Renewal information for employers

Occupational therapists are due to renew their registration with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia by 30 November each year. Employers can help remind employees when their registration is due and encourage them to renew quickly and easily online.

Employers can confirm the registration status of an occupational therapist using the online national register of practitioners.

A registration certificate is sent to health practitioners but is not a requirement to prove registration. Occupational therapists that successfully renew their registration will be sent an A5 certificate and a pop out, wallet-sized card about one month after they renew.

An online subscription service is available for employers to request the publicly available registration details of multiple practitioners – up to 50,000 practitioners at a time – using their unique registration numbers. Online services for employers are listed at the bottom right of the AHPRA website home page.

Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law), health practitioners remain registered for one month after their registration expiry date.

If occupational therapists apply to renew registration before or within the one-month late period they remain registered to practise while their application is assessed and processed, even if this work by AHPRA extends past the practitioner’s registration expiry date (30 November) or the end of the following one month late period.

The practitioner’s listing on the public register will be updated when the application process is complete.

If an occupational therapist does not renew before the end of the one-month late period, their registration will lapse. The national register of practitioners will reflect the change in registration status by removal of the occupational therapist’s name and details from the register.

An occupational therapist must make a new application for registration if their registration has lapsed. There is a fast track pathway for this purpose and application must be made during the four weeks after the late period. Occupational therapists whose registration has lapsed cannot practise until they are registered once again.