I receive emails every week from wanderlust SLPs, and the question is always the same; ‘What do I have to do to work in….?’. While I am no expert – just an SLP who has done it myself, I thought I’d write a post about the steps I took to work overseas. If you are from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States, then it can be quite obtainable. Our countries are all part of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and most qualifications are transferable to that country.
STEP 1 – VISA
You have to do research into visas and see if it is possible for you to enter the country legally to work. Every country has different visas and it really is a matter of searching a little! Some countries will let 18-30 year olds enter and work for 12 months and you will have your visa in 48 hours, while others may require you to have an employer sponsor you and guarantee a position before you have moved there. This information might sway you towards or away from a specific country. I would recommend doing a search such ‘work visas Australia’, ‘work visas Canada’ or whatever country you want to go to first and get the facts.
STEP 2 – MRA
The next step is to look up the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between your country and the country that you want to work in. Whilst these countries may acknowledge your degree or qualifications, your program may not tick all the boxes and you may have to do ‘extra’ things before you will be allowed to work there. This may include sitting a speech pathology exam or having a certain amount of clinical hours in a certain area (such as audiology). You also have to be a member of your countries own speech-language association and may have to be enrolled in certain programs related to professional development. Doing a little bit of research will also help you decide the best or easiest places for you to work.
I have a link to all of the MRA agreements on my site – so click here.
STEP 3 – FINDING THE JOB
Depending on the type of visa, finding a job may be the hardest part, especially if your visa stipulates that you must find employment before you move to the country. It may be easier to go through an allied health care staffing agency, particularly if you need your employer to sponsor you. The benefit of working with a staffing agency is that you will have a team to look after you and walk you through the process, in most cases providing a list of what you have to do to move and work (this saves a lot of time searching the web!).
You will find in your research that many agencies specialize in helping international staff get a job. This can be a bonus as it means that they are familiar with visa requirements, paperwork and the whole sponsorship process. The agency can then work at the country end finding you employment before/after you move. Agencies are not for everyone and your previous research into visa requirements will help you decide if you want a job waiting for you before your leave or if you will try to find one once you arrive. Just be aware that some employers may not be inclined to hire you if they have to sponsor you and are not sure how it all really works.
Don’t forget to look under the ‘Working Overseas ’ tab. I have added some information such some reasons why you should work overseas, information I wish I knew before I undertook the process, links to international SLP associations and a couple of personal stories on what it is like to be a foreign SLP!
Yes! I want FUNCTIONAL therapy freebies!
You are amazing! Love your website.
I have written about this as well, hope it is useful.
http://speechlanguagetherapy.tumblr.com/
Awesome! Do you mind if I put a link on my site to it? Every little bit helps, and as we probably both know, it would have been great to have these resources when we went through it!
Yes, that is fine.. It would have been really useful!!
Thanks for the great blog! Can you recommend any employment agencies for SLPs?
Hi Dana,
I honestly haven’t done the research to find employment agencies. Every country has their own international recruitment agencies and it’s just something that I haven’t gotten around too.
Love your blog! Thank you for sharing all this info! Do you know anything about SLPs working in Latin America?
Unfortunately I do not know much other than a few US based SLPs working in Costa Rica as a sort of ‘telephone based’ therapy. I also hear about SLPs going to Ecudador and Mexico for 1 month through staffing agencies that they work for. If you ever do happen to find our some information please send it my way so that I can put it up for other readers.
Best of luck.
I am so glad to have found your site, I would love to do this, even if just for one year. God bless you as you continue your journeys!
I am so happy to have found this site! I am currently a first year grad student in the states who has a passion for traveling. As an undergrad I studied abroad in Ireland and got to travel to nine different countries during my stay, so you can say I caught the travel bug. It has been my dream to work/live abroad but I didn’t think it was obtainable because of certifications. I would love to hear about your adventures! Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing all this information on your site! You’ve inspired me to think out of the box and start planning an adventure! Keep up the great work, I know I’ll now be following along:).
Oh yay!!! Have you thought about doing AVID through Scope Global (formerly the AYAD program)? Working in a developing country as an SLP through the Aussie government aid program – a great opportunity to Aussie SLPs to think about.
I will definitely have a look!! I have been reading the links you posted, and they all look so great, I just can’t make a decision!
My issue is that I can’t stay away too long (probably max 6 months) as I have a partner and two dogs that would miss me dreadfully! Would you still recommend getting registered to work overseas (my #1 pick is Canada), or just doing volunteer trips? Thanks so much ?
Volunteer might be the way to go. It’s a lot of money and paperwork and you might not get hired. It took me 6 months to line everything up and thousands of dollars in visas and stuff but I knew I would be working for 2 years so it was worth it.
Thank you for sharing this information, Rebecca. I will soon be commencing my studies in Speech Pathology and cannot wait to get started. Really glad I found your website – particularly glad I found your articles about working overseas and possibility to do volunteer work.
Working overseas is definitely something I aim to do soon after I graduate from my studies. Based on what I have read, the process can take at least 6 months, so planning way-way ahead is essential. To your knowledge or from your experience, is there an ideal time of kick-starting one’s application? Any particular time of the year to get started / A particular stage for a soon graduating student versus someone who has been working in the field for 1-3 years or more?
Also, do you find that most places overseas would want someone to have a certain amount of hours/years of work experience completed prior to applying or graduates are considered as well? Or perhaps that just depends on the organisation you are applying to like any job…?
Thank you again!
Hi Jenny,
Your questions kind of depend on where you are are going. Some countries require some years of experience prior (check the MRA agreements for these specifications) for you to actually work in that country. Experience is always in your favour, especially as prospective employers might have reservations about hiring someone foreign. If you can sell your clinical skills, then it’s always a bonus. I guess the other aspect is thinking what country you will work in. For me, moving to America, I needed to tie it all in with the start of the school year (September), so if you got a school job in places like Australia or NZ, you would most likely start work in January, to tie in with the school year here. At the end of the day, it never hurts to start the ball rolling of getting documents certified etc. I know of places that would have looked to hire me, but because my overseas certifications hadn’t been processed, they couldn’t ‘hold’ a position indefinitely. Good luck and let me know if there are more questions 🙂
Thank you for the quick response Rebecca and sharing your thoughts! Merry Christmas!