Registering as physiotherapist in New Zealand or Australia (EU student)

Hi,

I have a few questions about registering as physiotherapist in NZ or Australia and I hope someone can help me with this.

Right now I am studying Bachelor's degree in Physiotherapy on Faculty of Health Sciences in Slovenia (Webpage: UL ZF - Uvodna stran). I am enrolled in my 2nd year and after graduation (Estimated graduation date: 2018-2019) I am planning to go to NZ or Australia and eventually get work over there. Firstly I was thinking about Master's degree, but tuitions are quite expensive and I am also not sure if I could get scholarship. So I was also searching for internships, but they don't count as clinical experiences, so it would not help me a lot with getting registered as physiotherapist (because you need at least 1-2 years of clinical experiences, such as working).

I was asking Physiotherapy board of Australia and NZ about registration and I am wondering, is it easier to get registered as physiotherapist in New Zealand?

In Australia, they said, my Bachelor degree from Slovenia would be enough to pass the official practical and written assesments through the APC and after that apply for registration with physiotherapy Board of Australia (AHPRA).

But in New Zealand you need at least 1 year work experience additional to any clinical placements or internships that are part of your degree programme. You must complete around 1000 hours of supervised clinical placements.

So I am wondering, in which country it is easier to get registered? I think it is also a lot more expensive in Australia (all of the assesments), but it looks like that at least I could start doing my registration right after graduation, because for NZ I would need more clinical experiences.


- I was also thinking to go to New Zealand on Working Holiday Visa, and I was wondering is it possible to do any practice as physiotherapist/like an assistant in NZ while on this visa?

Because I have heard if you are not registered in Physiotherapy Board, that you can not work in any of those countries.

But I would really like to continue my training over there, and not stay in my country after graduation.

I would be very grateful for any help with this, because I would like to start working on this as soon as possible.

Thank you
Kind regards
Tina