Osteopaths Society

Osteopathic Council

Osteopaths Registered Overseas

From April 2011 the Australian and New Zealand Osteopathic Council(ANZOC) will be conducting assessments of international osteopathic graduates. In order to work as an osteopath you must register with the Osteopathic Council. You must also apply for an annual practising certificate (APC). Before granting you registration the Council must be satisfied that you:

• Have a qualification recognised by the Council; and
• Are fit for registration (this covers such things as whether you have any criminal convictions, mental or physical health issues or professional conduct issues, and can communicate effectively in the English language, etc); and
• Are competent to practice.

The Council strongly recommends that you ensure that you can meet the fitness-to-practice requirements prior to submitting an application to ANZOC

NZ REGISTRATION

Once you have been assessed by ANZOC as having qualification and competence to apply for registration in New Zealand you can apply for registration. This is an additional once only cost of $690.00 (including goods and services tax). Once registered in New Zealand, the registration lasts until the practitioner is struck off (for disciplinary reasons) or requests that their name is removed from the register. 

Registration, by itself, does not allow a practitioner to lawfully practise. In addition to registration, an Annual Practising Certificate is needed each year (1 Apr - 31 Mar). Please note the APC runs from 1 April to 31 March. The same fee applies if you apply for an APC between these dates. See APC below. The maximum amount of time allowed between completing the ANZOC process and practise in New Zealand is three years, although we do not suggest that you leave it this long as you may be required to do additional CPD in New Zealand before a practising certificate will be issued.Although you can't be registered until you have passed the ANZOC assessment process, we suggest that you start gathering up the documents you need well before the date on which you want to start work as it can take some weeks to obtain these. In particular, we are advised that the UK Police Criminal Conviction Clearance certificate can take up to 8 weeks to obtain. As original documents need to be sighted, it is not possible to apply for registration by email.

ANNUAL PRACTISING CERTIFICATE

Prior to commencing practice you will also need to apply for an annual practising certificate, and again, there is an extra charge, and an application form. If all documentation is correct, then this process should take no more than five - seven working days. As stated above, if there is a delay between gaining registration and applying for a practising certificate, then practitioners will be required to show their previous 12 months Compulsory Professional Development/Education (from their home country).

Summary of Requirements

The process is:

1. Apply to ANZOC to have your qualifications and comptence assessed. 
2. ANZOC will inform you by letter of your eligibility to apply for registration. A copy of your letter is sent to the Registrar in New Zealand  
3. Apply for registration. You should allow 2 - 4 weeks for this. (It will often be much quicker than this but this will depend on the Registrar's workload at the time and whether you have provided all the required documentation).
4. Once registered, apply for a work permit.  NZ Immigration Service advises that this can take up to 15 working days although it is often much quicker.  Because immigration policies change reasonably frequently, you should check with NZIS to make sure ensure you have up-to-date information.
5. Apply for Annual Practising Certificate. If all documentation is correct, then this process should take no more than five - seven working days.

Assessment of Overseas Qualifications

Essential Elements

Osteopaths who qualified overseas must satisfy the Council that their osteopathic education and training is comparable to the competency standard of a New Zealand graduate at the point of entry to the Register. If you want to register as an osteopath in New Zealand and your qualification is not on the Schedule of Qualifying Overseas Qualifications above, you must:

• have your osteopathic qualification verified by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) as being equivalent to a New Zealand bachelor's degree
  and
• provide Council with a course description* / syllabus / curriculum document / course outline.
  
  *  The format of this document may vary, but generally provides an overview of: the course, its aims, its objectives, assessment methods used etc.

These documents must be sent to the Council together with your Examination Application. The Council considers that training for the safe and competent practice of osteopathy should cover:

• the philosophy and principles of osteopathic medicine
• knowledge of basic medical sciences and relevant clinical subjects
• training in the practical aspects of diagnosis and treatment to enable the practitioner to competently work within the primary care environment
• an understanding of the social context of health
• a commitment to equality of opportunity in healthcare practice
• an understanding of the place of evidence based practice within osteopathic medicine
• sufficient literacy in research methods to evaluate research literature.

The baseline requirements are:

Notes:

• Documents written in a language other than English must be accompanied by an official translation. This must be on official translation service letterhead, and bear the appropriate signature or stamp, together with full address details.
• Course descriptions must be from the time when you studied.
• It is important to check with New Zealand Immigration to ascertain their requirements for a work permit / residency and particularly that they will accept your qualification.  

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