Moving to Australia as a Nurse
This is my most requested question, and for good reason! Moving to Australia is life- changing and there are many factors which can affect your transition. Wherever you are moving from, certain factors may require further consideration than others. You may be questioning:
🏔️ When is the peak hiring season?
☀️ What time of year can I expect the best weather?
🏡 Are there less demands on housing availability due to the seasons?
🌊 Visa processing times; should this affect when I move over?
If these questions are keeping you up at night, well worry no more…you’re in for an undisturbed sleep tonight.
Unlike many, I didn’t exactly research before I moved. I had an end of contract date and a best friend wanting to travel the East coast. For me, the stars aligned and those factors pushed me to book my flight. However, I recognise this is not the case for everybody! This article will aim to answer the above questions in as much detail as possible, but please, if you feel that anything is left unanswered please contact me or subscribe to my page below! I will be writing a multitude of articles with the aim of covering an array of subjects- all things Australia and Nursing (and not all at the same time!)
Does Australia Have a Peak Hiring Season for Nurses?
Whilst job availability can be affected by a number of factors, there are seasons which have increased rates of hiring. I moved over in October 2023 and found work very quickly. As mentioned in ‘finding a nursing job in Australia…’ (blog post 4)’ I sorted work before I landed in Australia, which I will always encourage you to consider.
Please see the last paragraph of ‘finding a nursing job in Australia…’ blog post 4 or details on how to obtain jobs. I am more than happy to put you in contact with agencies who have helped me, my email is down below!
January-March (Peak Hiring Season)
🎄 With the holiday season out of the way, public hospitals finalise hiring!
🏥 Hospitals have higher budgets (hello long-term employment.)
👩🎓 Graduate intake – this is important to highlight, as new starters will need guidance from more experienced staff.
July- September (Mid-Year Hiring Wave)
📋 Some hospitals use this time of year to assess staffing needs. This can lead to a second wave of hiring and securing reliable jobs.
🎊 AHPRA registrations who started early in the year begin getting approved !
This is not to say that these are the ONLY times you will get hired. I applied for work in September and started with one of my nursing roles in the October (agency nursing).
💡 Tips: As mentioned, I will always encourage you to apply from home and save finances to prepare for at least a month (or longer) without work. Whilst getting jobs may not be the hard part, having reliable work within the cities can be. I will cover this in depth in Agency vs Permanent Nursing: Which leaves you better off? But for now, aim to have a ‘back-up job’ or second job just in case you have a few quieter work weeks. As a person who ran out of money, I cannot stress this enough. (Also- do consider other job roles, I worked as a promotional staff member alongside nursing for multiple months, not only did it pay well, it was social and super fun!)
What Time of Year Can I Expect the Best Weather in Australia?
Now- the weather is interchangeable, so please do not take my word for gospel! However much I do my research, I am not Karen Smith who can predict the ever important downfall (anyone who has seen Mean Girls, I really hope you get the reference.)
In comparison to the UK where we technically have four seasons (but really 11.5 months of cold and rain, and two weeks of less cold and less rain), Australia’s climate varies dramatically depending on location. Some regions have the ‘classic’ four seasons, whilst others experience distinct wet and dry periods.
For example, Summers in the central dessert can hit 40’c daily for weeks on end. I spent four weeks working in one of the hottest parts of Australia- at the hottest time of year- and trust me, that heat is something else! (Aussies – you are hardcore.)
🌞 Best time to Move- By Region:
🧡 Northern Australia (Not just the NT- the actual North of Australia 🇦🇺 Darwin, Cairns, Broome)
✅ Better months: May – September (cooler, dry season)
⚠️ November- April (hot, humid, cyclone season- search Port Headland 2025 Cyclone to see the devastating affects – please please research, it is so important that you do!)
💙 Southern Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart)
✅ Better months: October – April (warmer months, great for socialising!)
⚠️ Winter: June- August (can be colder than you would expect! Did you know it even snows in parts of Australia?)
Perth’s summer can be extremely hot (occasionally more than 40’c in December and January) definitely something to consider if you have a young family!
💚 Coastal QLD (Brisbane and the Gold Coast)
✅Better months: March-May or September-October (less humid!)
⚠️ December – February – can be extremely humid.
Unless unsafe, the months highlighted for a cold winter, or a humid summer are not necessarily ‘worse’ months. Actually living through these can suit you better! You may be an avid skier, or a person who loves rainforest heat. This all just advise to help you make an informed decision about what is right for you 🥳
What Time of Year is Better for Finding Accommodation in the cities? Sydney/ Melbourne/ Brisbane / Big cities in Australia
This is taken from my own personal experiences finding accommodation in Sydney, but this is relevant to other cities. If you would like more information on rural housing, I am more than happy to write about it- please just contact me, or I am sure I will cover it in the future!
I think anyone who has researched ‘how to find accommodation in Sydney’ (or any large city for that matter) has seen those alarming videos with 97 million people queuing for one apartment viewing. YES- I exaggerate, but there really are lots of people attending, way too many to even count.
Whilst my experiences of securing city housing may be obscured (limited dramas and I obtained sub-lets very quickly) I know this isn’t the norm.
The community feel of moving abroad is amazing, you can always rest assured that you will be hosted by friends, or friends of friends, or your weird neighbour’s distant cousin. Whoever it is, there is always a sofa to sleep on somewhere (or the Harvey Norman show room- there are multiple beds to sleep on there…)
I do not believe that there is a standard processing time to secure long-term accommodation. Some friends have walked into apartments linked in by colleagues at work. And others have struggled to find even a shed on gumtree. These are resources commonly used by us house-less folk:
Facebook groups – ‘Irish in Sydney,’ ‘Melbourne Rent a room / house/ apartment / flat / accommodation,’ ‘Sydney, NSW, Australia & House Apartment rentals, ‘Brisbane Rent Housing, Apartments, accommodation’ and even Facebook Marketplace.
Websites- domain.com.au, flatmates.com.au , realestate.com.au
So with that in mind….
🌞 December- January are very hard months to obtain long-term accomodation. Think peak tourist season. Prices are through the roof and housing is sparse. I loved Christmas in Sydney, but it was expensive – short term sub-lets (with people going home to see family) really are preferable. At least to tide you over into a cheaper season.
🤗 February-March and August-September: Rent prices drop as longer-term leases end.
💡 Tips: Sub-lets are very common in the busier cities. People rent out their rooms while they travel/ go to work/ whatever they do with their free time. It is a win-win situation. You have a furnished place and they have their rent paid.
💡Tips: Sub-lets are not contractual agreements and a lot of the time they are not legal. They are common practice in the cities and I have never had a bad experience, but this does not mean they are not out there. Please do your research, if something does not feel right- do not go through with it! Always ask to view the property before you go through with anything and have screenshots of rent receipts! If you are abroad ask for a FaceTime of Skype to view the accommodation.
Visa processing time – Should this Affect When I Should Move Over?
For my non-healthcare readers (you lucky, lucky bunch) you, generally speaking, have less visa-processing time. My partner (mechanical fitter) applied for his 417 working- holiday visa and had it back instantly. My 417 WHV visa, however, took an exceedingly long-time to get. Purely because I could not get to a medical centre to complete my health checks.
I do cover this topic in ‘AHPRA- Registration guide for UK and International nurses’ (blog post 5) but AHPRA registration can take from up to 3-6 months (there are exceptions to this, so monitor your own application regularly.)
A 482 (sponsored) or 189/190 (independent permanent residency) visa can take 4-12 months to process (again factors can always affect these timescales, so budget time accordingly.)
There are many factors which can affect these processes, some controllable, others not. If you are willing to work outside of nursing (or your other chosen profession) you can be a lot more flexible with moving dates.
Australia has an abundance of unique jobs that are perfect for backpackers- literally search ‘backpacker jobs’ in Facebook or google and you can find some really interesting career paths.
My partner and I worked a harvest season on a remote farm in South WA and it was amazing! The owners have become an extended family; a place to call home so far from home. We are indebted to them and very grateful that we had this experience to meet such a wonderful family.
Final thoughts: So, when is the best time to move?
🫰 July-September (Job opportunities and lower housing costs.)
🤑 January- March (For peak hiring and weather, but of course higher costs.)
If you are already AHPRA – registered, aim for November-March to maximise job openings.
Congratulations for making it this far! That was a long one- but I hope it was filled with enough information to help you make that all important decision.
As ever, thank you so much for reading. If there are any questions you would like answering, or you would like to provide some feedback please get in contact with me via my email address below.
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All the best,
Emily the UK Nurse Down Under
Xxx
UK Nurse in Aus 