We pioneered the placement of U.S. doctors into Australia and New Zealand and have placed nearly 3,000 locum tenens physicians Down Under since 1994. For the past two years we’ve leveraged our expertise orchestrating these complicated overseas assignments to locum assignments throughout the United States and its territories, including the U.S. Virgin Islands. We have nearly 20,000 physicians across the globe ready to work with us and hundreds of facilities who’ve come to depend on us to meet their medical staffing needs. For locum tenens physicians, we have more openings with better pay and benefits than any other locum tenens recruiting agency.

No, quite the contrary. Many of our openings are in incredibly attractive communities that have simply grown and require additional medical assistance. Most of the communities are coastal cities with populations ranging from twenty thousand to a million people. The communities requesting family and general practitioners tend to be in farming, mining or Native communities of 2,000 to 25,000 people. Over the years we have provided assistance to coastal resort towns, major metropolitan cities, mid-sized cities, farming and mining towns and remote desert communities. Locums are in great demand in rural areas and other places underserved by full-time physicians.

Quite simply, these places no longer have enough physicians to meet their growing healthcare needs. Workforce mal-distributions are a common problem – there are too many doctors in the bigger cites and not enough in mid-sized and smaller communities. This problem has been further compounded by a high demand in certain fields of specialization, which has escalated so rapidly that training facilities have not been able to keep up. Community hospitals, for instance, are struggling to provide basic services because medical school graduates are flocking to specialties that offer better pay and more predictable schedules. Finally, the world’s aging population is growing; older people require more and more health services and medical schools are struggling to keep up with the demand. The net effect of these issues is a significant demand for doctors – both permanent and temporary.

Our domestic assignments vary from one weekend a month to one year or more in duration. Our goal is to help you find the assignments that work best for you. International assignments are generally for a year or more, with a minimum of six months. We’d be happy to learn more about your availability and see if we can put an assignment or schedule of assignments together for you.

Doctors with training and experience from developed countries – who are in good standing – will usually qualify. Specialists must be either Board Certified or Fellows of their respective specialty college. Family and general practitioners, as well as Emergency Medicine doctors, are not required to be Fellows or Members of their respective college.

To begin the qualification process, supply us with your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and your thoroughly completed application form. At the same time, we also ask that you submit notarized copies of your medical diplomas and training certificates. You'll also need to obtain and submit a certificate of good standing from the body with which you are registered to practice medicine. Please note: this certificate must have been issued within ninety days prior to the start of your locum tenens position in order to be considered valid.

Generally speaking, doctors must have recent, significant experience (3 years or more) working in one of the following countries in order to qualify to work Down Under:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Iceland
• Israel
• Italy
• Norway
• Republic of Ireland
• Singapore
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• The Netherlands
• The United Kingdom
• The United States
  
  

Non-native English speakers are also required to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The government of Australia requires a score of at least 7 in all four sections. New Zealand requires a passing score of at least 7 in reading & writing and a passing score of at least 7.5 in listening & speaking. For more information on the test, visit www.ielts.org.

Each country we serve has its own medical registration or licensing processes. Every doctor, without exception, must complete every process before they are allowed to practice.
But we make it easy for you. Our experience allows us to systematically usher you through the medical registration process. We explain how to complete the forms; we review the forms carefully before submitting them; and we routinely monitor your application to ensure that it moves swiftly through the bureaucracy. Because we have placed thousands of locum tenens physicians Down Under, we are able to walk you through the visa and medical registration process swiftly and efficiently.

Doctors working Down Under earn an estimated NZ$425 to A$500 per day or more, or NZ$110,500 to A$130,000/year (check today’s foreign exchange rate at OANDA, the Currency Site).

We’ve earned a reputation for having fastest and most reliable payroll in the industry, with payments made directly into your account twice monthly. You simply submit your time sheets to our accounting department via fax, email or our website on 1st and the 15th of each month and the funds are deposited within two business days.

Aussies and Kiwis tend to live a very relaxed lifestyle compared to their European and North American counterparts. They’re content with what they have and not obsessed with acquiring more possessions or status. And while they work hard at work, they also take their time off very seriously. This translates to very reasonable hours, typically 40 to 50 hours per week. Anything more than this is uncommon. To assist you in gaining an understanding of the work schedule, practice duties and lifestyle of any position, we provide you with a description of the practice and set up a teleconference for you to speak with a doctor in the practice - before you accept any locum position. We can also put you in touch with doctors who have take locum assignments in the same area.

Please note that if you reside in Australia, an Area of Need status should be established with the Health Department in your state or territory in order for us begin the registration and immigration process.

Our medical liability coverage comes from Medical Protective (part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies) and carries the highest ratings possible:  A++ (A.M. Best’s) and AAA-rated (Standard & Poors). The policy is occurrence based and carries individual limits for each doctor of $1 million per claim and $3 million dollars aggregate.

We'll put you in touch with a reputable agent who will help you secure an individual health insurance policy for you and your family. The agent will help you find the best package with the policy limits and features that are right for you.

Australia automatically grants a work visa to the spouse of a doctor who is working in the country. New Zealand will grant a work visa for a spouse if the doctor accepts a position that's longer than six months in duration – but you must also apply for a longer term visa. In general, your spouse's ability to obtain a work visa depends on several factors and since countries vary in how they deal with this issue, it's best to discuss the details with your recruiter who can answer specific questions.

Yes! Many of our doctors choose locum tenens work specifically so that their families can accompany them – and so that their children might be exposed to a different culture and way of life. New Zealand and Australia are ideal for this because they very safe, clean and friendly. They speak English (though you’ll learn some invaluable terms and colloquialisms that you’ll never forget. Your children are welcome to attend public schools, which are generally very good. The families we've placed have universally found the experience to be a profound, life changing experience. In fact, MTV produced a reality show, True Life, about one of our locum doctors, whose teenager wasn’t all that sure about going to New Zealand, but loved it! Watch it here.

Yes, your children are welcome in the public schools in Australia and New Zealand. Australia currently charges (AU$4,400 per year) for expatriate children to attend school – but in New Zealand they can attend for free.

Most public schools in the larger cities of Australia and New Zealand are very competitive with British and North American schools. Many communities also have private schools that are reasonably priced. If your children will accompany you on your sabbatical, we’ll help with information about schooling in the area; we’ll even put you in touch with parents and school officials in order to help you make an informed choice about your children’s education.

Yes, but be advised that bringing pets can be a lengthy and time consuming process. While we can steer you in the direction of the regulations related to traveling with pets, this is a process that you will have to undertake and fund on your own.

Australia and New Zealand are not particularly litigious countries. As a result, frivolous malpractice suits and huge settlements are unusual. Doctors are respected members of the community and patients are genuinely thankful for medical care. Both countries still focus heavily on quality patient care over the business and financial aspects of medicine – one of the top reasons many of our physicians choose to extend or repeat their locum experience.

Prescriptions have different trade and generic names and formularies can be limited to a few medications in each category, rather than the full gamut. Doctors who work with us tell us that they generally find this system to be no better or worse than their native health care system, just different. They also say that they are able to adjust to the different trade and generic names within a very short period of time.

Interpersonal interaction is usually the difference most often commented on by overseas physicians. Nurses and allied health professionals routinely call doctors by their first names, as do many patients. Allied health care providers also consider doctors to be their peers (albeit highly educated and respected peers) and don't hesitate to give doctors their opinions. Another noted difference is that non-clinical personnel often manage hospital departments. These managers are not subordinate to the doctors in the department, which is also true for human resource managers in hospitals.

Practicing with colleagues from different cultures is an invaluable learning experience. You'll see different ways of looking at medicine and enjoy providing alternative perspectives to your new colleagues. Many doctors tell us that the experience of working with us Down Under reinvigorated their professional lives and love of medicine. The cross-cultural immersion is also a powerful experience – something that your family will share with friends and extended family for the rest of their lives.

Yes, New Zealand accepts DOs. Australia has registered some DOs and has been discussing their willingness to accept others. We suspect that Australia will eventually accept DOs from the USA wholeheartedly, but we can't say when

Both Australia and New Zealand have graduated tax rates that increase for highest wage earners and decrease in the lower income brackets. The rates and methods of calculating tax vary from country to country, but regardless of whether you pay tax at home or abroad, you can generally plan on paying about a third of your income in taxes. To better understand your potential tax liability, we strongly recommend that you speak to speak to an expert in international tax before depart from home. We can also help you set up a self-directed retirement account that allows you save pre-tax income for your future retirement needs.

Yes. The fastest way to do this to take a temporary post with a hospital that needs a permanent candidate, which we can arrange. It only takes a few months to secure a temporary visa, but a permanent visa can take 18 to 24 months. Once you arrive in a country on your temporary visa, you can apply for both the permanent visa and permanent medical registration. You can work up to four years on a temporary visa, which gives you more than enough time compete the process of securing a permanent visa.  We've successfully arranged permanent posts with many physicians and we’ve found that this is a much faster and simpler way to secure permanent status Down Under.

Global Medical Staffing is paid a commission by the facilities where we place locum tenens physicians. This fee does not come out of the doctor's salary nor is the doctor disadvantaged by working with GMS. In fact, our doctors receive the highest rates of pay and best benefits in the industry.

No, Global Medical is not affiliated with any religious institution or organization.

We have openings in most specialties, though we place locum tenens physicians most frequently in the following specialties:

• Anesthesiology
• Cardiology
• Emergency Medicine/A&E
• General Practice/Family Medicine
• General Surgery
• Haematology
• Hospitalist
• ICU
• Internal Medicine
• Medical Oncology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Obstetrics/Gynecology
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Oncology/Radiation Oncology
• Pathology
• Pediatrics
• Plastic Surgery
• Psychiatry – Child & Adolescent
• Psychiatry - General Adult, Geriatric & Forensic
• Radiology
• Urology

Our primary focus is to place locum tenens physicians in under-served communities in Australia, New Zealand, the United Stated and its territories. However, many of the facilities we work with have a need for other medical professionals, and many of our locum physicians have spouses who work in the medical field. In those cases, we’re happy to work with either party where our expertise is helpful.

While it might appear that signing up with multiple staffing agencies would increase your chances of finding a position, it can actually do more harm than good.

Unfortunately, some recruiters “spam” out candidate CVs without your knowledge or consent. In other words, they submit your CV without doing their due diligence; they don’t talk to you first to determine if you’re right for the job – or if the job is right for you. This is a significant breach of ethics. Also, there’s an unwritten rule in the industry that the recruiter who submits the name or CV of a doctor first controls that candidate when it comes to that hiring party or facility. 

GMS recently presented a locum tenens physician – following six months of careful planning and vetting – only to discover that her CV had been presented “blind” to a facility without her knowledge or consent just prior to our presentation. (Early on in her planning, a friend had convinced her to sign up with multiple agencies and she sent her CVs, though never had any follow-up with them.) Consequently, the facility she was very interested in couldn’t offer her the locum tenens position through us by us because they were bound to the other agency – one she didn’t want to work with.  We placed her in another locum position in short order, but we were unable to place her in the location she had originally requested

Conversely, GMS is more than a recruiting agency – WE ARE YOUR ADVOCATE. We have a meticulous vetting process: we never present you as a candidate to a facility/location unless you’ve determined that the location, practice and hours fit your needs, and we work with you to coordinate all scheduling, travel and agreements. It’s just one of the many things that set us apart from other locum tenens staffing agencies.

In the extremely rare event that a practice has materially misrepresented itself, we will work to rectify the situation. If we cannot remediate the situation we will offer you other options for your locum experience. Should you or your family experience a serious illness or family death, we can arrange adequate time or work to release you from your obligation. Obviously, serious emergencies cannot be predicted or forestalled but in the past our clients have been very accommodating in these situations.

Start by completing our application, this will us an idea about the kind of experience you and your family are interested in. We’ll provide basic information about practice settings, typical workloads, surrounding environments and recreational activities then, based on your application, we’ll let you know which open positions are realistic for your locum life experience.

Next, we need your CV. You can use our CV Builder to create one or to upload yours. Using your CV, we’ll pre-qualify you by researching your history, verifying your credentials and conducting telephone interviews of your references.

Once you’re pre-qualified, we'll discuss which position(s) that most closely match your skills and interests. We’ll narrow your options down, and then provide you with a written description of the practice you’ll be working in and its location. In most cases, we’ll also put you in contact with another doctor who’s previously lived and worked in that setting.

After you’ve determined that a position is right for you, we’ll introduce you as a candidate to the practice by sending your CV, references and other information. We’ll also arrange a teleconference for you to speak to the staff with whom you will be working. This is a great opportunity for both parties to ask questions, offer information and generally determine whether it’s a good fit for everyone involved. Assuming that both you and the client are comfortable with one another and interested in proceeding, we'll begin your medical registration and visa processes.

The registration and visa processes each require completing detailed forms and providing supporting documentation, i.e., medical school diploma, postgraduate certificates, etc. - which varies depending upon the location and facility. Originals and/or notarized documents are generally necessary.

If it sounds insurmountable, don’t worry. Our vast experience allows us to usher you through each step easily. In fact, we have full-time staff devoted solely to helping you with your visa(s), medical registration and logistic(s), to ensure that every detail is completed as required within the obligatory timeframe.