No IELTS and Show Money to Australia?

It seems that consultancies/agencies are at it again. They’re really fond of taking advantage of desperate nurses and their dreams of going abroad. They just cycle through America, then Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc etc etc. Now I’m not saying they’re scammers. What they’re offering are possibly legitimate ways to enter those countries and become a nurse.

However the methods they do it, how they market it to nurses and the whole process itself can be harmful. I’m not targeting a single agency / consultancy here. Maybe there are some that exists out there that are good. But most of them skirt the line of illegalities with gray area tactics (a.k.a barely legal tactics). Careful omission and broad generalization are their tools.

TL/DR: at the end of the article if you like to skip my ranticle (rant article… see what I did there? hehehe ehhh moving on)

Disclaimer: information here may vary from agency/consultancy. These were collated from personal experience, experience of friends, family and colleagues who have undergone the process in recent years.

No IELTS Required for Australia

This is the “new” bait they’re putting out on social media. It’s now easy to  pump these advertising bits online that they can rake in hundreds of desperate nurses in the Philippines. Understandably, nurses are quite scared of the word IELTS. Maybe it’s because of the weakening of English in our curriculum or maybe IELTS was made deliberately harder. I don’t know.

So agencies found loopholes. So it’s true that you no longer need IELTS in order to travel to Australia. But they’ve omitted several key things from their advertisements.  You still need a reliable test for English language fluency and these are the supposed choices. The Australian Health and Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) accepts the following exams.

• OET – Occupational English Test is a specialized exam for foreigners who wish to enter the healthcare sector of the target country. They say it’s relatively easier than IELTS but it’s also more expensive. It currently costs 587 AU$ or about 23,000 Php. After sitting through on orientation seminar, they drop this bomb near the end. Some consultancies will offer it as a pay later scheme. Well and good. But the pay later scheme is a big problem that I will tackle later.
• TOEFL iBT – Test of English as Foreign Language is another exam. It’s cheaper at only 200 usd or about 10,000 php. But there have been feedbacks about availability of testing centers, dates and the payment process. Historically, agencies have exhausted TOEFL in the 90s and early 2000s. So if you’re helped by an agency with TOEFL, you might get a bad reputation. At least that’s what some veteran nurses have divulged in online forums for nurses. However,
• PTE – Pearson Test of English (Academic). Now this is the new baby of agencies and consultancies. It also contains the same 4 areas as IELTS. The main difference is that it’s not exposed to subjectivity as compared to IELTS where writing and speaking can be “contaminated” by  human subjective score. PTE is mostly done through the computer like you would the NCLEX. This costs the same as IELTS. The reason that it’s not as widely used as IELTS is because of the lack of testing centers. Before it was only located in Manila. Now you can find one in Cebu.

So those are the 3 so far. So yes you can avoid IELTS but you still need to take any of the three above.  So how do agencies gloss this fact over? By enticing possible successful applicants to a “free” english exam. Right now it’s PTE. Only it’s not so free. It’s a pay later scheme. The agency/consultancy will say they have to give a client free exams. In reality, you pay for than when you’ve reached canada. How much and when is the problem. Let’s skip that for now.

What about the No “Show Money”?.

Here’s the trick to this. When you’re applying for normal visas, you need to “show" that you’re financially capable to live in Australia for a few months before arriving. It’s a typical requirement for visiting and work visas.

Agencies skip this bit because you are not going to get visas yet. Before you can start applying for anything, you need to process your AHPRA and enroll in a valid school. So technically, they’re not lying about the lack of show money. But only because they’ve omitted the next parts.

It’s a good thing though that some agencies/consultancies include this “show money” in their pay later schemes.

The AHPRA Process

Regardless of all the advertisements out there, you really do need the AHPRA. There are two types, the bridging which takes about 3 months. Or going back to school for 2 years. Both have it’s pros and cons. Assuming you’ve passed AHPRA, you got a school to take you and all, you can choose any of the two.

Bridging course -  a 3 month rapid course that can cost about 10,000 aud to 20,000 aud. It’s usually paid in full before you start. This is the fastest so far.

• You can’t really work part time. I don’t know why some agencies say this, but so far the AHPRA insists on foreigners go to school and finish the 3 month bridging course. You’re going to need money to survive for 3 months. Got no money for the tuition and you living expenses? Agencies have a pay later scheme.
• Another risk. current market of Australia is not friendly to nurses right now. There’s not enough positions  for Australian born and trained Nurses. So basically, once you pass the bridging course, you might be stuck waiting for quite some time to no job offers at all. Most employers won’t even hire those with work visas because the law forces them to fill vacant positions with Australians…

2 year course – It’s assumed that by the time you graduate, you’ll be finished with your PR application. Getting hired is easier through this method because of that. But this is the more expensive process. 2 years living in Australia, paying tuition fees, board and lodging. You’re only allowed a number of hours of work. It’s tax free but barely enough to get you by.

How to Get Hired after Bridging Program

Employers go for foreigners with permanent residency instead of work visas. Unfortunately, this is expensive and takes a long time to be processed. You have no choice but the go for work visa and risk not getting hired for months.

X now and Pay Later

Nurses can’t earn enough to handle the thousands of money required to migrate and work to Australia. With a bare minimum salary, there’s just no way. So enter the friendly agency / consultancy. Why spend a dime now when your agency / consultancy can loan it for you! There’re some teensy weeny problems that they don’t usually emphasize or a.k.a. fine print.

• Here are the usual stuff that they allow you to “loan”.
• The agency / consultancy fee – from 50,000 pesos to almost 300,000 pesos
• English exams
• Tuition fee of bridging course
• Plane tickets (round trip)
• (sometimes) Board and lodgings in Australia
• Visa application

This can total up to almost 1 million pesos. However, the interest is way too high. On average, some people have reported that a 1 million peso loan could turn out to be 2 million or more once paid. And you need to pay it within 12 months or else.

Some financial institutions tied up with agencies/consultancies might allow you 3 months reprieve when loaning. They usually wait for you to finish bridging before asking you to pay.

Ideally, by that time you should be hired. But as I’ve written above, chances of getting hired after bridging is very slim unless if you have a permanent residency status. What you may also don’t know is some loan sharks will start counting interest the moment you’ve borrowed 1 peso.

The whole AHPRA process takes about 8 months. Add 3 months for bridging. You already have almost 1 year of interest to pay off and you’re not even hired yet!

If you can’t pay off the loan, you can be sued and have your wages garnished. Or they can make your life a living hell with debt collectors.

Just remember, while they’re not necessarily “bad”. They’re in it for the business. It’s just unfortunate that they have taken advantage over a lot off nurses in doing so.

Why not Quit the X now, Pay Later scheme?

This is where the sneaky agencies / consultancies come in. They require you to sign a bond that says if you ever quit at any stage, you have to pay them. It can range from 50,000 to almost 150,000. It’s a document that they make you sign. Technically it can be contested in court but, as a lowly paid nurse, would you have the time and resources to do that?

TL/DR: No IELTS might be true, but you need another test for English fluency. No show money might be true but AVOID THE PAY LATER SCHEME! And finally, bridging program is not an assurance that you get hired as nurses immediately. Read up on Australian news about labor and the nursing profession