Occupational therapist jobs in Australia: demand, settings and how overseas OTs get hired

Yes, Australia is short of occupational therapists, and you can measure it: Queensland Health alone had 68.82 full-time-equivalent OT positions vacant in April 2026, according to a Queensland Parliament answer. Across the country, health care and social assistance is projected to grow 23% in the ten years to May 2035, the strongest of any industry (Jobs and Skills Australia). Demand is real, but no job is guaranteed. What trips people up most is the order: registration first, then the job, then the visa.

How big is the OT job market?

Shortages across the economy are easing: Jobs and Skills Australia found 29% of occupations in shortage in 2025, down from 33% in 2024 (2025 list; Jobs and Skills Australia has since released a 2026 list). But it named health as an area where shortages remain, and said the leading cause, especially in health, is not having enough qualified applicants. That’s the gap overseas OTs fill.

Where Australian OTs work

By industry (2021 Census, collected during COVID restrictions):

• 91.0% in health care and social assistance: hospitals, community health, private practice, disability and aged care
• 2.6% in education and training
• 1.5% in public administration and safety

By state, as a share of the OT workforce (November 2024): Victoria 28.6%, NSW 25.0%, Queensland 20.2%, South Australia 8.8%, ACT 1.6%, Tasmania 1.0%, NT 0.9%. JSA’s page doesn’t show Western Australia, so these don’t add up to 100%.

In practice that means three broad types of employer: public hospitals and community health, private practice (including paediatrics, with many families funded through the NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme), and disability and aged care providers. They run differently. Public health pays on set grades. Private practice sets its own pay, at or above the award minimum, and the paperwork follows the funder.

Queensland and Brisbane: where the vacancies are

The Queensland Parliament answer (question on notice 489 of 2026) gives a clear public picture of OT demand in Queensland’s public health system:

Vacancies have come down, but nearly 70 FTE is still a lot of unfilled public OT work in one state. Those figures don’t include private practice, NDIS providers or aged care.

Graduate intake runs early. Queensland Health advertised its graduate OT roles (HP3, 12-month full-time fixed term) for the 2026 year in a round that closed on 26 September 2025. If you’re aiming for a public graduate role, look a year ahead.

OT was on both of Queensland’s skilled occupation lists for state-nominated 190 and 491 visas in 2025–26. The 2026–27 program hadn’t opened at 27 October 2026. For where to look locally, see the Brisbane and SEQ guide.

What the jobs pay, in one line

The legal minimum for a new-graduate OT with a bachelor degree is A$1,308.80 a week (Health Professionals and Support Services Award, from 1 October 2026). That’s the first of five annual stages of award increases, 12 months apart, running to 2030. For OTs (and physios) the award has one Level 1 scale, AQF Level 7, whatever degree you hold; only some professions, such as speech pathology, get higher minimums for a master’s. Queensland Health starts OTs at A$83,824 (HP3, from 1 September 2026). Full tables, take-home pay and comparisons with the UK, Ireland, NZ, the USA and Canada are in the OT salary guide.

The order that works: registration, then job, then visa

The common worry is a catch-22: employers want you registered, and you don’t want to pay for registration without a job. In practice, registration comes first, because it’s the step an employer can’t do for you.

General information only. A registered migration agent should confirm the visa steps for you.

1. Ahpra registration (the OT Board). You can’t work as an OT in Australia without it. There are three routes for overseas-qualified OTs: comparable regulator (UK qualifications completed 2010–2030 and Irish ones completed 2015–2030), recognised international qualification (named programs in Canada, South Africa and the USA), and qualification assessment for everyone else, including earlier UK and Irish graduates. Fees from 1 October 2026: A$250 application plus A$138 registration (A$130 in NSW), plus A$688 first if you need a portfolio assessment. A “relevant” portfolio outcome means limited registration and six months of supervised practice before general registration. Ahpra aims to reply within 21 days of a complete application. NZ OTs with a current practising certificate use Trans-Tasman mutual recognition instead.
2. Orientation. The Board expects a one-on-one orientation with an OT who has held general registration for at least three consecutive years, plus IAHA cultural responsiveness training. Otherwise conditions may be placed on your registration.
3. The job. With a registration application in, you can start talking about dates with an employer, though your start depends on Ahpra’s decision.
4. The visa. If you’re eligible for a working holiday visa (not every country is, South Africa included), you don’t need a sponsor. For a sponsored visa, your employer nominates you. If your visa needs a skills assessment, that’s a separate step with the Occupational Therapy Council (A$800). The OTC assesses your qualification and English, not your work experience, and it doesn’t publish a processing target.

Pick your country guide for the detail: UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, or new graduates from the UK or Ireland.

What a sponsoring employer needs, and what they owe you

If you need an employer to sponsor you on a Skills in Demand (482) visa, a few things are fixed by law:

• What they need from you: at least one year of relevant work experience. Occupational therapist (ANZSCO 252411) is on the Core Skills Occupation List.
• What they must pay: at least A$79,423 a year (the threshold from 1 July 2026). Sponsors must also give you the same terms and conditions as an Australian worker in the same role, at the market salary rate, and never below the award or agreement rate.
• What they can’t charge you: sponsors must not pass certain sponsorship costs on to you, including the Skilling Australians Fund levy and migration agent costs for the sponsorship and nomination. Asking for or taking a payment in exchange for sponsorship is unlawful.

If an employer asks you to pay the sponsorship or nomination costs, the Skilling Australians Fund levy or their agent’s fees, or asks for a payment in return for sponsorship, walk away. Employers can find their side of this in our guide for employers.

How I look at it from the hiring side

I was the inaugural director of a hospital, hiring nurse practitioners, nurses, physios, doctors and rural generalists, and I’ve sat on the hiring side with recruiters and locums. Today I run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland, and several of our clinicians came to us from overseas. So I’d put two questions to any employer before you sign: which setting and caseload you’ll actually have, and what supervision looks like in your first months.

If you’re an overseas OT weighing up a move, the pathway check below is the quickest way to see which route applies to you.