AMC CAT MCQ + clinical exam or WBA	Board (expedited) or college comparability
First registration type	Provisional	Provisional or limited	Provisional or limited
Supervised period	12 months (47 weeks FTE)	47-week internship or supervised practice	Set by Board or college, up to 12 or 24 months
End point	General registration	General registration	Specialist registration
English, criminal history, recency, CPD, indemnity, identity	Required	Required	Required
Section 19AB Medicare restriction	Applies	Applies	Applies

General registration does not end the Section 19AB ten-year Medicare billing restriction, which runs from first Australian medical registration regardless of registration type. See Section 19AB explained.

Common reasons applications fail or stall

1. Starting the AHPRA application before ECFMG source verification is complete.
2. A certificate of good standing that expires before AHPRA receives it, or one regulator missed.
3. No international criminal history check for a country lived in as an adult.
4. Booking an English test that was not needed, or the wrong test format.
5. Applying for general registration before the supervisor's final report exists.
6. Assuming general registration lifts the 19AB restriction.

To turn these requirements into a step list for your own pathway, create a free account and get your personal checklist, or start with the two-minute eligibility check.

Sources: AHPRA registration standards · AHPRA registration process · AHPRA registration types · MBA supervised practice guidelines · MBA schedule of fees