Nov 11, 201912 min read

A Physiotherapist Abroad (And How To Be One)

Updated: Feb 1, 2021

Glasgow, UK

November 2019

Working as a physiotherapist in the UK has been challenging, but so very rewarding. If you have even the smallest interest in working abroad, I’d highly suggest you chase that feeling, before your home town sinks its teeth in to you and it gets too difficult to even consider.

Since I wholeheartedly support anyone moving abroad (or doing anything off-kilter for that matter), I’ll do my best to pass on what I’ve learned from my last year as an Australian living and working in the UK.

Do bear in mind that although my experience is that of a Physiotherapist, there will be obvious cross-over for anyone who works in health, whether you are an Occupational Therapist, Radiographer, Speech Pathologist, or otherwise.

For context, I am working as a Senior Physiotherapist in a private MSK clinic in Glasgow and as a Consultant Physiotherapist with the Rangers Football Club Youth Academy. I am originally from Perth, Western Australia.

To work abroad you need a few prerequisites, most of which are fairly easy to get; however, the processes can be frustrating and time-consuming.

The most important documents are as follows:

· A valid Passport.

· An approved Visa.

· Registration with the Health Care Practitioners Council (HCPC) - the UK's APHRA equivalent.

· A Biometric Residency Permit (BRP) - A national ID that is representative of your visa.

· National Insurance Number - The UK's tax file number (TFN) equivalent.

Additional things you will eventually need are as follows:

· Bank account – local and/or international.

· Registration with the UK's Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) or other accrediting body.

· Documentation of qualifications, accreditation, and/or degrees. Hard and/or soft copies.

· Driver’s license – optional.

· Work agency registration & documentation – optional.

Things that I recommend that you finalise before you leave Australia:

· Settle and finalise your bills in Australia – including direct debits.

· Know your pin numbers and passwords - use a password manager like LastPass if you need to.

· Notify your bank of your movements.

· Ensure you can access your online services, i.e. temporarily remove 2FA from email services.

· Suspend your private health insurance and other domestic subscriptions.

· Re-route your mail if necessary - to your parent's house is easiest.

· Make a plan to maintain your Australian mobile phone number - pre-paid plans work well.

· Obtain a credit card – for emergencies.

· Send all essential, but bulky, items 1-2 months beforehand - freight by sea is good value.

· Ensure that you can access your MyGov account – this is especially important.

To elaborate…

HCPC is the equivalent of AHPRA, and you will be unable to work in any allied health field if you don’t have this organised. Period. The whole process is fairly straight forward, but there are a lot of steps. Begin by downloading the forms and quickly send off the Course Information Form to your university and pay any fees that they require for the service (some do, some don't), as that takes some time to return – this form is basically a proof that your university qualifications are transferable. Attach all of your relevant qualifications and awards, write a strong supporting letter, send it to London via registered post, and wait. Don’t even think of leaving before you receive confirmation that this has cleared. This can take several months, so get it done early so you aren’t stuck waiting. When notified via email or post that your HCPC registration has been successful, call them back during UK business hours to pay your fees. The cost of registration will be several hundred dollars, depending on when you graduated and the time you read this.

Naturally, you also need a valid passport. Moreover, you need a valid visa to work in the UK. As an Australian citizen, this process is fairly simple. Complete an online application and attend an interview at the British Embassy in Perth - or your home town. The strangest part of the process is that they take your passport for appraisal in Manilla. It is eventually safely returned, of course, but it’s peculiar if you aren’t expecting it. Just follow the instructions on the website and application forms – you should be fine. Contact the embassy if you aren’t. We happened to use a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa which allows people under 31 to live and work in the UK for 2 years. If you have parents or grandparents born in the UK, it's worth considering the UK Ancestry Visa.

Having been granted a visa, you then must pick up your Biometric Residence Permit – which will be delivered to a post office of your choice in the UK. Send it to the city you plan on staying in or nearest to someone you already know in the UK. Please note that you can also forward date your visa, so that it begins exactly when you need it to, so you don't lose any time.

Once having arrived in the UK, you then begin the process of organising the basic utilities required to live in the UK. A house, a bank account, and a national insurance number.

A National Insurance Number (NIN) is basically the equivalent of your tax file number, but it is essential as it allows you to access the British public health care system, the National Health Service (NHS). To get one, you need to have your BRP already sorted. Having done so, you then call up the NIN hotline, and organise a meeting, to which you bring all your relevant documentation – proof of address, proof of identity, BRP, etc. It is frustrating to run around and get it done, but the process is fairly well explained to you by the website, so it’s just another matter of jumping through the hoops and not getting too frustrated by British bureaucracy.

As I've written previously, organising bank accounts and housing is frustrating and time-consuming – you often can’t get a bank account without a proof of address and you can’t lease an address without a bank account. I recommend starting with a borderless account, so you have local currency to begin with – I’d recommend TransferWise, as I've found it exceptionally useful. You can also use the address of someone already in the UK, perhaps saving yourself considerable effort by having your bank send documents there, providing you with a proof of address.

Regarding banks, we chose to go with the Bank of Scotland since they had a particularly good promotion at the time. I’d generally advise going with whichever big bank has the best deal, as most UK banks seem to offer signing bonuses or insurance, depending on the time of year. Barclays and Lloyds are ubiquitous, but we found them exceptionally unhelpful to new migrants. I've heard HSBC is particularly good for expats since they have have many international outlets, but have had no experience with them myself.

There are also some no-frills UK bank accounts on offer, but this changes year to year. Keep an eye out for them. I’ve heard some were only asking for a passport to open, so that could be a good option too – even just to get you started. There are also several new online-only banks similar to TransferWise, and I assume more will be available over the coming years - I keep hearing about Monzo, Starling, and Revolut, so perhaps check them out.

Hopefully with an account in hand, you will find finding a house soon enough.

If you haven’t made solid plans to begin with, I’d recommend booking a long lease on Airbnb, or something similar. Keep things simple and guarantee yourself some space to work from. This is what we elected to do for a few months and it worked quite well - as you usually get a discount for booking long periods of time.

When it comes to the time, I’d recommend the following websites to search for houses:

· RightMove

· Zoopla

While searching, do just be aware that the UK has a thing called Council Tax – a fairly expensive tax that all properties are required to pay. It is often a few hundred pounds, but changes depending on your means and where you live. Just make sure you include it in your budgeting as it is several hundreds of pounds per month in addition to your rent – cue the typical grumbling about council tax done by Brits and expats alike.

If you decide to stay long-term in the UK and are considering purchasing a house, do consider opening a Lifetime Individual Savings Account, or LISA. This is a long-term savings account which is designed to help first home buyers and retirees, as the government matches 25% of your contributions, up to 1000 per year. Free money for those thinking long-term - just note that there is a penalty for withdrawing money not for those purchases, so read the fine print. Keep in mind that you have to have had the account for 1 year before accessing it, so if you are serious about purchasing a house, open an account with £1 ASAP to get that timer running. My partner and I happen to be saving for a house and have been using Moneybox, which we recommend.

Given that you wont have much of a credit history, it can be useful for those planning to live here long term to start building it up quickly. I have used both Credit Ladder and LOQBOX and found both free services to be rather helpful. The best way to raise your credit rating in the long-term, however, is clearly having a credit card, so I'd recommend getting the free American Express British Airways card - move your everyday purchases on to it and pay it off every month - that should give your credit a good boost in the medium to long-term. If you end up buying a house, it will make a massive difference to your loan options and interest rate.

Speaking of money, for those so inclined, the UK has a very well-developed finance ecosystem, so it may be worthwhile looking at the investing options available to you, as there are also Stocks & Shares ISA's which give you tax-free investing options. I've used both Wealthify, Freetrade, and Trading 212 and both have provided great returns.

If you aren't planning on living here long-term, it is also worth considering opting out of your work pension. You must legally be enrolled in a pension by your employer, which is a great thing, as your employer matches your ~4% contribution every pay. However, as an expat, you need to know that this money is only accessible after age 55 and if you are living in the UK or have an active UK bank account. If you can't confidently say that you're living in the UK long-term, or you know you're only here for a few years, you should considering opting out of your pension scheme to ensure that your money is not being locked away from you. Look in to it and decide for yourself.

The longer you live in the UK, you must also consider that your tax residency is likely to change. For those still earning Australian income, it is important to note that this means you will lose any and all of your tax-free threshold, meaning your income will be taxed at the default 32.5% for earnings between $0-90,000 - correct at the time of writing. Keep this in mind if it applies to you and consider putting aside money to pay for the eventual tax owing after July 1st.

For anything else UK money-related, do check out Martin Lewis' website, it offers genuinely helpful tips for making the most of your money in the UK, which I've personally found useful since there is so much you don't know when you get here.

If you notice that a lot of jobs you are interested in require a CSP (or another equivalent) membership, I’d recommend you also quickly follow that up. The CSP is the equivalent of the APA and some businesses will require that you register with them prior to beginning work. Importantly, CSP membership gives you professional indemnity insurance, so I feel that it's basically worth the expense for that alone.

If you are interested in locum work, which there is a lot of in the UK, It's worth starting the process of registering with an agency or two about a month before you leave for the UK, as the process can take some time. It isn't difficult to sign up, but there is a lot of paperwork you have to gather (qualifications, vaccine/health history, etc), forms to complete (i.e. a DBS - a national police check) and several online competencies that will need to be completed (OHS, hand washing, manual handling, etc). For Physiotherapy, I'd recommend JustPhysio, Sugarman, and RIG Healthcare - mention my name if you do sign up and we should both get a signing bonus. My partner is a Radiographer and has used both RIG and Maxxima to find work - she recommends both. Do note that it's always good to have registered with at least two agencies, because then they will then have to compete for your work, which should drive your wages up.

If you plan on driving, look up an international driver’s license. I used the RAC and the process was quite straight forward to be honest. That being said, I haven’t driven once while I’ve been here – trains and buses will get you where you want to go and inner-city parking is very expensive. That’s to say nothing of the actual cost of owning a car here, which seems to be 2-4 times more expensive per month. The extra expense is down to fuel being much more costly and several other imposts, including mandatory private insurance, yearly government mechanical checks, and vehicle registration. If you are living in a city - it's hard to rationalise the cost.

Personally, I'd challenge you to see if you can go without a car while being here. Everyone’s needs will be different, but I’ve worked, lived, and travelled in (and out of) Scotland without any problems for the last 2 years, so perhaps you won’t need a car either.

Aside from the usual things you should finalise before you leave Australia which I’ve mentioned above, i.e. mobile phone, health insurance, etc, make sure you organise access to your MyGov account. I’ve been personally stung by this so do yourself a favour and link your account to the mobile app before you leave. This is because the account is linked to your mobile phone number by default. If you leave the country without sorting this out, or you can’t access your Australian number somehow, you can’t access MyGov whatsoever. No Etax. No Centrelink. No Medicare.

Please, please, please sort this out for yourself.

Just for the security, I would also recommend that you organise a credit card for yourself, just to make sure you are covered in a worst case scenario. Don’t use it? Great. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. I found the 28 Degrees Platinum Mastercard from Latitude very useful. It has a good exchange rate, no frills, but most importantly, no fees for simple transactions. In a pinch, you can use this to pay for things abroad and simple settle the debt by accessing your Australian internet banking to pay in AUD.

I’d also recommend searching for a relevant Facebook group, such as Aussies in Glasgow or Aussies in London because the expat community in the UK is both large and exceptionally helpful. It can be a great way to meet new people, become involved in a sporting team, or simply get some information from those in the know.

Off topic, but if you are missing home and want to watch some local TV, you could consider buying yourself a virtual private network (VPN), as that could help you get around geo-blocking. Not that I'd endorse that kind of behaviour.

One of the easiest things you will do is get a UK phone number. Phone companies are everywhere and generally offer good deals year-round. Your best bet is to bring an unlocked phone and simply purchase a pay-as-you-go SIM. Plug it in and you're good to go. I've personally used both giffgaff and Voxi - both were great value at ~£10 per month with a reasonable data allowance.

To move your larger items across (coats, computers, bikes, etc), I'd recommend shipping them via boat. We used Seven Seas Worldwide and the process was quick and easy. Our stuff duly turned up in Glasgow a couple of months later, all in good condition. Check it out if you think you'd like some larger items moved over.

If you get all that done, you'll be well on your way to settling in - wherever you happen to live.

Physiotherapy work in the UK is broadly the same as in Australia, however, it's worth noting that the norm is public practice, which means working within the leviathan that is the NHS. My background has and always will be private MSK, so I don't have any specific advice about public practice, but it's just worth keeping in mind - you might not have the same options for private practice in the UK as you would in Australia. It's also worth noting that Physiotherapists have generally less autonomy over here, which can be frustrating at times, as you don't have the same rights regarding referral or medical imaging.

That being said, sports work is far more available over here, so if that interests you, you won't go wanting...

Overall, the work is broadly the same in the UK, so don't stress about things being too different - you'll figure it out! And if you don't, that's OK! You can always go back home if it doesn't work out, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Don't be scared of failure, because that might stop you from even trying in the first place!

Just know that if you do decide to move, you'll be a highly regarded prospect to any employer, as Australians are well-liked, known for their work ethic, and their level of education is universally respected - especially in health.

Again, I would heartily recommend that anyone who is even vaguely interested in practising abroad do so. There is only so much time in your life when you can do it. It isn’t for everyone, but for those who can step in to the unknown; it makes for a wonderful experience – one which I think builds character and worldliness.

The additional benefit of being able to travel so easily throughout the world is also a plus…