Registration renewal

Health practitioners who hold general, specialist or non-practising registration must renew their registration by the same date each year.

Look out for a reminder email from Ahpra as confirmation that online renewal for your profession is open. You will get email reminders several times during the renewal period, so use our online services to check that we have your current contact details. Be sure to check the public register to confirm your registration details.

Health practitioners with general, specialist or non-practising registration renew online.

Look out for your email renewal reminder about eight weeks before your registration expires.

• Click the link in your renewal reminder email or go to online services
• Enter your Ahpra User ID; this is either your email address, or the 10-digit number located on your renewal reminder notice (it is not your registration number)
• Enter your date of birth
• Enter your current password. If you have forgotten your password, you can update it by using the password reset function.

Health practitioners who hold provisional or limited registration renew their registration on the anniversary of when their registration was first granted.

Check the public register to confirm your registration details if you are unsure of your registration expiry date.

Look out for a renewal reminder via email about three to four months before your provisional or limited registration expires. We no longer send hardcopy forms in the mail.

Provisionally registered pharmacists must renew online. Go to online services.

All other health practitioners with provisional or limited registration can renew by downloading the relevant application form, completing it, and sending it back to us online.

You can access the relevant renewal form on the provisional and limited renewal forms page.

If you have provisional registration you can only renew twice.

If you have limited registration, you can only renew three times.

Once you have renewed the maximum times allowable, you must submit a new application for registration to stay on the public register. To stay on the public register, your new application must be approved before your current provision or limited registration expires.

Make sure your contact details are up to date so that your renewal reminder is sent to the right email address.

You can update your details using online services or by contacting our Customer Service team.

You will be sent an email confirming that your registration has been renewed or advising that it requires further assessment. If your renewal requires further assessment, someone will be in touch if there’s anything more that we need from you.

You can also check your details on the public register about an hour after you submit your application. If your expiry date has been updated, this means your renewal is finalised.

Practitioners with general, specialist, provisional or limited registration you can continue to practise if your name is on the public register, even if your registration expiry date has passed.

There is an annual renewal fee for registration. Click through to your National Board’s fee schedule for the costs of annual renewal and registration.

These fees have been set at a level that enables your National Board to effectively regulate your profession in Australia and meet its legal responsibilities under the National Law.

If you submit your application to renew in the one-month late period, you will be charged a late payment fee. The fee recognises the additional costs of managing late renewals and is payable on top of the annual renewal fee.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia
  
  

You can pay by credit or debit card. If you do not have a credit or debit card you can purchase a pre-paid debit card from various retail outlets for a nominal fee.

If you are experiencing financial hardship, you can pay your renewal fee in two instalments.

You’re considered to be in financial hardship when unable to provide the following for yourself, your family, or other dependents:

• food
• accommodation
• clothing
• medical treatment
• education, and/ or
• other basic necessities.

You must apply for consideration of financial hardship, and receive the outcome of your application from us, before you apply for renewal of registration. We can’t consider an application for financial hardship after you have applied for renewal.

Your application for financial hardship needs to be submitted no later than 15 working days before the expiry of your registration.

You can find information on eligibility and how to apply on the consideration of financial hardship page.

All health professionals, except paramedics, can download a tax receipt from our online services.

Paramedics, you will receive a tax invoice via email when you submit your renewal application.

Log in to online services, select renew registration, click on ‘opt to not renew’, hit next and follow the prompts to confirm you're not renewing.

To make sure that everyone who intends to keep practising is reminded to renew, we will continue to send reminders to practitioners who haven't:

• lodged an application for renewal of registration, or
• opted ‘not to renew’.

If you do not renew your registration, you will receive a letter after the late period confirming that your registration has lapsed. Your name will be removed from the public register and you will not be able to practise your profession in Australia. If you want to resume practice in the future, you will need to lodge a new application for registration.

If you are planning on taking a period of temporary leave from practice and are thinking about moving to non-practising registration for the duration of your break, you will need to complete a full application when you move back to general registration. This can take some time to process. You should also think about whether continuing to hold general registration (provided you meet the Board’s registration standards, codes and guidelines) is a better option, as moving between registration types may (in some cases) also mean paying a full registration fee.

There is a one-month late period after your registration expiry date during which you can apply to renew. If we receive your application before the end of the one-month late period, you will remain registered and be able to practise within the scope of your registration. If you submit your application to renew in the one-month late period, you will be charged a late payment fee.

If you do not renew your registration within the one-month late period, your registration will lapse.

Check the public register of practitioners if you are unsure of when your registration expires.

If you do not renew your registration by the expiry date or in the following one-month late period, your registration will lapse. Once your registration has lapsed, your name will be removed from the public register in accordance with the National Law and you will not be able to use your profession’s protected title or otherwise hold yourself out as a registered health practitioner in Australia. You will also be required to lodge a completely new application for registration if you seek to resume practice in the future.

If you have not renewed your general or specialist registration by the end of your profession’s late period and wish to keep practising, you can submit a fast-track application for registration. The fast-track period runs for four weeks from the end of your profession’s late period.

• Nurses and midwives fast-track runs from 1 to 31 July every year.
• Medical practitioners fast-track runs from 1 to 30 November every year.
• Other health practitioners fast-track runs from 1 to 31 January every year.

If you submit a fast-track application, you cannot practise until your application is assessed and your registration details appear on the public register.

Fast-track application forms will be available on your National Board website or by phoning the Customer Service Team on 1300 419 495 during July for nurses and midwives, November for medical practitioners and January for all other professions. You must pay a fast-track application fee in addition to the annual renewal fee.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia

If you have provisional or limited registration and your registration lapses, you must submit a new application for registration.

It is a requirement of the National Law that the suburb and postcode of a registrant’s principal place of practice is published on the public register. If this is a serious risk to your health and safety, you can apply to your National Board to have your principal place of practice or any other information excluded from the public register. All applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.

You will need your Ahpra User ID to login.

Your Ahpra User ID (either a 10-digit number or your email address). It will be included in the registration renewal reminders we send you. Your Ahpra User ID is not your registration number.

Update your email

We need your current email so we can send you renewal reminders.

How to guide: Update your email (693 KB,PDF)

Forgotten password

If you have forgotten your password, you can:

• Reset it online, or
• Phone Ahpra on 1300 419 195.

How to guide: How to change your password (494 KB,PDF)

If you’re still having trouble logging in, you can complete an online enquiry form and select ‘Online Access’ as the category type or call us on 1300 419 495 (within Australia).

All health professionals, except paramedics: You can check the status of your renewal application to see if we have received your application and find out which stage it is in.

Paramedics: You can check the status of your renewal application using the application tracker in your online services account.

If your application has been received, you can continue to practise while your renewal application is assessed, even if this extends past your registration expiry date.

You can download a certificate from online services after you’ve renewed.

If a practitioner or employer wants to check someone’s registration details the safest and most up-to-date way to do so is via the public register which is updated every day.

Check your details on the public register are correct and use the secure online services for practitioners to make sure we have your current contact information, including the right email address and mobile phone number. We need your most up to date contact details to send your renewal reminders.

• Lodge an online enquiry on the Ahpra website (we aim to respond within 2 business days)
• Call 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9125 3010 (overseas callers).

All registered health practitioners must declare that they meet their Board’s registration standards including professional indemnity insurance, recency of practice and continuing professional development when they renew their registration. You also need to tell us if there's been any change to your criminal history since your last declaration.

You should make sure you understand the requirements of these standards before you attempt to renew your registration.

Click through to see your Board's registration standards.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia

You only need to declare an impairment – which means a condition which is likely to detrimentally affect your practice. Most health issues are not impairments.

You do not need to declare well managed health conditions that do not affect your practice. For example, you don’t need to tell us about needing prescription glasses or taking time off work for a short-term illness or injury.

If you do have an impairment you need to tell us about, we need to know what you are doing to manage that impairment. You should provide documents outlining your current diagnosis and/or treatment plan and a statement from your treating health practitioner confirming your current fitness to practise.

When you renew your registration, you will be asked if there have been any changes to your criminal history. This means you need to declare any criminal charges or convictions you have not already declared. The Board will consider any declaration against the criteria set out in the criminal history registration standard. When requested, you will need to provide additional information about any new criminal history matters.

If you are audited, a criminal history check will be carried out to verify your declaration.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia

You should understand what professional indemnity insurance arrangements you need to have in place and what it means to practise your profession.

When you renew your registration, you will be asked to answer questions in relation to professional indemnity insurance arrangements. First, you will be asked to declare whether you have practised in the preceding period of registration without the required professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place as described in the professional indemnity insurance registration standard. You will also be asked to declare that if your registration is renewed you will not practise without having the required professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place.

If you are audited, you will need to be able to prove you had appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place for all the time you practised as a health practitioner in the preceding period, e.g. provide a certificate of currency.

More information on your professional indemnity insurance arrangements is available via your Board’s website below.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia

You will be asked to declare if you meet your Board’s recency requirements. This means declaring that you have worked the required minimum practice hours.

If you are audited you will be required to provide evidence of what you’ve done to meet the requirements, e.g. pay slips, letter(s) from employer(s).

More information on your recency of practice requirements is available via your Board’s website below.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia

You will be asked to declare that you meet your Board’s continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, including the minimum number of hours for your profession and any other specific requirements in the previous registration period.

If you are audited you will need to provide evidence of the completed activities for example receipts of attendance, notes etc or an equivalent portfolio of information to prove that you have met the requirements of the standard.

Find out your Board’s specific CPD requirements, including minimum hours, below.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia
• Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
• Chiropractic Board of Australia
• Dental Board of Australia
• Medical Board of Australia
• Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
• Optometry Board of Australia
• Osteopathy Board of Australia
• Paramedicine Board of Australia
• Pharmacy Board of Australia
• Physiotherapy Board of Australia
• Podiatry Board of Australia
• Psychology Board of Australia