# US to Aus, via NZ...



## dilbert16588 (May 15, 2019)

Hey all, I've been lurking around and referencing this forum for few years but realized I never joined up. (Or I thought I had but none of emails are linked to a. profile... But I digress and am here now.)

A couple years back, I had looked into taking my NREMT-P and heading somewhere else in the world because home just sucked. (Having your main employer go bankrupt overnight and shut down didn't help!) So while on holiday, I spent a day on the trucks in Dublin through help from a coworker, and had applied for LAS while they had their shortage in 2016 though nothing ever came from that (and I fully realize that coming from the US was an uphill battle itself!) Life took me a different direction internationally, away from EMS though I've always kept it ready to go on the back burner and all of the notes I made back then. During a short stint back home, I got back on the trucks and kept going till I left again and landed down here in NZ last March._ (And even more irked at the system and the uphill battle to even think of getting into St John's NZ)_. But I had another option to remain in NZ and pursed that without EMS involvement - until that was pulled out from underneath me rather recently. Now I have a very short timeframe to sort out my next step to either stay here in NZ, to check out a different country, or return home (utter last resort...) I have accepted that my Medic will do very little to help me stay in NZ _(the timeframe to get recognized alone kicks it out as an option, but the realities of St John as a job sponsor are so low that I'm not going to both wasting time trying)_ and am still pursing other job/work options to remain in NZ. However, Australia has been thrusted towards me as a potential option to check out rather than sulk back home - except as another user had pointed out (with issues), many of the posts on here are older and potentially outdated. 

To work in Aus, you need the cert recognized and the visa situation sorted out. While I go through my old notes and trying to get a better understanding of my options, I have a few of the key things I'm trying to get 2019 answers: 
- Has anyone actually had success in having an NREMT-P with experience recognized by VETASSESS?  _[Ambulance Officer and ICP are both on the skilled occupation short list for work visas, though still require employer sponsorship and recognition]_ Are there any specific areas that were problematic or, if anyone was turned down, what was the weak or non-equivalent areas? 
- Are there any companies that actually have the reported shortages? The general consensus from older posts on here indicate an overabundance of EMS rather than shortage, but governments do not include a skilled occupation on a visa shortage list unless they have a good reason to do so.
- Since AHPRA has incorporated Paramedics under their guidance, has anyone even dealt with having the NREMT-P cert looked at, let alone recognized? _[This is a change from all my prior notes in 2015/16 and does not yet appear to be addressed on here]_

My background entails 7+ years in EMS, with 3-4 years of that as a NREMT-P and PA Medic. I have worked many of those years with a private ambulance service predominantly doing transfers, vent & critical care transports, and non-emergent trips, but I have spent the rest of the time in the emergency service sector _(where you still do transfers as you can never truly get away from non-emergent calls!)_ I do not need emergencies or traumas to get me all excited, and while I understand some companies are not so great _(St John's AUS seems to be quite low on the spectrum from what I gather?)_ is there a realistic potential to check out one of these companies just to get my foot in the door and the process started? 

I welcome any further questions of me,  and any other additional resources would be of help, too. Thanks!


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