UK Pharmacists in Australia: the CAOP Route

Which route applies if you qualified in the UK

The Competency Stream asks for two things: an approved qualification (or approved adjudication process) in the UK, Ireland, Canada or the USA, and current registration in one of those countries. If you qualified in Canada, Ireland, the UK or the USA but are not currently registered as a pharmacist in any of those four countries, the APC’s published criteria don’t fit you: the Competency Stream requires current registration, and the Knowledge Stream excludes qualifications from those countries. Ask the APC what applies to you before you pay, because its eligibility check fee is non-refundable.

The Competency Stream, step by step

1. 1

   Eligibility check (APC)

   For pharmacists who completed an approved pharmacy qualification (or an approved adjudication process) in Canada, Ireland, the UK or the USA, and are currently registered as a pharmacist in one of those countries. You must show current registration: a registration certificate or card, or a screenshot of your entry on the regulator’s online register. The qualification must be the equivalent of 4 years’ full-time academic study if completed after 1 January 2006, or 3 years’ if completed before then. You upload your passport, an official photo ID, a birth certificate (or a second photo ID), your qualification certificate or letter of completion, and your full academic transcript. The qualification document must cover the full degree (not a provisional or temporary certificate or letter) and show its issue date, and your name must appear the same way on all your documents. Non-English documents need a full translation by a translator accredited by NAATI (the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters); the APC does not accept any other translator, and wants both the original and the translation. You do not need to have documents certified for the APC: upload a clear colour scan or photo of each original, because it does not accept copied documents, certified or not. There is no English test at this stage. The APC aims to respond within 5 working days of receiving all the documents it needs, and says to allow up to 4 weeks. The fee is $810. There is no expiry on the eligibility check. If the APC asks for more information, you have 6 months (180 days) to send it, or you re-apply and pay again.

2. 2

   CAOP exam (APC)

   The Competency Assessment of Overseas Pharmacists, from the CAOP Exam Guide, Version 2.3, 4 September 2026. 70 questions (multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank calculation questions) in 120 minutes. A restricted open-book, computer-based exam delivered in person at approved test centres. You may bring one original paper copy (any edition) each of the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH), the Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary (APF) and the British National Formulary (BNF). Simple highlighting, brief annotations and small flags or tabs are allowed. Loose sheets, extensive handwritten notes, printed PDFs and electronic versions are not. The APC warns that not every answer is in the permitted books. It assesses five competency standards from domain 3 of the National Competency Standards Framework, by approximate share of questions: 3.1 patient-centred approach to medication management (20%), 3.2 implementing the plan (30%), 3.3 monitoring and evaluation (30%), 3.4 compounding (10%) and 3.6 health promotion (10%). The exam uses scaled scoring and the APC publishes no percentage pass mark. Results are released as Pass or Unsuccessful, with no score. Of the 70 questions, 90% count towards your result and 10% are unscored. The fee is $2,100 per attempt. You have 2 attempts at the CAOP. If the second is unsuccessful, the APC says you then go through the Knowledge Stream. When you pass, you need the APC’s Results Certificate to apply to the Board. If you also need a visa, you request a Skills Assessment Outcome in the Candidate Portal ($300) before you apply to the Department of Home Affairs.

3. 3

   Limited registration and supervised practice (Pharmacy Board, through Ahpra)

   After the CAOP, as things stand, you need limited registration for a shorter period of supervised practice, decided by the Board case by case (its consultation paper says a minimum of 152 hours). You apply through the Ahpra portal (the paper version is form ALPS-60). Your supervised practice needs separate approval on form AASP-60, and you can’t start until it is approved. After at least 75% of the hours you complete the assessment the Board directs, which may include an oral examination (pharmacy law and ethics) and/or an oral examination (practice). You don’t complete an internship or an intern training program on this stream. To register you must meet the Board’s standards, including English, criminal history and professional indemnity insurance. Its continuing professional development standard says it doesn’t apply to a first limited registration. Ahpra asks for certified copies of your documents, with correct translations of anything not in English; proof of identity; your primary qualification; evidence of your English pathway; and, if you have been registered as a health practitioner outside Australia in the last five years, a Certificate of Good Standing or Registration Status that you arrange to be sent directly by each regulator. You need an international criminal history check for every country you have lived in for six consecutive months or more as an adult. Ahpra runs the Australian check itself, covered by your application fee. Certificates of good standing and international criminal history check results are valid for only three months, so timing matters: Ahpra says to apply at least three months before your intended start date, and accepts applications up to six months before it. You must secure your own supervised practice. The APC describes the job market as very competitive, says availability varies by region, and says a Skills Assessment does not guarantee registration, supervised practice or a job.

4. 4

   General registration

   Once you have completed the supervised practice and the assessment the Board directs, you apply for general registration. You can’t practise unsupervised until it is granted and showing on the public register.

CAOP dates in 2027

• Registrations open at 9am and close at 5pm Australian Eastern time (AEDT or AEST), and the APC accepts no late registrations.
• You pay when you register, with a card issued by a bank in your country of residence, and you can reschedule only during the registration period.
• CAOP test centres in the UK: London, Plymouth and Edinburgh. In Ireland: Dublin. Seat availability varies and centres can reach capacity; the APC’s Competency Stream page lists every CAOP centre (none is listed in the USA).

English language

The APC does not assess English. English is a Pharmacy Board and Ahpra registration requirement, met when you apply for registration. Minimum scores for tests taken on or after 23 April 2026:

• Test results count for two years before the date you lodge your registration application. Older results can still count if, starting within 12 months of the test, you have worked continuously in a recognised country as a registered health practitioner (or in another relevant health, disability or aged-care role where English was the main language), or been continuously enrolled in a Board-approved program of study, and you apply within 12 months of finishing. With two sittings, the time runs from the earlier one.
• Use one sitting, or two sittings no more than 12 months apart with the same test provider (results from different providers cannot be combined). With two sittings you still have to reach every component minimum: for IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT and Cambridge you can reach them across the two sittings (Ahpra’s OET row says you must achieve the required minimum in each component). The overall minimum must be met in each sitting for IELTS, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT; OET and Cambridge must test all four components in each sitting; and no component in either sitting may fall below the floor shown for that test.
• Any profession’s OET is accepted; it doesn’t have to be a pharmacy test.
• At-home tests are not accepted (the OET computer-based test taken at a test centre is).
• For TOEFL iBT, select “Taking TOEFL for Australia” when you register: that is the version National Boards accept.
• Tests taken on or before 22 April 2026 are judged against the earlier scores: IELTS overall 7 with 6.5 in writing; OET B with C+ in writing; PTE Academic overall 66 with 66 in listening, reading and speaking and 56 in writing; TOEFL iBT total 94; Cambridge 185 with 176 in writing. If your two sittings fall either side of that date, each meets its own table.
• Ahpra’s recognised countries for the education pathways are Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and listed Caribbean and Crown territories. Ahpra’s English language skills pathway selection tool shows which pathway, and which evidence, applies to you.
• The UK and Ireland are on that list, but an education pathway depends on where and how you studied, not on your registration, so use Ahpra’s tool rather than assuming you are exempt. If you apply for limited registration, the Board may grant an exemption from the English standard so you can carry out supervised practice in an appropriately supported environment. That is the Board’s decision and it can be revoked, and you must meet the standard when you later apply for another type of registration, such as general registration.

Fees (checked 7 November 2026)

APC fees are from its fees page, which prints no year and has no 2027 schedule. Board fees are from its schedule effective 1 October 2026. The APC’s exam Results Certificate is what you need to apply to the Board; a Skills Assessment Outcome is what supports a visa application to the Department of Home Affairs. The Board’s fee schedule lists $504 (NSW $531) for limited registration. Its application form ALPS-60 charges that for 6 to 12 months and $252 (NSW $266) for up to 6 months. We show the higher figure; ask Ahpra which applies to you. Any English test, professional indemnity insurance, international criminal history checks, visas and relocation are extra. The APC says its eligibility check fee is non-refundable. The sums are ours. Fees change, so check the APC and the Board before you pay.

Proposed changes: not decided

The Board is consulting until 8 December 2026 on revised standards for supervised practice and examinations. It proposes setting the minimum at 1,575 hours, more flexible supervision arrangements for interns, moving detail on preceptors and sites into new guidelines, and keeping the written and oral examinations. These are proposals only: nothing has changed yet, and the Board says practitioners would get notice before any revised standards take effect.

For limited registration, it also proposes that Ahpra’s Supervised practice framework, not the revised standard, would apply to pharmacists who must complete supervised practice. That too is only a proposal.

The Board has consulted on an endorsement for scheduled medicines (pharmacist prescribing) and developed a submission for health ministers to consider. The Board says putting that proposal forward is not itself the final decision, so don’t treat it as decided.

Visas and timing

• We don’t give migration advice, and we don’t name visa types or processing times: check with the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs. The APC says Home Affairs sets the validity period for a Skills Assessment Outcome used in a visa application.
• Registration and a visa are two separate applications, and success in one doesn’t guarantee success in the other.
• The Department of Home Affairs sets how long a Skills Assessment Outcome counts for a visa application, and the APC says it can’t change that. The Board sets no validity period on the APC’s results certificate.
• The APC says some pharmacists take 6-18 months, and some may have to wait years to secure a visa and a job. It also says completing the process does not guarantee a job or a successful migration.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Checked on 7 November 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm with the source before you act. GdayPharmacist is an independent preparation provider. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Australian Pharmacy Council, the Pharmacy Board of Australia or Ahpra. The APC says it does not endorse any external reference materials or CAOP preparation programs.

• Pharmacy Board of Australia: overseas practitioner registration
• Pharmacy Board of Australia: internships
• Pharmacy Board of Australia: registration examination and oral exam schedule
• Pharmacy Board of Australia: fees (schedule effective 1 October 2026)
• Pharmacy Board of Australia: open consultation on supervised practice and examinations
• APC: Knowledge Stream skills assessment (OPRA)
• APC: Competency Stream skills assessment (CAOP)
• APC: CAOP exam guide and sample content
• APC: OPRA exam guide and sample content
• APC: Intern Written Exam
• APC: fees for eligibility checks, exams and appeals
• APC: what to know before you start
• APC: organising supervised practice
• Ahpra: accepted English language tests
• Ahpra: English language skills registration standard
• Ahpra: international practitioners (documents, good standing, criminal history checks)
• Department of Home Affairs (visas)