Can any Professional Massage Therapists from Victoria help me? I am an

[Janelle C]

American Massage therapist migrating!? Hi! I am an American licensed massage therapist. I am planning on coming to Victoria, Australia for six months in February 2012 on a work & holiday visa. I will be living with my Australian boyfriend while I am there (the reason for my move) and maybe eventually move there permanently. I have been researching online what I need to do in order to work in therapeutic massage in Victoria, but I haven't had much luck.
I have a few questions, as this will be the first time I plan on working in this field overseas....

- What does it mean to have health fund provider numbers?
- What is ABN?
- do I need to get my first aid certificate in Australia or can i use one from the USA?
- What professional qualifications do I need in order to work as a massage therapist there?
- What's the best massage board to become a member of ?
- Is there a required massage registration or license that I need to obtain before I work in Victoria or would my American licenses be sufficient?
- If needed, how do I go about getting the specified Victorian massage registration or license?
- Must I have 'massage therapy' as my specified skill on my visa or would my licenses alone
be sufficient to be able to work in therapeutic massage in Victoria?
- Are the spas there busy with back to back clients, or is it a very slow field?
- Is it commission only (only get paid for when you have a client) or do they pay by the hours you are at the spa even if you don't have a client?
- What is the average pay for a therapist with 3-4 yrs experience?

........Any other helpful info on working in the massage field, or migrating to Australia as a massage therapist would be very helpful and much appreciated!! Thanks!!!

 

[Theresa]

There is plenty of info on various websites:

Skilled Visa and Massage Therapist:

http://www.visabureau.com/australia/jobs/massage-therapist-australia.aspx

If you want to work in Australia, you will need a Skilled Visa.

Website for the Australian Association of Massage Therapists:

http://www.aamt.com.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=AAMT/ccms.r

A health fund provider number is issued by an individual health fund (private halth insurance). Some will require it, others will simply require business registration (ABN) in order for memebers to make a claim for your services. The AAMT has a streamlined process for registering with the health funds.

An ABN is an Australian Business Number. This is initially for income tax and GST (VAT) purposes. If you are working as an individual, you will need to register as a business for tax purposes - lots of different options. However, if you work within a business, you only need to register as an individual and get a tax file number (TFN). There is much more information on the Australian Tax Office (ATO) website.

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/pathway.aspx?sid=42&pc=001/002/012

It is likely your US first aid certificate is sufficient.

We don't really have "spas" here. You would most likely work out of a business either dedicated to massage therapy or a range of therapies. The remuneration arrangements would depend on how the business owner wants to operate. If you operate independently, you could work for a range of different businesses including gyms and possibly hospitals. It is most likely that the majority of businesses will only pay you for the clients you actually service.