Jobs After AMC Part 1 for Indian and Pakistani IMGs: Limited Registration, Where the Jobs Are, RMO Pay in INR and PKR (2026)

An Indian or Pakistani doctor can start working in an Australian hospital after passing AMC Part 1, before the Clinical, in a supervised position under limited registration, provided the English test is done and an employer will sign a supervision plan. That’s the question every South Asian candidate asks the day the results Friday arrives. Here’s how limited registration works, where the jobs actually are, what they pay in your currency, the paperwork NMC and PMDC will need to issue, and the timeline from a Part 1 pass to a first shift.

The mechanics

Limited registration for supervised practice is the Medical Board category for IMGs on the Standard pathway who don’t yet hold the AMC certificate. Requirements in outline: a verified degree through the AMC portfolio, a pass in the AMC CAT MCQ, English to the Ahpra standard, a job offer in a Board-approved position, and a supervision plan signed by a nominated supervisor. It’s tied to that job and supervisor, up to 12 months at a time, renewable. PESCI. General practice positions also require a pre-employment structured clinical interview through an AMC-accredited provider before limited registration. Hospital RMO jobs don’t. English. IELTS Academic 7 overall with 7/7/7 and 6.5 in writing, or OET 350/360/350/360, PTE 63, TOEFL 91, from tests at a centre since 23 April 2026, valid two years. Not needed for the exam; needed before the Board registers you. Sit it in the three-week results window; the IELTS Academic course included in AMC Academic is built for exactly that gap. Working while you finish. From inside the job, a Workplace Based Assessment at an accredited hospital can replace the Clinical exam (AUD 1,070 instead of AUD 3,000 and a Melbourne trip), or you sit the Clinical on leave; AMC Academic’s AMC clinical bot is coming for that stage.

Can an IMG get a real internship?

Sometimes, and it’s state-specific. Every state prioritises its own graduates for PGY1. The exception worth knowing is Queensland: its intern campaign has a Group D for medical graduates of international universities who haven’t done an internship anywhere and hold an AMC certificate or a passed AMC MCQ. Group D applicants go through each hospital’s suitability assessment for remaining vacancies, usually regional. Applications open around May for the following year through Queensland Health’s central portal, with Group B–D offers after Group A in mid-July. For everyone else, “internship” means an RMO job under limited registration, which is better paid and does the same supervised work.

Where the jobs for IMGs are

The jobs after AMC Part 1 are not spread evenly across Australia, and the pattern is easy to summarise: the further a hospital is from Sydney or Melbourne, the more realistic a limited registration job is.

Western Australia is among the best states for a first job. The WA Country Health Service hires IMGs across its regional hospitals, and the metro hospitals recruit through a single annual RMO pool. WA Health runs the centralised RMO recruitment mid-year for a January start, so it is one application for the whole state.

The Northern Territory is realistic too. Darwin, Alice Springs and the regional hospitals all take IMGs, and NT Health advertises on a rolling basis through its careers site rather than a once-a-year campaign.

Queensland is realistic outside the south-east corner. The regional Hospital and Health Services hire RMOs through the Smart Jobs campaign, and the intern campaign has a Group D for IMGs who have passed the AMC MCQ, with applications through the intern portal around May.

New South Wales is a split picture: regional yes, metro hard. Western NSW, Far West, Murrumbidgee, Hunter New England and Northern NSW Local Health Districts are the ones that hire, through the NSW Health JMO recruitment round and each LHD's own job board.

Victoria follows the same split. Grampians, Loddon Mallee, Gippsland and Barwon are the regions to apply to, through each health service's job board, while metro Melbourne is a long shot for a first application.

South Australia offers regional jobs in the Riverland, Mount Gambier and Whyalla, advertised through SA Health careers. Tasmania and the ACT take IMGs only occasionally, in Launceston, Burnie and Canberra, through their service careers pages.

Titles differ: RMO in most states, JMO in NSW, HMO in Victoria, JHO in Queensland. Regional employers are more willing to sponsor the visa and sign the supervision plan, because the roster is otherwise unfilled. Metro Sydney and Melbourne shouldn't be your first applications.

What it pays, in rupees

RMO base salaries advertised in 2026: about AUD 94,500–127,800 in NSW depending on year level; from AUD 121,360 to 144,166 in WA. At recent rates that’s roughly ₹52–70 lakh or PKR 1.7–2.3 crore a year, base. Overtime, penalty rates, on-call and 12% superannuation commonly add a quarter to a half. Rates are set by state awards and change yearly; read the current advertisement.

Paperwork South Asian candidates forget

Certificates of good standing from NMC or PMDC and from every state or provincial council you’ve been registered with. Request them the week you sit the MCQ; they’re slow. Police checks: Australian and international (India or Pakistan). Name consistency: passport, degree, council registration and IELTS must match exactly, including transliteration. Certified translations for anything not in English. Visa after registration. The Board advises applying for the work visa only once Ahpra registration is granted. Pakistani and Indian passport holders should expect variable processing and apply the day it comes through.

Timeline from a Part 1 pass

The interview

Structured and predictable: why this hospital, a deteriorating-patient scenario, escalation and supervision, a colleague conflict, your plan for the Clinical. Rehearse aloud with AMC Academic’s RMO interview preparation guide, which covers the nine questions most panels ask.

First, the pass: free every month on AMC Recalls

None of this starts until Part 1 is passed, and the free layer for that is AMC Recalls: 100 recall-style questions per monthly sitting, rebuilt from reported topics against Australian guidelines, explained on every option with a recall tip. The best free AMC resource for the management and population-health gaps that cost Indian and Pakistani candidates most. amcrecalls.com/tryout.

• AMC Academic as the primary question bank

• Add the free AMC MCQ app and consistent Red Book practice for preventive care

• High-yield focus, full-length timed mocks and analytics help convert effort into marks within three to six months

• eMedici for depth and polished explanations when time is less tight as a secondary source

More questions answered

Can IMGs work in Australia with only AMC Part 1?

Yes, IMGs can work in Australia with only AMC Part 1 passed, through limited registration for supervised practice granted by the Medical Board of Australia, which allows hospital roles such as RMO, JMO or HMO once the English standard is met and an employer offers an approved position with a supervision plan; general practice roles additionally require a PESCI. AMC Academic’s RMO interview guide helps with the applications that follow.

Limited registration is linked to one job and one supervisor and is granted for up to 12 months at a time, renewable. Positions are concentrated where doctors are short: Western Australia (the WA Country Health Service and the annual WA Health RMO pool), the Northern Territory, regional Queensland, and regional NSW and Victoria. Metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne are the hardest to break into. Queensland’s intern campaign includes a Group D for international graduates with a passed AMC MCQ or an AMC certificate who haven’t completed an internship elsewhere. In 2026, advertised RMO base salaries ran about AUD 95,000–128,000 in New South Wales and from AUD 121,000 in Western Australia, before overtime, penalties and 12% superannuation.

Once in a job at an AMC-accredited hospital, a Workplace Based Assessment can stand in for the Clinical exam. Apply for your visa after registration is granted, not before. If you trained in India or Pakistan, request your NMC or PMDC certificate of good standing early; it’s often slow.

Is IELTS required for the AMC exam, or only for AHPRA registration?

IELTS (or OET, PTE, TOEFL or Cambridge) is required only for medical registration through Ahpra, not for the AMC exam itself: you can sit AMC Part 1 and the Clinical without any English test, but before the Medical Board of Australia grants limited or provisional registration you need IELTS Academic 7 overall with at least 7 in listening, reading and speaking and 6.5 in writing, or an accepted equivalent. AMC Academic’s subscription includes IELTS Academic preparation for that gap.

For tests sat from 23 April 2026, the accepted minimums are IELTS Academic 7/7/7 with 6.5 in writing; OET 350 in listening, 360 in reading, 350 in writing and 360 in speaking; PTE Academic 63; TOEFL iBT 91; and Cambridge C1 Advanced 178 or C2 Proficiency 185. Tests must be taken at a test centre, results are valid for two years, and the Board allows results from two sittings within 12 months under its rules. On the Competent Authority pathway, PLAB and NZREX passes count as evidence of English.

The sensible moment to sit it is the three weeks between your AMC MCQ and its results Friday, while your study routine is still running and nothing clinical competes for time. Book it before the MCQ so the date is fixed. Writing is the band that most often lets otherwise strong candidates down.

What happens in the AMC Clinical exam (AMC Part 2)?

In the AMC Clinical exam you rotate through 20 stations, 16 assessed and four rest, spending ten minutes at each (two minutes reading the task, eight minutes performing it) with simulated patients, videos or clinical materials; 14 stations are scored, you pass by passing at least 9, the in-person fee is AUD 3,000 (AUD 3,400 online), and about 21% of candidates pass per sitting. AMC Academic is developing a clinical bot for timed station practice.

Each station focuses on one task (taking a history, examining, reaching a diagnosis, or managing and counselling) across medicine, surgery, women’s health, paediatrics and mental health. Two of the 16 are pilot stations. You must have passed the CAT MCQ first. Places are released in batches and are oversubscribed; the AMC expected its next in-person release, covering 2027 dates, in November 2026. The online version is limited to doctors already working in rural and remote Australia. Results come out at 4:00 pm on the Friday three weeks after the exam.

Reading more doesn’t move this pass rate much; rehearsing does. Timed stations spoken aloud with feedback, the Australian consultation style (open questions, checking understanding, safety-netting), and a disciplined two-minute read of each task are what separate passes from fails. The AMC’s free Clinical Examination Specifications, Tips from Examiners and briefing video are the place to start, with the Handbook of Clinical Assessment for station structure. A Workplace Based Assessment (AUD 1,070) replaces the exam for IMGs working at an accredited hospital under limited registration.