Singapore nurse here. Can I go to Australia on a tourist visa & ask local hospitals if they would hire me?

Is it possible for a foreign nurse like me to get a working visa in Australia without a job offer? I am currently awaiting the outcome of my application to be registered with the nurses board of western australia.

I don't really want to use an agency. I'm hoping to to get into australia on a tourist visa, travel a bit and in the process find a hospital i'd like to work for, and approach them independently. I'm interested in the regional hospitals in western australia, outside perth. Would also prefer not to be locked into the typical 2 or 3 year contracts the big hospitals typically ask foreign nurses to sign. I'm over 31 so Working Holiday Visa is out for me.

Have a look at this information from the website of the Australian Department of Immigration.

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/medical-p...

It looks like nurses are in high demand in Australia. You need to have a certain level of health, education and experience in order to qualify. I don't think it will be necessary to go asking hospitals about jobs. It will be pretty easy for you to find one, judging by this information.

Good luck!

do u have nice twins?

You should really talk to the Department of Immigration about what you just said in your question.
http://www.immi.gov.au

Whatever advice is given here may or may not be correct and you don't want to risk getting caught out and get into trouble with immigration.

You can not hold anyone here responsible if you take their advice and then found that you have done the wrong thing after you arrived here and go looking for jobs.

you have to do things through the proper channels

I agree with the Mouse on this one - you could get into VERY hot water if you got caught out: the Australian Immigration Department can and does imprison people indefinitely and treat them very harshly.

If you apply for a tourist visa the implication is that you are NOT looking for work. If you look for work while on such a visa they could look on you as dishonest, rightly or wrongly.

Do everything up-front and don't take the risk!

Can I suggest you Google Australian hospitals and see which home pages you can find, then send them a message to find out if theyA0have any positions and B)would they be able to help you . Lots of Australian country hospitals are truly desperate for staff. I have no doubt that I will get thumbs down, but I live in the country and and know two nurses

you could probably ask if they would hire you but they wont actually hire you until you had a working visa. i don't know if they would take you seriously, or how comfortable they would be.

as previously said your best bet is to go to australian immigration