Lured by promises of better pay, better working conditions and much better weather than the UK can provide, rising numbers of NHS doctors and nurses are heading to work in Australia.
The number of NHS-trained doctors and nurses working in Australia has increased by 25% between 2016 and 2021. The number of certificates of good standing requested from the General Medical Council has increased year-on-year from 2020, with figures for 2023 showing the upward trend is continuing. There were 7,000 certificates of good standing issued in 2022 alone.
A certificate of good standing is a document intended for medical regulators in other countries, showing that the applicant doctor or nurse is fit to practice medicine, the duration that they have been practising and any restrictions that apply to said practice.
Before NHS doctors and nurses can move to sunnier shores, there are identity and education documents such as the certificate of good standing that need to be legalised for use abroad via notarisation. This gives their employers ‘down under’ assurance of the authenticity of their accomplishments.
So, what needs to happen before you can use those documents in Australia?
Notarisation
We can arrange notary services no matter where you are located in the UK through our online notarisation appointments.
A notary public would meet you either online via a video call or in person at our main London office. They would need to see your photo ID in order to verify your identity. Afterwards, they may need to see your original documents as well.
This depends on whether you are having certified copies of your documents notarised or the originals themselves, whichever your employer has asked for.
If you are having certified copies notarised, the notary public will need to see the originals on the call. Scan of the originals will then be notarised as true copies of the original documents.
If you require the originals to be notarised, there will be no need to show them during a video call as the notary will see them in person, either when you bring them to an appointment at our London office or when they are posted to us.
The notary will sign and stamp each document, binding them together as one multipage document made up of your certificates and identity documents, with a notarial certificate on top. The notarial certificate summarises the contents of the bundled documents alongside a statement of authenticity.
So, which documents do you need notarised?
At Pardus Bloom, we can arrange for the notarisation of the following documents commonly required by prospective employers:
- All degree certificates and or diplomas*, including academic transcripts
- Letter from current or previous NHS employers (usually confirming years of employment)
- Your Foundation Programme Certificates of Completion (FY1 + FY2)
- A certificate of good standing from the General Medical Council
- Your registration certificate from the General Medical Council
- Specialist and GP certificates from the General Medical Council
- A scan of your passport
- A scan of your proof of address – This tends to be either a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last three months.
- A scan of your driving licence
- Your original birth certificate or an official certified copy of your birth certificate ordered and issued from the General Register Office
*Nurses who hold diplomas alone will likely need to be further assessed by prospective Australian employers to ascertain whether they are the equivalent of an Australian-qualified nurse.
It may be the case that if nurses have more than five years of post-qualification experience then any further assessment may be waived. This must be evidenced by a work experience letter from your current or past employer that will also need to be legalised via notarisation.
Please note the above is a non-exhaustive list of documents that may be required. Your employer may ask for documents to be notarised and provided in addition to the above or for only certain documents to be legalised by notarisation.
We advise that you obtain a list of the documents required from your employer in writing before starting the legalisation and notarisation process.
If you’ve changed your name before, it may be necessary to show evidence of that through a notarised deed poll or an apostilled marriage certificate or divorce certificate (decree nisi, decree absolute, final order.)
We can also arrange apostille legalisation services. A Hague Apostille is a certificate issued from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO or FCO) that verifies the signature of the official on your document.
We can have an apostille obtained for you within one working day, within one week or within 25 working days.
At Pardus Bloom, we do our utmost to make the often complicated and stressful process of document legalisation simple.
We offer remote, virtual notarisation appointments via video conferencing so that we can arrange document notarisation for our clients no matter how busy their schedules are. Hop onto a short video call with a notary during your lunch break, post us your documents or send scans via email and we’ll take care of everything else!
We’re delighted to say we offer a discount to Blue Light Card members!
Those who are eligible for a Blue Light Card membership include active and retired members of the armed forces, the NHS, the social care sector and the emergency services.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch with our enquiries team today!