Can a new grad OT move to Australia? (UK and Ireland, 2026)

Often yes, but check one thing with Ahpra first. UK (HCPC-approved) and Irish (CORU-approved, 2015 onwards) OT degrees qualify for the comparable regulator route to general registration. The open question for new graduates is Ahpra’s recency of practice standard: it’s not clear that its recent-graduate exemption covers overseas degrees, and if it doesn’t, you’d need some practice hours first (as little as 150 hours in the last 12 months). What you can’t get straight away is employer sponsorship: the Skills in Demand (482) visa needs a year’s experience. So many new grad OTs come on a working holiday visa, and a smaller group can go straight for permanent residency on points.

Your three realistic routes

Working holiday: better for OTs than most people think

Since 1 January 2024, working holiday makers in health, aged care and disability services can work for the same employer for more than six months without asking permission. Where that applies, you can take a proper new grad OT job, with supervision, and stay in it. This applies under current rules, which Home Affairs says stand “until the Government makes further decisions”, and only if your role falls within those sectors. Confirm with your employer or a migration agent. You don’t need the OTC skills assessment for a working holiday.

Points without experience

You can score 75 points with no work experience at all: 30 for being aged 25–32, 20 for superior English, 15 for your degree and 10 for being single (or having a skilled partner). OTs were invited at 75 points in the June 2026 round. The Occupational Therapy Council’s migration assessment checks your degree and English, not your experience. Here’s how the points add up.

Registration as a new grad

Ahpra’s recency of practice standard doesn’t apply to “recent graduates applying for registration for the first time”, but its definition refers to an “approved program of study”, which usually means an Australian program. So don’t assume the exemption covers an overseas degree. If it doesn’t, the standard asks for 750 hours of practice in the last five years, 450 hours in the last three years, or 150 hours in the last 12 months. Check with Ahpra before you apply. You’ll also complete the IAHA cultural responsiveness training and an orientation with an experienced Australian OT.

The timing problem nobody mentions

Australian new grad programs run on the Australian academic year:

• Queensland Health: the graduate OT role we checked for a 2026 start closed on 26 September 2025. It was a 12-month, full-time HP3 contract. HP3 pay starts at A$83,824 from 1 September 2026.
• Private practices: timing varies, and many hire year-round. Ask each practice when its graduate intake opens.

UK and Irish students finish in June or July. You’ll usually either arrive mid-year and join a practice that hires year-round, or apply in September to December for the following February. Public graduate programs set their own work-rights rules; check whether a working holiday visa qualifies for the one you’re looking at.

What I’d look for in your first Australian job

From the hiring side, as an employer of overseas clinicians: the supervision matters more than the salary in year one.

• Weekly one-on-one supervision for at least your first six months
• A gradual caseload build, not a full list in week two
• A senior OT on site, not just available by phone
• Clear professional development funding

Good practices offer all four, so ask about each one at interview.

Common mistakes

1. Paying for the OTC assessment when you’re coming on a working holiday (you don’t need it).
2. Waiting a year at home without a plan. A working holiday job may also count as experience for a later 482; confirm with a migration agent.
3. Assuming every graduate program accepts visa holders.