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To work as an occupational therapist in Australia, you must be registered with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia (the Board).
You may also need to have a visa to work and live in Australia. We cannot advise you on visa eligibility.
The visa application process and the Board registration process are separate. Success in one does not guarantee success in the other. We recommend that you do not apply for work or set up a practice until you are registered. We cannot influence employment outcomes or help you find employment.
This page provides information only for internationally qualified occupational therapists. General information about registration as an internationally qualified health practitioner is available on our International health practitioners page.
If you are an occupational therapist with current registration with the Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand and hold a current New Zealand practising certificate, you can apply for general registration as an occupational therapist in Australia. This is under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997.
If you have a qualification(s) from New Zealand but do not hold a current New Zealand practising certificate, you cannot apply for general registration under Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition arrangements. You should apply for general registration and provide details of your New Zealand occupational therapy qualification in your application.
In either case, you must also ensure you have read and can meet the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia’s registration standards.
For information on how to apply, go to the Applying for registration page.
In the coming weeks, we’ll contact occupational therapists who gained general registration through the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition (TTMR) pathway and need to complete a period of supervised practice. Our message will outline the options now available under the new pathways.
If you have a qualification as an occupational therapist from a country other than New Zealand, you must show that you are qualified. The qualification requirements are outlined in section 52 and 53 of the National Law and are explained below.
There are three pathways to meet the qualification requirements. We will use the information you include on your application form to decide which pathway applies to you.
This pathway applies to you if your qualification is from a country where the local regulator of occupational therapy is recognised by the Board as a comparable regulator. Your qualification must have been accredited by that regulator at the time you completed your studies.
For occupational therapy, these countries and regulators are:
Visit the Is my qualification recognised for registration? page to check if the Board recognises your CORU- or HCPC- accredited qualification.
This pathway applies to you if we have:
Visit the Is my qualification recognised for registration? page to check if the Board already recognises your qualification. For information on how to apply for general registration as an occupational therapist, go to the Applying for registration page.
This pathway applies to you if we need to assess your occupational therapy qualification(s) to advise you if you are qualified for general registration.
We will need to assess your qualification(s) if you do not have a qualification that the Board already recognises. We must assess your qualification portfolio before you apply for registration. A qualification portfolio means all your qualifications in occupational therapy. There are three possible assessment outcomes:
Submit this form to us to have your qualification portfolio assessed:
For information on how we use the data we collect, please see the collection statement.
You can find information about this pathway and the criteria we use to assess qualifications at our Assessment of international qualifications page.
Download the Occupational therapy pathways to general registration flowchart (155 KB,PDF) to help you map your pathway to apply for general registration.
