Moving to Australia from Canada: a guide for occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and physiotherapists

Canada has no reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, so on a temporary visa you generally won’t be eligible for Medicare and should budget for private health insurance from day one. Canadians can apply for a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) at 18 to 35, and your professional route depends on what you do: OTs from one of 14 listed Canadian programs apply directly and anyone else goes through an A$688 portfolio assessment, speech-language pathologists can’t currently use SPA’s MRA and go through the A$2,000 OSQCA instead, and physios can use the Express FLYR route. On the way out, the CRA’s departure rules and your CPP record are the two things to understand before you book a flight.

Your route, by profession

• OT (Ahpra registration): Canada isn’t a “comparable regulator” for OT. Instead, the OT Board recognises 14 Canadian programs, and your university, degree title and year of award must match exactly. If they do, you apply straight for general registration (A$250 plus A$138, or A$130 in NSW). If not, you go through an A$688 portfolio assessment; a “relevant” outcome means six months of supervised practice on limited registration, so you’d need an employer who can supervise you. Either way, the Board expects a one-on-one orientation and IAHA cultural responsiveness training, or conditions may be placed on your registration. The list and the steps are in the Canadian OT guide.
• Speech-language pathologist (SPA assessment, not Ahpra): speech pathologists aren’t registered with Ahpra; Speech Pathology Australia assesses you. In an update dated 2 April 2025, SPA said it isn’t currently accepting MRA applications from SAC members “due to recent changes in licensing requirements in Canada”, so you apply through the Overseas Qualification Competency Assessment (OSQCA) instead. It has four stages and costs A$2,000 if each stage passes first time; you get up to three submissions per stage, and each resubmission costs that stage’s fee again. It can’t be sped up. SPA’s stated maximums are up to 3, 7, 7 and 3 weeks, you have three years from your first submission to finish, and the outcome is valid for two years. If your speech pathology degree was taught in English at a Canadian university, you’re exempt from SPA’s English test. SPA strongly recommends applying from home, and says you need to be eligible for its Certified Practising membership to work in most Australian organisations.
• Physio (Australian Physiotherapy Council, then Ahpra registration): Canada is an Express FLYR country. The Council’s Canada criteria are an accredited physiotherapy master’s from a Canadian program plus unrestricted registration, within the past five years, in the province where you studied. Express FLYR costs A$1,742 (eligibility check plus a 6-hour cultural safety course) and the Council publishes a processing time of about three weeks. After that comes the Physiotherapy Board’s own application through Ahpra: A$452 plus A$220 for registration (A$200 in NSW), from 1 October 2026.

For S-LPs the OSQCA is the part that sets your timeline, so start it before anything else.

This page covers the move. For the detail of your profession’s route, go to the Canadian OT guide or the Canadian S-LP guide.

Visas

General information only. A registered migration agent should confirm your options, and the official rules are on Home Affairs.

• Working holiday (417): open to Canadians aged 18 to 35, with age assessed at lodgement since 1 July 2026, so apply before you turn 36. Health, aged care and disability work is currently exempt from the six-month cap with one employer. The working holiday guide covers the rest.
• Skills in Demand (482): an employer sponsors you; you need a year of relevant experience and a salary of A$79,423 or more (from 1 July 2026). Canadian passport holders don’t need to sit the 482 English test.

Leaving Canada: the CRA side

General information only. Talk to a cross-border tax adviser.

• When you become a non-resident: the CRA usually treats you as non-resident from the latest of three dates: the day you leave, the day your spouse or partner and dependants leave, or the day you become resident in your new country. You also need to sever your residential ties.
• Departure tax: when you emigrate, you’re treated as having sold certain property at fair market value, so you may have a capital gain to report even though you didn’t sell anything. If the total fair market value of your property is more than C$25,000, you file Form T1161.
• Your final return: report world income for the part of the year you were resident and Canadian-source income only after that, and enter your departure date.
• Unsure about your status? Form NR73 lets you ask the CRA for a residency determination.

On the Australian side: if you come on a working holiday visa, the ATO’s longstanding view is that working holiday makers are foreign residents for tax. That can change if your circumstances change, for example if you apply for a permanent visa. Read the ATO’s working holiday residency page before you budget.

CPP, OAS and Australian super

• The agreement: Canada and Australia have a social security agreement (the current one since 1 January 2003). It covers the CPP and OAS (including GIS) on the Canadian side, and the Age Pension and some other payments on the Australian side. Australian working-life residence can count as CPP contributions or Canadian residence to help you qualify, and Canadian residence after age 18 can count towards Australia’s minimum residence. Each country pays only for its own periods.
• What Australia pays: an Australian pension paid to you overseas is pro-rated by your working-life years in Australia against a 35-year benchmark, and is still income and assets tested.
• Super: employers add 12% of ordinary time earnings on top of salary. Temporary residents who leave can claim it back, less tax, as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment once they’ve gone and their visa has ended.

Health cover, driving and pets

Health cover: Australia’s 11 reciprocal health care agreement countries don’t include Canada. Some visas carry condition 8501, which means you must keep adequate health insurance, and Home Affairs strongly recommends private cover for anyone not eligible for Medicare whether or not it’s a condition. Check your visa conditions in VEVO.

Ambulance: without Medicare you pay for everything, and Medicare doesn’t cover ambulance in any case. Queensland Ambulance Service says there are no reciprocal arrangements for ambulance services with overseas visitors. Home Affairs’ guidance on adequate cover includes emergency ambulance, so check your policy covers it.

Driving: Canada is a Queensland “recognised country” (the page simply says “Canada”, without naming provinces), so a Canadian car or motorcycle licence transfers with no road rules or driving test; heavy vehicle classes need both tests. On a temporary visa you can drive on your valid Canadian licence, and the page sets no time limit. If you later get a permanent (resident) visa, you need a Queensland licence after three months of living in Queensland.

Pets: Canada is a Group 3 country. Cats and dogs need an import permit, a rabies vaccination and a rabies antibody blood test, and can’t fly until at least 180 days after the blood sample reaches the lab. Then comes quarantine at Mickleham in Victoria: 30 days, or 10 if an official government vet verified the animal’s identity before the blood test, at A$53 a day. Start with the Department of Agriculture’s step-by-step guides.

Pay: compare hourly with hourly

Job Bank publishes hourly wages, so here’s an hourly comparison first. Converted at the RBA rate of C$0.9841 to A$1 on 27 October 2026:

The award is a legal minimum for the private sector, not a typical rate; experienced clinicians are paid above it, and the award rises with years of service. The Job Bank S-LP figure also covers audiologists. In the public system, Queensland Health pays HP3 A$83,824–120,740 a year and HP4 (senior) A$132,689–142,315, from 1 September 2026; it employs speech pathologists at HP3 and senior speech pathologists at HP4. On top of that comes 12% super.

Physios: across Australia, the median for full-time physios is A$1,710 a week before tax (Jobs and Skills Australia, May 2023 data). Queensland Health uses the same HP stream for physios, so check its wage rates page for your grade. The Job Bank physio figures are 2023–24.

Who this move suits

I run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland, and several of our clinicians came to us from overseas. I’ve walked overseas clinicians through working holiday and Skills in Demand visas alongside registered migration agents. For Canadians, don’t count on the money to make the case: compare the hourly figures above with your own pay, and remember you’ll be paying for health insurance you didn’t need at home. Where the move does make sense is a few years abroad on a working holiday, a partner’s job or family here. If you’re an S-LP, factor in that the OSQCA, not the visa, sets your earliest start.

Your next step

• OTs: check your university, exact degree title and year of award against the list in the Canadian OT guide.
• S-LPs: check whether your degree was taught in English and plan for the OSQCA’s four stages, since the MRA isn’t open to SAC members right now.
• Physios: check you’ve held unrestricted registration in the past five years, which Express FLYR needs.

The pathway check asks those questions and tells you what to do next, including whether an info session is your best first step.