With a goal of further streamlining the process of pharmacy registration in Australia, the Australian Pharmacy Council has announced a recent update in the fee structure for the skills assessment/eligibility check process. What was previously a total upfront cost has now been divided into categories, which applicants can select or ignore based on their background and experience. The move came right after the KAPS 2024 results and will be effective from March 21, 2024.
In this article, we will shed light on the recent update and describe the impact it will have on future pharmacy professionals and KAPS applicants.
What’s the Update?
Earlier, the fee for the eligibility check for the KAPS exam was a total of AUD 1,310. There were no bifurcations within this cost, and it was an upfront cost mandatory for everyone to pay. However, with the latest update, the cost has been bifurcated into three steps as follows-
- a verification of qualifications and registration
- work experience verification (if relevant and required)
- a Skills Assessment Outcome letter (after candidates pass their exam)
This further division within the eligibility check process is aimed at more flexibility amongst the candidates, to help make the pharmacy registration more streamlined and cost effective. Read the next section to know how.
How Will it Affect Applications?
Earlier, whether you were a recent college graduate with no experience, or a pharmacy professional with multiple years of experience, you had to pay the same fee for eligibility check. The new fees bifurcation will change this practice. Checkout the new fees in the image below.
Now, suppose you have zero experience. In this case, you won’t be required to give the work experience verification fee. This will save you AUD 200 in your application. On the contrary, professionals with experience can give this fee to accumulate more points for their visa application. Candidates with more than 3 years of experience can get an additional 5 points.
Moreover, the Skills Assessment Outcome Letter is not mandatory for applicants who already possess a visa in Australia. With this bifurcation, they can avoid this step and thus save AUD 300 on their application.
To conclude, the APC separated this upfront fee into divisions to allow candidates to pay only for the services that are relevant and required in their application. This means that applicants can complete the skills assessment in as little as AUD 800 if they only need the skills assessment.
This new update is effective from March 21, 2024. However, the candidates who have already paid under the old structure need not pay separately for the Skills Assessment Outcome Letter. The APC has also initiated a refund of AUD 200 for recent applicants (who applied after July 2023) whose application is in process..
