ExpatMD: Your Guide to Living and Working as a Physician in Australia and New Zealan

By Dr. Carmen Brown, FACOG, FRANZCOG

Imagine a world in medicine where you feel valued, have time to spend with your family and friends and spend time with your patients instead of charting about them...

Imagine taking off two weeks at a time to go to Bali, Fiji or Tahiti! What about having a long weekend every month, just because…

Imagine taking all the best CME courses because you have a generous CME budget and 2 weeks just for learning you can use every year...

Imagine having a physician's union that guarantees all of this above...

Sound too good to be true? It is. For the American Medical System. In Australia and New Zealand, it's standard. Stop wondering 'What If?' and start asking 'How?'.

Topics covered include:
Licencing
Board Certification
Taxes
Visas
Relocation and MUCH MORE

In this book you will find everything you need to know about making the transition to become an ExpatMD!

Dr. Carmen Brown is Board certified OB/GYN with experience in working in Australia and New Zealand since 2010. She is the creator and managing partner of ExpatMD, a full service consulting company dedicated to helping American physicians live and work overseas. Since 2013, she has successfully helped physicians in specialities from Emergency Medicine to Psychiatry make the transition to Australia or New Zealand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098356071

Book preview

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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN 978-1-09835-606-4

eBook ISBN 978-1-09835-607-1

Dedication

This book has been in the making for the past two years. I would like to thank my husband, life partner, CFO and best friend, Bruce for cheering me on and making this business and book come to life.

I would like to thank…

My mommy for being my biggest cheerleader, my dad for instilling in me a hard core work ethic and my sisters and brother for showing me that nothing is as strong as a sibling bond.

My Mocha family, my Melbourne Village and my New Zealand Whanau.

All the wonderful doctors, nurses and midwives that helped shape me into the physician that I am today.

Thank you

Kore he wahi ake pera I te kainga

There’s No Place Like Home

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for buying this book! I decided to write this book because over the last 10 years of being an expat physician I have helped several other doctors make the same transition and to find work in Australia or New Zealand. Deciding to uproot and move overseas is not one to be taken lightly but it may be the right option for YOU. My goal in this book is to help you understand the process of getting licensed in Australia and/or New Zealand and to get you all of the information you need to make the transition.

First of all this book is NOT trying to get you to want to move to either Australia or New Zealand. You have to want to do that yourself. I am not trying to sell you on the idea.

Moving abroad and moving away from your friends and family and support network is a VERY personal decision.

My family’s decision to move overseas came after years of discussion, research and planning. I know that living overseas for some is a lifelong dream and for others it is just a pit stop. Whatever it is for you hopefully you can get information from this that will help you make the transition seamlessly.

I have chosen to write this book about two countries I know very well. I have travelled both extensively and have worked in the public medical system in both for years. I have gone through visa applications, medical licensing applications and board certification processes for both. As a part of this endeavor I have started a consulting business to help like-minded physicians who want to experience living and working overseas. We offer consultation, CV and cover letter writing, interview preparation and application assistance. If you feel like moving to Australia or New Zealand could be right for you, feel free to book a free initial consult at www.expatmd.com

Contents

Forward

Choosing to Move and Practice Abroad

Crunching the Numbers. Is it Worth it?

How to Find Opportunities

New Zealand

Australia

Recruiting Agencies

Where to Start? Taking the First Steps

What Comes First? The Chicken or the Egg?

Before you Sign-Contract Review, Salary Negotiations and Benefits

The Blueprint- Getting your License

New Zealand

Australia

Specialist Pathway

Getting Your License and Your Job

Specialist pathway – specialist recognition

The Competent Authority Pathway

Next step-The JOB

Getting a Visa

New Zealand

Sponsored Work Category

Unsponsored Work Category/Skilled Migrant Pathway

The Second Conjuring-More Paperwork

Australia

The Unsponsored Route

The Sponsored Route

Moving Day

Where Are You Going to Live??

Uncle Sam of Australia/New Zealand-Taxes

Australia

Additional Taxes

Medicare Levy Surcharge

Superannuation and Salary Sacrifice

New Zealand

Additional Taxes

Cost of Living

Conclusion

Glossary of Terms

Forward

People look at my life and think that I am this amazing traveler with this long, established history of traveling all over the world. The truth is that I didn’t get my first passport until 1999 (and then promptly lost it). My next passport wasn’t until 2007 and that was the first time that I left North America. EVER. I had NEVER been overseas or anywhere farther than Cancun and that was only because I had just gotten married. 2007 is when I got bitten by the travel bug and 30 countries and 10 years later, I find myself an American expat living in my second country. I cannot believe I am now measuring my life abroad in years but that is what it has been…YEARS. My first foray into overseas life was in 2010 when my husband and I packed up our entire lives, sold most of our belongings and moved to New Zealand. We spent an amazing year working and enjoying life working in New Zealand’s public medical system. After our one year locum assignment we realized that coming back to the USA to work for another 20 years was NOT the answer for us. We returned briefly to get our affairs in order then bought one-way tickets and in 2013 we moved back to the South Island of New Zealand. Becoming an expat has been full of trials, tears and tribulations. There has been homesickness and loneliness but there have also been new adventures, new friends and a new enjoyment in practicing medicine.

In this book I will give you an outline on how to make the move to either of these two countries and how to transition into your new life overseas!

Choosing to Move and Practice Abroad

Ok first things first. Why move? Everyone has different reasons. Again, this book is NOT to try to convince you to move to the dark side. This is for people who already WANT to practice in either Australia or New Zealand and have thought about it but do not know where to begin.

Why New Zealand?

Why not?

When my husband and I started looking for places to live we investigated how easy it would be to transition into a new country. New Zealand and Australia are English speaking nations. We would not have to learn a new language AND a new medical system while also navigating the challenge of being new people in a new country.

So what’s so great about working in their system?

New Zealand is a highly livable country. It has been ranked as one of the Top 5 countries to live in for almost 10 years. Indicators that it leads in are: prosperity, social freedoms, health care, social ties, business opportunities, education and security. Need more reasons? New Zealand has one of the strongest and most vocal physicians’ unions in the world. It is mind boggling for those of us from the USA where the idea of unionization is not only unheard of but also potentially illegal! The physician’s union in New Zealand protects doctors from a host of abuses that we usually tolerate back home. They will help with everything from duty hour grievances to vacation disputes. The physician’s union has also created a Collective Bargaining Agreement with all the hospitals in the country which has guaranteed EVERY physician working in the public system the same benefits. This takes away one HUGE headache for physicians working in New Zealand. All contracts must adhere to the tenants of the Collective Bargaining agreement.

The parts that you will care most about?....

Six weeks guaranteed vacation a year...which accrues. I have met plenty of New Zealand physicians who have over two months leave accrued. Also, if you leave your job the health service must pay you out for any unused leave at your FULL pay rate.

Two weeks of CME a year. The CME leave also accrues but for only three years. Along with the two weeks leave you also get over $16,000 NZD/year for your CME!

Time off in Lieu. This is a completely ALIEN concept! IF you are the unlucky sucker that has to work Christmas, Boxing Day or worse, Queen’s Birthday not only do you get paid extra for working on a holiday but you will get another day off (added to your leave days) that you can use in the future!!! My call schedule at my job in New Zealand had me normally working/on call on Mondays. I ended up working almost every public holiday which meant not only did I make some good holiday pay I also got almost an additional week off of leave!!

Sick days are paid. A senior doctor has up to three months of PAID sick leave due to accident or illness. After 3 months the hospital has the right to have a review of your