Choosing a recruiter for your move to Australia: 8 questions for OTs, speech pathologists and physios

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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In Queensland, a recruiter must not charge you a fee, deposit or bond for finding you work in Australia if you live, or intend to live, here temporarily, and must give you an information statement in the approved form before providing you any service (Private Employment Agents Code of Conduct, ss18 and 29, in force from 1 September 2026). Visa advice is a separate job again: OMARA says registered migration agents and Australian lawyers can give immigration assistance, and you can check any agent’s name on the OMARA register yourself.

We’re a recruiter too, so this page isn’t a list of who to avoid. It’s the eight questions I’d want you to ask any recruiter, us included. I’ve been on the other side of recruiters. I built this to be the one I wished I’d had.

A note on scope: the Queensland code applies to agents operating in Queensland. Other states have their own rules, which this page doesn’t cover. Everything here is general information, not legal or visa advice.

The 8 questions at a glance

1. “Will you charge me anything, now or later?”

The fee ban (s18) covers work seekers living, or intending to live, here temporarily. The add-on ban (s19) covers every work seeker: no paying for the agent’s own services, such as resume or interview help, as a condition of finding you work, and no being made to use a supplier it nominates. The detail, and who pays every other cost in a move, is on who pays recruitment fees.

So listen for add-ons as well as a placement fee: “CV polishing”, “interview coaching” or a “partner” you must use. Ask the question in writing and keep the answer.

Our answer: we don’t charge clinicians anything.

2. “Will you give me the information statement before we start?”

Before providing a service to a work seeker, an agent must give them an information statement in the approved form (s29). Among other things, it tells you how to complain to the Queensland Government department about illegal, inappropriate, false or misleading conduct.

The statement matters because it tells you where to go if something feels wrong. Ask for it before you send any agent your documents, us included.

3. “Is this a real role, and who is the employer?”

The code bans an agent giving false information (s26), and an agent’s job ads must show its business name, address and phone number (s27). Agents must also keep registers of the people looking for work through them, the employers they act for, and each placement, for at least 6 years (ss21–25).

In practice, before you spend money on an English test or an assessment for one job, ask for the employer’s name, the setting, the pay range and the start conditions. A recruiter may hold the name back at first for the employer’s privacy, but you should have it before you apply. Choosing your first Australian employer covers what to ask the employer once you know who it is.

4. “Who gives my visa advice, and are they registered?”

Ask for a name, then check it yourself on the OMARA website under “Search for a registered agent”: no result means they aren’t registered. Lawyers aren’t on that register; check them with their state or territory legal profession body. How each adviser fits into a move is on who can help you move.

A recruiter can describe visa routes in general terms, as this site does. Advice on your own visa should come from a registered migration agent or an Australian lawyer. We work alongside registered migration agents, so your visa advice comes from someone licensed to give it.

5. “Is anyone asking me to pay for sponsorship or my recruitment?”

Asking you for a benefit in return for sponsorship is unlawful under the Migration Act (s245AR), and a 482 sponsor must not pass certain costs on to you (reg 2.87). Which costs fall on whom, line by line, is on who pays recruitment fees; a registered migration agent confirms the specifics for your case. The question to the recruiter is simple, and the answer should be “no”.

6. “Will the clinic employ me, or will you?”

In Queensland, a permanent placement isn’t labour hire, and no licence is needed for it. A labour hire licence is needed when a business supplies workers it engages or pays itself, as with locums. Neither model is wrong, but you should know which one you’re signing up to, because it decides who your employer is and who sponsors you.

We place clinicians into permanent and fixed-term contract roles, including parental leave cover, and the employer is always the clinic or service. We don’t supply locums.

7. “What does my registration or assessment route need from this employer?”

A good recruiter should answer this for your profession, not in general.

• Occupational therapists register with Ahpra through the Occupational Therapy Board. If a portfolio assessment finds your qualification “relevant”, you apply for limited registration and then complete 6 months of supervised practice with a competence assessment, so the job has to come with a supervisor. Ask who that is. See Ahpra registration for overseas OTs. Pay line: the award minimum for a first-year OT is A$1,308.80 a week from 1 October 2026 (Level 1, AQF 7), and Queensland Health HP3 runs from A$83,824 to A$120,740 a year from 1 September 2026.
• Speech pathologists aren’t registered with Ahpra. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) assesses you, through the Mutual Recognition Agreement or the OSQCA, and you need to be eligible for Certified Practising membership to work in most Australian organisations. SPA strongly discourages travelling to Australia to work before your assessment is complete, so be wary of any start date that assumes otherwise. See Certified Practising, not Ahpra. Pay line: the award minimum in year 1 is A$1,308.80 a week with a bachelor’s (AQF 7), A$1,337.10 at AQF 8 and A$1,444.90 at AQF 9, from 1 October 2026, and Queensland Health HP3 runs from A$83,824 to A$120,740.
• Physiotherapists go through the Australian Physiotherapy Council (Express FLYR, FLYR or APEP) before applying to the Physiotherapy Board. APC lists Express FLYR at about 3 weeks, while APEP includes an in-person clinical workshop in Melbourne, so a start date depends heavily on your route. See Express FLYR, FLYR or APEP. Pay line: the award minimum for a first-year physio is A$1,308.80 a week from 1 October 2026 (Level 1, AQF 7), and Queensland Health HP3 runs from A$83,824 to A$120,740.

The order of registration, job offer and visa is in registration, job or visa first?, and who else is involved in a move is on who can help you move.

8. “What happens if the job doesn’t work out?”

Ask this before you sign, not after. Two facts are worth knowing:

• Your workplace rights don’t depend on your visa. The Fair Work Ombudsman says 482 visa holders “continue to have the same entitlements and protections under the Fair Work Act” as other employees, and that you “can’t get into trouble or have your visa cancelled” for contacting the Ombudsman about pay or workplace rights.
• Gaps between sponsors are limited. Under condition 8607, a 482 holder can stop working for a sponsor, but no single gap can be more than 180 consecutive days, and gaps can’t total more than 365 days across the visa. What that means for you is a question for your migration agent.

A good recruiter won’t promise the role will work. They’ll tell you what they do if it doesn’t. Ours: we stay in touch after you start.

Your next step

Start with your own route, because it shapes every answer above. OTs: check which OT Board pathway your qualification is on. Speech pathologists: check whether you’re eligible for SPA’s Mutual Recognition Agreement or need the OSQCA. Physios: check whether you’re an Express FLYR, FLYR or APEP applicant. The pathway check does that in a few minutes for all three professions and points you to an info session or a call, where you can ask us these eight questions yourself.