What AHPRA checks before it registers you
How Ahpra and its national boards assess an overseas qualification: the pathways, the portfolio, the English standard, and what each outcome means.
Ahpra is the agency, but it is rarely the body that judges your training. That falls to a national board, and sometimes to a council the board names. Knowing which one reads your file is the first thing to get right.
This post sets out what they check, in what order, and what each possible outcome leads to.
The three things it reads
- Your qualification, through an assessment or a portfolio, board by board.
- Supervised practice and recency: how recently you have practised, and whether you need supervision on arrival.
- Your English, against one standard shared by every board.
Source: ahpra.gov.au · as recorded in our regulator registry · Sept 2026
Five national boards cover professions on this site: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, optometry, podiatry and medical radiation practice. Dietetics, speech pathology and laboratory science are assessed by professional associations instead, outside Ahpra.
Who actually assesses your training
The Podiatry Board and the Medical Radiation Practice Board assess international qualifications themselves. The Occupational Therapy Board does too, with the Occupational Therapy Council running a later competence assessment where one is needed.
Physiotherapy and optometry hand the first stage to a council:
You must successfully complete the Australian Physiotherapy Council assessment process to qualify for general registration as a physiotherapist, if you have international qualifications.
Source: physiotherapyboard.gov.au · Overseas Practitioner Registration · 2026-10-04
For optometry, OCANZ assesses your qualification and runs the Competency in Optometry Examination before you apply to the board.
Source: optometryboard.gov.au · International practitioners · 2026-10-04
The route on a portfolio board
- Find your pathway. For occupational therapy and medical radiation practice, the Comparable Regulator Pathway covers qualifications accredited by named regulators such as CORU or the HCPC; the Recognised International Qualification Pathway covers qualifications the board already lists. Everyone else uses the Qualification Assessment Pathway.
- Send your portfolio on the board’s form: PNAQ-96 for occupational therapy, PNAQ-70 for podiatry, PNAQ-91 for medical radiation practice.
- Assessment against the criteria: recognition by a registration body, external quality assurance, and an academic level comparable to an Australian bachelor’s degree.
- The outcome: substantially equivalent, relevant to the profession, or not qualified.
- If relevant, a further step: the national exam for medical radiation practice or podiatry, or limited registration and a competence assessment for occupational therapy.
- Apply for general registration and show you meet the board’s registration standards.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · podiatryboard.gov.au · medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Assessment of international qualifications · Registration pathways for internationally qualified practitioners · 2026-10-04
One gap matters here. The Podiatry Board states that its National Podiatry Examination is not yet available, so a “relevant” podiatry outcome has no published next step yet.
Source: podiatryboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · 2026-10-04
The standards behind each board
Each board reads your training against its own document: the physiotherapy practice thresholds, the Australian occupational therapy competency standards, the professional capabilities for podiatrists and for medical radiation practice, and the optometry entry-level competency standards OCANZ uses.
Source: physiotherapyboard.gov.au · occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · podiatryboard.gov.au · medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · ocanz.org · Practice thresholds · Competency standards · Professional capabilities · Professional Competency Standards · 2026-10-04
The medical radiation board explains its exam in exactly those terms:
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
The documents a portfolio needs
- The board’s portfolio form, completed
- A certified copy of your current registration or licence, with any pre-registration exam results
- Practical placement or internship records from your qualification
- Your course curriculum, with learning outcomes and assessment tasks
- Certified copies of your transcript and award certificate, or a letter from your registrar
Source: podiatryboard.gov.au · medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au · Assessment of international qualifications · 2026-10-04
Physiotherapy’s council asks for a different set: your passport page, the degree certificate, a statement of results for every subject in the course, and your most recent registration certificate as evidence of your right to practise.
Source: physiocouncil.com.au · Eligibility Assessment · 2026-10-04
English: one standard, four ways to meet it
The English language skills registration standard applies to every board on this site. It can be met through a combined education pathway, a school education pathway, an advanced education pathway, or a test.
For tests taken from 23 April 2026, IELTS Academic needs 7 overall and 7 in listening, reading and speaking, with 6.5 in writing. OET needs 350 in listening and writing and 360 in reading and speaking, on any profession’s version. PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT and two Cambridge tests are also accepted at the scores Ahpra lists.
Source: ahpra.gov.au · English language skills registration standard · Accepted English language tests · 2026-10-04
Where files are queried, and what happens after
The boards give reasons for adverse outcomes. If you think important information was not considered, you can ask for the portfolio to be re-assessed with extra information.
Source: podiatryboard.gov.au · occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · 2026-10-04
In our reading of the criteria, the weak points in a portfolio are visible before it is sent: a curriculum that lists subjects without learning outcomes, or placement records without settings and hours. Those are the gaps a board cannot fill for you.
Limited registration is the bridge in several routes. An occupational therapist with a “relevant” outcome works under supervision while the council assesses competence. An optometrist may hold limited registration, under a high level of direct supervision, between the written and clinical parts of the exam.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · optometryboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · International practitioners · 2026-10-04
AHPRA’s registers in numbers
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 |
Physiotherapy is the largest of the five registers here, at 50,064 in its latest published quarter. Podiatry, at 6,327, is the smallest.
First-time registrants in 2024/25: domestic and international
Unit: practitioners
| Category | International | Domestic, incl. new graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Physiotherapy | 1,760 | 2,365 |
| Occupational therapy | 516 | 2,273 |
| Medical radiation practice | 302 | 963 |
| Optometry | 27 | 410 |
| Podiatry | 81 | 140 |
In 2024/25, internationally qualified first-time registrants ranged from 1,760 in physiotherapy to 27 in optometry. The share differs widely between boards, which reflects how differently each route is built.
Sources
Ahpra, board and council facts were read on their own sites on 4 October 2026; charted figures carry their own dates under Figures. Who decides is also on our AHPRA regulator page.
What to do first
- Find your board, and whether a council assesses you first.
- Check the board’s lists for your qualification before preparing a full portfolio.
- Ask your college for learning outcomes and assessment tasks for every subject.
- Choose your English test only after reading Ahpra’s current minimum scores.
The Route Finder below gives the fees and timelines for your board’s route.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for your file.
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.
