Who can help you move to Australia as an OT, speech pathologist or physio? Who does what, what it costs, and when

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

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No one person or organisation can do the whole move for you. Your profession’s regulator or assessor decides whether you can practise; visa advice comes from a registered migration agent or an Australian lawyer, the people OMARA says can give immigration assistance; an employer sponsors you if your visa needs a sponsor; and a recruiter finds and matches roles. In Queensland, a recruiter can’t charge you a fee, deposit or bond if you’ll be living here temporarily (Private Employment Agents Code of Conduct, s18), so the people you pay directly are mostly the assessing bodies, your English test, Home Affairs and any migration agent you hire.

This page maps who does what, what each one costs you, who pays, and when in the move you need them. It’s general information, not visa advice. For the order of the steps themselves, see registration, job or visa first?

The map: who does what

Your regulator or assessor, by profession

This is the step no one else can do for you, and the one employers wait on. How many bodies you deal with differs by profession:

• Occupational therapists: two bodies. The Occupational Therapy Board, through Ahpra, registers you (from A$388). If your visa needs a skills assessment, that’s the Occupational Therapy Council (A$800). See the OT registration guide.
• Speech pathologists: one body. Speech Pathology Australia, not Ahpra, assesses you once (A$825 on the MRA, A$2,000 on the OSQCA), and that assessment also serves for migration. Canadian speech-language pathologists can’t currently use the MRA. See the SPA MRA guide.
• Physiotherapists: two bodies, three steps. The Australian Physiotherapy Council (A$1,742 to A$8,321 by route), then the Physiotherapy Board through Ahpra (A$672; A$652 in NSW), and the Council again for a migration skills assessment if your visa needs one (A$1,674). See Express FLYR, FLYR or APEP.

You pay these yourself when you apply; whether an employer reimburses any of it is something to ask, not assume. Which of these costs can and can’t be passed to you is on who pays recruitment fees, and the assessments are lined up side by side in skills assessments compared.

What the work pays once you’re through: the award minimum in year 1 is A$1,308.80 a week for OTs and physios (AQF 7) and A$1,308.80 to A$1,444.90 for speech pathologists by qualification level (from 1 October 2026), and Queensland Health HP3 starts at A$83,824 a year (from 1 September 2026).

Registered migration agents and lawyers: who gives visa advice

OMARA says immigration assistance can be given by registered migration agents and, since 22 March 2021, Australian lawyers as part of legal practice. That’s why recruiters, employers and this website give general information about visas and stop there.

How to check one: on the OMARA website, choose “Search for a registered agent” and search by name, business name, location or MARN (Migration Agent Registration Number). OMARA’s guide is blunt: if the person doesn’t appear, they aren’t registered. Lawyers aren’t on that register; check them with the law society in their state.

What they cost: there’s no set rate. You agree the fee with the agent (NSW Government guidance), and some charities and legal aid services help free if you meet their criteria (OMARA). An agent the employer engages for its sponsorship acts for the employer; ask who is acting for you.

We work alongside registered migration agents, so your visa advice comes from someone licensed to give it.

Recruiters: what they can and can’t do

A recruiter can: find roles that fit your profession and route, tell you what an employer is actually like, put your details forward with your permission, and help you line up interviews around your registration.

A recruiter can’t:

• give you visa advice, unless they’re also a registered migration agent or a lawyer;
• decide or speed up your registration or SPA assessment;
• promise you a job, a visa or a start date;
• in Queensland, charge you for finding you work if you’re here temporarily, or sell you paid extras as a condition of finding you work (Private Employment Agents Code of Conduct, ss18–19).

The eight questions to ask any recruiter, us included, are on choosing a recruiter.

When you talk to us, you’re talking to a physio and a service operator, not a sales team.

Employers and sponsors

If you need a sponsor, the employer is the one who applies to sponsor and nominates your role, and for a Skills in Demand (482) visa it must pay you at least the A$79,423 Core Skills Income Threshold (from 1 July 2026) and the market rate for the role. There’s no official list of sponsoring employers yet; how to find and read sponsored roles is on visa sponsorship jobs.

If you don’t need a sponsor (a working holiday visa, New Zealand citizenship or a visa you hold already), the employer is simply your employer, and the job search is quicker to start.

Once you land: the free government steps

Your TFN, bank account and Medicare enrolment cost nothing, and nobody needs to do them for you (see the last rows of the map). Medicare cover depends on your country: the UK agreement includes out-of-hospital care, Ireland and New Zealand give public hospital care and some medicines only, and the USA, Canada and South Africa have no agreement, so plan private cover. Details are in Medicare and health cover by country and the first 30 days checklist.

In what order you need them

Your regulator or assessor first, a recruiter or employers alongside it, a registered migration agent once you know your route, Home Affairs when you lodge, and the ATO, a bank and Medicare in your first weeks here. Why it runs in that order, with each body’s published times, is in registration, job or visa first?

Your next step

• OTs: check whether your degree is on the OT Board’s recognised list, because that decides whether you need a portfolio assessment before anyone else can help.
• Speech pathologists: check whether you hold full membership of an MRA association with 1,000 hours in the past five years, or whether you’re on the OSQCA.
• Physios: check which Council route your country puts you on, because it sets your cost (A$1,742 to A$8,321) and how soon you can talk to employers.

The pathway check asks those questions for your profession and tells you which of the people above you need first.