Radiographer to Australia: the AHPRA route, step by step
How the Medical Radiation Practice Board assesses an overseas radiographer: three pathways, the PNAQ-91 portfolio, the national exam, registration.
Where you trained, you may be a radiographer, an X-ray technician or a medical imaging technologist. In Australia you apply to become a medical radiation practitioner, in the diagnostic radiography division. The words matter, because the Board files you by division.
The body that decides is the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia, working through Ahpra. It does its own assessment of overseas qualifications, with no separate council in between. This post sets out its pathways and stages in order.
Why Australia is on the list
Radiographer is rated Shortage on Australia’s 2025 Occupation Shortage List, and it appears on the Core Skills Occupation List.
Source: jobsandskills.gov.au · immi.homeaffairs.gov.au · Occupation Shortage List 2025 · Core Skills Occupation List · 2026-09-22
Registered practitioners in five of our professions
Unit: registered practitioners
| Category | Latest quarter |
|---|---|
| Physiotherapy | 50,064 |
| Occupational therapy | 36,814 |
| Medical radiation practice | 21,499 |
| Optometry | 7,601 |
| Podiatry | 6,327 |
Medical radiation practice is the third-largest of the five Ahpra-registered professions we serve, behind physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
Three pathways: find yours first
The Board has three routes for internationally qualified practitioners:
- Comparable Regulator Pathway, for diagnostic radiography and radiation therapy only, covering qualifications such as those accredited by CORU or the HCPC
- Recognised International Qualification Pathway, where the Board already recognises your qualification
- Qualification Assessment Pathway, for everyone else
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Registration pathways for internationally qualified medical radiation practitioners · 2026-10-04
Most overseas-trained radiographers will use the third. If the Board does not already recognise your qualification, you submit form PNAQ-91 so it can assess your portfolio before you apply for registration.
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Assessment of international qualifications · 2026-10-04
Building the PNAQ-91 portfolio
The Board asks for:
- The PNAQ-91 portfolio form itself
- A clear colour scan of a certified copy of your current registration or licence certificate, with any pre-registration assessment or exam results
- Practical placement or internship records from your qualification
- Your course curriculum, describing learning outcomes and assessment tasks
- Certified copies of your transcript or diploma supplement and award certificate, or a letter from your education provider’s registrar
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Assessment of international qualifications · 2026-10-04
The placement records carry a lot of weight for radiographers. Ask your college for a record that names the departments and modalities you rotated through, such as general radiography, CT or fluoroscopy, with the hours in each. A single internship certificate will not show the Board what you can do.
The three criteria, and the three outcomes
The Board checks that your qualification is recognised by a registration body, has external quality assurance, and is at an academic level comparable to AQF level 7, with stated threshold levels. Behind that sit its Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice and its assessment criteria for core topics and competencies.
The finding is one of three:
- Substantially equivalent, or based on similar competencies: you qualify to apply for general registration in that division
- Relevant to the medical radiation practice profession: you sit the National exam for medical radiation practice first
- Not qualified
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · 2026-10-04
If you think the Board missed important information, you can ask for a re-assessment of your portfolio.
If you are sent to the national exam
A “relevant” outcome leads to the exam. The Board describes its purpose this way:
The exam is an objective way to assess whether you have the knowledge and skills in the Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice.
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · 2026-10-04
That tells you how to prepare: from the Professional capabilities document, not from your home exam syllabus.
Our registry rates this route Medium-hard. In its own words, that means a real standalone exam or multi-stage assessment with meaningful failure risk.
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · route as recorded and rated in our regulator registry · Sept 2026
English, then general registration
When you apply for registration, Ahpra’s English language skills registration standard applies. It has four pathways; on the test pathway, for tests taken on or after 23 April 2026, IELTS Academic needs 7 overall, 7 in Listening, Reading and Speaking, and 6.5 in Writing. OET, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT and two Cambridge tests are also accepted.
Source: ahpra.gov.au · Accepted English language tests · 2026-10-04
You then apply for general registration in the division in which you are qualified, and show that you meet the Board’s registration standards.
The division is worth a moment’s thought. Diagnostic radiography and radiation therapy are separate divisions, so your curriculum, placement record and experience letters should all point to the same one. A file that mixes the two gives the Board a question to ask before it can answer yours.
A route through New Zealand
There is one more door. The Board accepts New Zealand registration directly:
If you are a medical radiation practitioner with current New Zealand registration with the Medical Radiation Technologists Board (NZ) as a medical imaging technologist, radiation therapist or nuclear medicine technologist, and hold a current practising certificate, you can apply for general registration as a medical radiation practitioner in Australia.
Source: medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Registration pathways for internationally qualified medical radiation practitioners · 2026-10-04
What to do first
- Check whether your qualification is already on the Board’s recognised list
- Confirm you trained in diagnostic radiography, and say so consistently
- Ask your college for a curriculum that shows learning outcomes and assessment tasks
- Get a placement record naming each modality and its hours
- Certify your registration certificate, transcript and award certificate
- Choose an Ahpra-listed English test and read the minimum for each band
Sources
Every fact above was read on the named page on the date shown beside it. The full list for radiographers is on our sources page, and who decides in Australia is on the AHPRA regulator page.
Fees and timelines are not on this page. Choose radiographer and Australia in the Route Finder below to see yours.
Quick answers
The short version
Which documents do I need to prepare?
The regulator names: Portfolio for the assessment of non-approved qualifications – PNAQ-91; Clear colour scan of a certified copy of your valid registration/license certificate and any pre-registration assessment or examination results; Practical placement or internship records from your qualification; Course curriculum including descriptions of learning outcomes and assessment tasks.
What is the application measured against?
The regulator names: Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice; Board-approved assessment criteria for international qualifications (core topics and competencies); Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia registration standards.
What English language evidence is needed?
Applicants for first-time registration must satisfy the National Board that they can communicate in English at a level that is safe to practise, through one of four pathways in the English language skills registration standard: the combined education pathway, the school education pathway, the advanced education pathway, or the test pathway.
What happens after the regulator decides?
A “substantially equivalent” outcome qualifies you for general registration in that division; a “relevant” outcome requires the National exam for medical radiation practice before you apply. You may request a re-assessment of your qualification portfolio if you think important information was not considered.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for a radiographer in Australia.
Built for your board’s assessment
Through AHPRA, your board assesses your qualification or portfolio, then supervised practice and recency. we build that evidence the way your board asks for it.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.
