Earlier this year Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), a non-government organisation that helps skilled refugees find meaningful work, was approached by the APA and the Australian Physiotherapy Council to facilitate local jobs for Afghan physiotherapists who are in urgent need of a pathway to safety.

The resulting program—Physios for Refugees—launched in mid-November, aiming to match physiotherapists who for reasons of safety need to leave their country (or who have already fled) with potential employers willing to sponsor them by providing employment in Australia.

TBB CEO Stephanie Cousins says that having a job offer in Australia from an employer willing to sponsor them will enable Afghan and other refugee physiotherapists and their families to travel to Australia on skilled visas.

It’s a faster and more certain route than waiting for a place through the oversubscribed humanitarian program.

‘There are a lot of physios from Afghanistan and from other places—Syria, Palestine—who have the training and expertise and can make a contribution but they’re stuck in these really difficult situations.

'We’re just connecting the dots and helping refugees to move on skilled visas to places where they can restart their careers,’ Stephanie says.

TBB has so far identified at least eight Afghan physiotherapists looking for ways to safely leave Afghanistan, as well as a number of refugees from other countries.

‘A lot of the people who have signed up to the program have had careers doing what they love, often in conjunction with Western organisations—they’ve been involved in study tours or with Western universities.

'These activities are now actually putting them at risk in the Afghan context.

'It’s about providing them with hope that there’s a place for them beyond their current circumstances, which are really precarious.’

The candidates are being mentored by a group of Australian physiotherapists, who put their hands up in September to support them through the process of preparing their CVs and interviewing with potential employers.

‘For those who are successful, it will be a great thing to have a mentor to support them through the preparation for work in Australia as well, setting expectations about work and the licensing requirements and the professional development they might have to do,’ says Stephanie.

While the refugees are qualified physiotherapists in their own countries, they will still need to go through the accreditation process with Ahpra before they can move into a physiotherapy role, so they will initially be brought in at a lower level—for example, as a personal care assistant, or as an aged care or disability worker—and supported through the assessment, retraining and accreditation processes.

Stephanie says she hopes that the first couple of refugees will have job offers by the end of the year and be able to relocate early in 2022.

The visas will be part of a special visa program—the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot—which streamlines the visa process and makes it much easier for the sponsoring business, as well as assisting with meeting bureaucratic requirements such as police checks.

‘It normally takes, from end to end, two to three months, depending on how quickly the business moves and how quickly the visas are approved.

'Our role is to try to make it as easy as possible for the employer to recruit.

'And we assist with making it a smooth process for the transport and relocation logistics side.’

Participating employers are responsible for paying a skilled visa levy ($3000–5000) to the government and contributing to relocation expenses; however, the Physios for Refugees program will launch some fundraising early next year to assist with relocation costs for successful recruits.

Click here for more information and to get involved in the Physios for Refugees program.