New graduate registration

Eligibility for new graduate registration

You are eligible to apply for general registration as a new graduate with the Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria (the Board) if:
  1. In the 2020-2021 year, you were or will be awarded/conferred a degree in veterinary science or medicine from an accredited tertiary institution recognised by the Board as listed by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC). Some international graduates from some universities on the AVBC list must also show they have passed the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE). Applicants may also need to demonstrate English language competency. 
  2. You plan to live in Victoria after you graduate.
  3. You are not already registered or licensed (even just provisionally) as a veterinary practitioner with another registration or licensing authority.

NO PROVISIONAL REGISTRATION: Victoria does not have a category of provisional registration for persons who have completed their studies but not yet been awarded their degree.

When to apply

When to apply depends on if you have been awarded your degree and when you want to start practising. The Victorian Board only grants registration to applicants who have been officially awarded/conferred their degree by their university or college. Completing your studies is not the same as being awarded your degree. Victoria does not have a category of provisional registration for persons who have completed their studies but not yet been awarded their degree.
  • Waiting for your degree: If you are applying to be registered as soon as possible after you are awarded your degree, please submit your application at least 2 weeks before the date you will be awarded your degree.
  • Already have your degree: If you have already been awarded your degree, apply to be registered at the next monthly Board meeting. See the cut-off dates for submitting applications.
If you miss an application deadline, you can request fast track processing of your registration application.  Fast tracking takes up to 7 days and costs $155 in addition to standard fees.

How to apply and what to send us

You can email your application to Board [email protected] 

You must send the Board the following documents as good quality PDF files (not .JPEG, .PNG or other image files):
  1. A completed new graduate application form.  
    • IMPORTANT Avoid using Apple Preview on a Mac computer or Microsoft Edge on a Windows computer to fill out the form. Use the desktop version of Acrobat Reader DC on a Mac or Windows computer to fill out the form. On your mobile, use the Acrobat Reader mobile app for iOS or Android to fill out the form.
    • There is a statutory declaration in the form. You must complete this in front of a person authorised to witness documents. In Victoria, people authorised to witness/certify documents include pharmacists, police officers, justices of the peace, and registered veterinary practitioners.
    • If you do not have a residential address in Victoria yet, write ADDRESS TO BE ADVISED on the form. You must advise us as soon as you do have a residential address (and in the meantime make sure to give us your postal address so we can email your registration documents to you).
    • If you do not have a practice address yet, write NO REGISTER ADDRESS on the form.
    • Total fees in the 2020-2021 year for graduate registration are $350, consisting of a $155 application fee and $195 in registration fees. These fees will cover the period from the date you are registered to 30 June 2021. For the next registration year 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, you will pay standard registration fees.                 
  2. Proof that you have been or will be awarded your degree:
    • If you have not yet been awarded your degree: if your name is on a list of students scheduled to be awarded a degree which your Australia or New Zealand veterinary school has sent to us, the Board can grant registration without sighting a degree certificate but only after the date the university confers/awards the degree to you (completing your studies is not the same as being awarded your degree).  
    • If you have already been awarded your degree, we will accept a certified colour copy of your degree certificate/testamur or a copy of an academic transcript which states the date you were awarded or conferred your degree. Alternatively, Australian or New Zealand graduates can arrange to send an email containing a link to a secure digital copy of the testamur or transcript directly from the My eQuals platform to [email protected] . If we can download the document directly from My eQuals there is no need to send us a certified document. 
    • International graduates who have taken the NAVLE: you must also arrange for the Veterinary Information Verifying Agency to email a score transfer certificate to [email protected].
  3. A certified colour copy of current photographic identification such as a passport or the front and back of a driver's licence.
  4. A personal resume/curriculum vitae covering all your education, work and veterinary activities up to now. Include your place of birth, and your places of primary, secondary and tertiary education. If English is not your primary language, include a section detailing your English language education. 
  5. Certified copies of English language test results, if you have completed any of the tests listed in the document English language skills: AVBC Standards (PDF). NOTE the Board recognises that students who are graduating from an Australasian university have been studying in English for 5+ years and resident in an English speaking country for most of that time. For this reason, provision of English test results is not mandatory (though please provide any recent results if you have them). 

Application form

Privacy of your information: The Board will only use and disclose personal information collected in the registration form for the purposes of registration, unless the Board has obtained your consent to use the information for additional purposes. More information: Privacy and data protection policy

Cost of new graduate registration

In the 2020-2021 financial year, new graduate registration is AUD$350. This fee includes a $155 application fee and $195 in discounted registration fees. If you ask to fast track your registration, you would also pay a $155 fast track fee. These fees will only give you registration until 30 June 2021, after which you will pay non-discounted standard registration fees to renew your registration. More information on fees:  Vetboard Victoria fee schedule

Provisional registration from other States or Territories not recognised in Victoria

Vetboard Victoria only recognises full/primary registration from other States and Territories as giving a person the right to practise under national recognition of veterinary registration.  The Board does not recognise provisional registration as giving a person the right to practise in Victoria.

About certifying documents

  • Find out which types of people can authenticate documents in the country or State where you are located.
  • Do not have your documents certified by a relative, housemate, or someone you are in a relationship with.
  • The authorised person must write or stamp on the copy of the document: ‘I have sighted the document and certify this to be a true copy of the original.’ They must write this on the front of the copy (not a blank back page), and they must write this on each page if there is more than one page.