How do I reduce my 10-Year Moratorium? - People Medical Consulting

This is a FAQ BLOG and you can refer to our 19AB & IMGs blog here.

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Date Updated: 2025-09-23

The 10-year moratorium or the 19AB restriction requires anyone who completed their degree outside of Australia or New Zealand, or anyone who enrolled in their degree whilst they were a temporary resident, to work in an identified area referred to as a DPA location (for General Practitioners) or DWS (for other non-GP Specialists) for 10 years.

There are two ways to reduce this—scaling, and the Five Year International Medical Graduate (IMG) Recruitment Scheme.

Scaling

This method is straightforward—the more rurally you work, the quicker your moratorium will reduce because of scaling credits. Having more credits will let you work at Non-DPA or Non-DWS locations faster as long as you are eligible under the section 19AA requirements.

Scaling works on the ‘RA’ model rather than the newer MMM. Please note moving in between RAs will change the time you’re given towards your scaling.

Here is a graph showing the moratorium scaling, that is accessible on the Department of Health Website.

You can check your moratorium and scaling credits via Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) account.

What are the eligibility requirements?

To be eligible, you need to:

Bill MBS items, and
Bill over $5000/month

Medicare will be the one who applies the scaling credits as long as you meet the eligibility requirements above and have given your Medicare billing data.

If you’re working in several locations, the scaling is based on where you do most of your Medicare claiming for each month.

Please note that if you’re part of the Five Year IMG Recruitment Scheme, previously known as the 5-Year Overseas Trained Doctor Scheme program, you are NOT eligible to attain scaling credits.

The 5-Year IMG Recruitment Scheme

This is an initiative that is administered by the Rural Workforce Agencies in each state, and this was also formerly entitled as the ‘5-Year Overseas Trained Doctors Scheme.’

You will reduce your moratorium to between 3 – 5 years based on what category you’re eligible for.

Category A is for MM 5 – 7 locations with exceptional difficulties recruiting and retaining GPs and in a small community (with 3 or less Doctors). This will reduce your moratorium to 3 years.
Category B is for practices who are in an MM 4 – 7, or who can demonstrate that they have had a high turnover of GPs or have had a vacancy for a considerable period of time. Other factors are being in a small community (with 3 or less Doctors), difficult community attributes, high indigenous population, demonstrated requirement for advanced practice skills, special services, or extreme climates. This will reduce your moratorium to 4 years.
Category C is within locations which are MM 2 – 7 and can demonstrate difficulty with recruitment and retainment of GPs. This will reduce your moratorium to 5 years.

What are the eligibility requirements?

For participants in this scheme, there are 3 principal obligation:

Enroll in general practice specialty training
Attain Specialist AHPRA Registration in general practice
Gain Australian Permanent Residency and serve the location term of service

As an IMG, you’re eligible if you:

Hold or obtain registration with the Medical Board of Australia
Obtain a Medicare Provider Number at the required town
Intend to seek or currently possess Australian permanent residency and/or citizenship
Will be providing at least 7 sessions a week
Intend to join or are currently participating in a training program which will enable them to gain Specialist Registration in general practice while working in the chosen practice for the length of their Scheme agreement

Please note that working on this scheme will make you ineligible for the scaling credits, which means you do one or the other. If you also start the Five Year IMG Recruitment Scheme, then you should be prepared to be there for the entire time required!

How to apply?

Before we discuss the application, please note that you can only take part in ONE of the ways—either the scaling credits or the Five Year IMG Recruitment Scheme, previously known as the 5-Year Overseas Trained Doctor Scheme program. Joining in either of these makes you automatically ineligible for the other.

For Scaling, it is automatically applied by Medicare. You will only need to give your Medicare billing data.

For the Five Year IMG Recruitment Scheme, you should check if you’re eligible before you apply through their Rural Workforce Agencies (RWAs). See the RWAs contact details below.

NSW Rural Doctors Network
Address: Level 3, 133 King Street NEWCASTLE NSW 2300
Phone: (02) 4924 8000
Website: www.nswrdn.com.au

Rural Workforce Agency Victoria
Address: Wurundjeri Country, Level 6, Tower 4 World Trade Centre 18-38 Siddeley Street MELBOURNE VIC 3008
Phone:(03) 9349 7800
Website: www.rwav.com.au

Health Workforce Queensland
Address: Level 13, 288 Edward Street BRISBANE QLD 4001
Phone: (07) 3105 7800
Website: www.healthworkforce.com.au

Rural Doctors Workforce Agency, South Australia
Address: 63 Henley Beach Road MILE END SA 5031
Phone: (08) 8234 8277
Website: www.ruraldoc.com.au

Rural Health West, Western Australia
Address: Level 2, 10 Stirling Highway NEDLANDS WA 6909
Phone: (08) 6389 4500
Website: www.ruralhealthwest.com.au

The People Project Tasmania
Address: 37 Frederick Street LAUNCESTON TAS 7250
Phone: (03) 6332 8600
Website: www.thepeopleproject.com.au

Northern Territory Primary Health Network
Address: 23 Albatross Street WINNELLIE NT 0820
Phone: (08) 8982 1000
Website: www.ntphn.org.au

We Can Help You

Here at People Medical Consulting, we have a passion for guiding medical practitioners through their career pathways to Australia. We have extensive experience in assisting medical facilities in recruiting doctors from local and overseas who will best suit their requirements.

We provide Document Assistance for those requiring support for their PESCI with IME, ACRRM or RACGP, registration and all other mandatory AHPRA requirements, fellowship program related forms and letters, application for Medicare provider and prescriber numbers, application for 19AB or 19AA exemptions and preparation of employment documents.

If you want to talk to someone about your pathway or practice management—book a consultation with us below, or if you need Recruitment or Document Assistance, contact us at help@peoplemedical.com.au or click the buttons below. We’d be glad to help you!

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Information from this blog has been taken directly from:

How do I find my Moratorium on PRODA?

What is the Distribution Priority Area?