Standard pathway

The standard pathway to practise as a general practitioner (GP/family physician) in Australia is available to overseas trained doctors (OTDs) who are eligible for full medical registration in Australia, or who possess qualifications deemed equivalent to either Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP), or Fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM).

Doctors eligible for full medical registration are:

• graduates of Australian or New Zealand medical schools that have been accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and who have completed an approved period of intern training; and
• OTDs who have passed the AMC examination and have completed a period of supervised training in Australia approved by a State or Territory Medical Board where the doctor has also met the English language proficiency requirements.

If you pass the AMC examination and qualify for the AMC Certificate, you can apply to the relevant Medical Board for full medical registration in Australia. It is important that you check if the Boards have any additional requirements.

As an alternative to sitting the AMC examination, OTDs who hold one of the following qualifications may be eligible for either the FRACGP or FACRRM without further training, formal examination or time requirements:

• Certificate in Family Practice from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), having also passed both parts of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination; or
• Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) and the Certificate of the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP) UK; or
• Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (FRNZCGP).

If you hold one of these categories of qualifications you may be able to obtain conditional medical registration to work independently/without supervision in the field of general practice.

Before pursuing either the FRACGP or FACRRM, it is important that you first check with the relevant Medical Board as not all Australian Medical Boards recognise general practice as a medical specialty. You will find more information about obtaining Fellowship from the RACGP and ACRRM websites.

The granting of either the FRACGP or FACRRM enables GPs to meet vocational registration requirements under Medicare, and therefore bill for Medicare services at the higher rebate level (that is A1 rebates). More information on this topic is available from Medicare Australia's website.