PEP Specialist Stream - People Medical Consulting

This is a FAQ BLOG and you can refer to our Pathways to GP Fellowship in Australia here.

Need help understanding your pathway?

Date Updated: 2026-07-29

What is the PEP Specialist Stream?

The PEP Specialist Stream is program for Specialist Medical Graduates (SIMGs) with recognised overseas general practice specialist qualification working towards Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP). It also requires you to complete a comparability assessment to see if you match the standards of Australian-trained GPs.

Am I Eligible?

To be eligible for the PEP Specialist Stream you must:

Hold and RACGP recognised specialist qualification in general practice
Have a primary qualification in medicine and surgery is from a training institution recognised by both the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS)
Complete a comparability assessment and receive an outcome of ‘Substantially Comparable’ or ‘Partially Comparable.’ To be eligible for a comparability assessment, you must:
- Hold a specialist general practice qualification with with a curriculum that has been assessed by the RACGP.
- Have completed at least 12 months FTE general practice experience in the last 4 years and at least four weeks (FTE) of general practice experience in the 52 calendar weeks directly preceding the Application Date
- Have completed at least 18 months (FTE) of clinical general practice experience prior to the Application Date
- Have explained any gaps in practice longer than 3 months with a RACGP CV
- Have completed at least 50 hours of CPD in the last 12 months.
- Have satisfactorily completed summative assessment with theoretical and practical aspects
- Have completed specialist general practice qualification through a suitable training route

Note: We have confirmed with RACGP in writing that if you are eligible for/currently Generally Registered you can be on this program!

What is the Process?

There are mainly 3 parts (Part A – C) to apply for the PEP Specialist Stream Program.

Part A: Comparability Assessment application (10 weeks assessment)

There are 3 comparability outcomes for this evaluation: Substantially, Partially or Not Comparable:
- If the outcome you received is Substantially or Partially Comparable, then you can proceed to the next step.
- If you are assessed as Not Comparable, then you’ll need to choose another pathway – Standard or Competent Authority.
Please note you must have an eligible curricula which you can see a list here. Partial or substantial comparability outcome may depend on the pieces of evidence of an applicant’s Recency and context of practice, General practice experience, Continuity of practice, CPD, Assessment type, Training route, and Curriculum.

Part B: Job Offer Approval application (3 weeks assessment)

Your job offer(s) details in Australia (including scope of practice and location) is checked by RACGP
Your job must meet the minimum part-time requirement of 14.5 hours, over a minimum of 2 days, and must be in comprehensive general practice in an approved practice location:
- Substantially Comparable Doctors = MM1-7 DPA locations*
- Partially Comparable doctors = MM2-7 DPA locations*
  - *Note: 19AB exemptions are not available to doctors seeking to participate on the PEP Specialist Stream.

Part C: Right to Work application (12 weeks process)

You must give your visa and AHPRA registration details.

You can join the program and begin working once you have completed all three parts of the application and you have a Provider Number.

To reach Fellowship, applicants must accomplish all entry and Fellowship requirements before being awarded Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP). These are the two remaining parts:

Part D: Training Program

Here is a few details for Substantially Comparable particpants:

6 calendar months of supervised practice, educational activities, and workplace-based assessments
Full-time participants: 12 calendar months max
Part-time participants: 24 calendar months max

Here is a few details for Partially Comparable particpants:

6 calendar months of supervised practice, educational activities, and workplace-based assessments
Fellowship Exams (AKT, KFP & CCE)
Full-time participants: 24 calendar months max
Part-time participants: 48 calendar months max

Part E: Exam candidacy (Partially Comparable only) & Fellowship

Doctors who were partially comparable will need to sit for the AKT, KFP and CCE Fellowship exams.
Once you have passed these exams and have completed the 6 months on the program (for partially comparable doctors), or have completed the 6 months on the program (for substantially comparable doctors), you are eligible to apply for Fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Note that the processing time for Fellowship usually takes around 5 weeks.

What is a recognised specialist qualification?

As part of the comparability assessment, your curricula will be assessed as Eligible or Not Eligible curricula. To see your curriculum classification, you can click here.

Your comparability outcome may depend on the pieces of evidence of an applicant’s Recency and context of practice, General practice experience, Continuity of practice, CPD, Assessment type, Training route, and Curriculum.

For supervision, RACGP suggested Level 3 Supervision for PEP Specialist Stream participants. RACGP may recommend Level 2 Supervision if the participant has been granted entry to the program without completing four weeks (FTE) of general practice experience in the 52 calendar weeks before the application date, or having only completed between nine and 12 months (FTE) of Comprehensive Australian General Practice in the four calendar years before the application date, based on the Practice Experience Program – Specialist Stream Supervision Policy.

The supervisor is required to:

Have full and unrestricted AHPRA registration as a specialist GP,
Be a practising specialist GP in Comprehensive Australian General Practice,
Have at least 3 years’ practice (FTE) with general and/or specialist registration in Australia prior to being appointed as a Supervisor, and
Have completed the MBA’s online education and assessment module per the MBA’s guidelines: Supervised practice for international medical graduates

What if my curriculum is not listed?

If your curriculum is not listed as eligible, this means that it hasn’t been reviewed yet and you will need to apply to RACGP to evaluate the curriculum before you can apply for the comparability assessment.

To apply for a curriculum assessment, you will need to submit the following from your college, training organisation, or medical board:

a copy of their specialist general practice curriculum,
an official letter from them confirming:
- it is their curriculum,
- the specialist general practice qualification it leads to,
- the curriculum year, and
- the year you obtained your qualification.
an official document outlining the good medical practice guidelines and ethics for the country or region in which you completed the requirements for your international qualification.

After gathering the documents above, you will also need to complete the application form, sign it, scan, and submit these to educationsupport@racgp.org.au.

Curriculum assessments take up to 10 weeks to assess. Assessors will review your specialist colleges’ curriculum against the RACGP curriculum. Curriculum assessments takes time but it all depends on whether or not the doctor is happy to wait for an outcome that may or may not go in their favour. Most specialist GPs would prefer to have the curriculum assessed so that their overseas qualifications are recognised.

What is a comparability assessment?

Comparability is the extent to which your recency, continuity of practice, continuing professional development, assessment, training, qualifications and clinical experience are evaluated as equivalent to an Australian trained specialist general practitioner at the point of attaining Fellowship.

You must meet the following criteria:

Curriculum – Hold a specialist general practice qualification with with a curriculum that has been assessed by the RACGP.
Recency and context of practice – Completed at least 12 months FTE general practice experience in the last 4 years and at least 4 weeks FTE in the past year.
General practice experience – Clinical general practice experience must meet the requirements of the PEP SP Comparability Assessment Policy, as outlined in the PEP SP Handbook.
Continuity of practice – Explained any gaps in practice longer than 3 months with a RACGP CV
Continuing Professional Development – Have completed at least 50 hours of CPD in the last 12 months.
Assessment type – Completed summative assessment with theoretical and practical aspects.
Training route – Completed specialist general practice qualification through a suitable training route.

Once your comparability has been assessed (this can take up to 10 weeks), you will be categorised as either:

Substantially comparable: you can handle the intended scope of practice, take full responsibility for all patients, and only have minimal supervision or peer review.
Partially comparable: you can manage a defined scope of practice with supervision and attain comparability within 24 months of FTE practice. You will also need to pass the Fellowship Exams to be granted Fellowship within 24 months of the date of program commencement (Full time – 2 years, & Part time – 4 years).
Not comparable: you do not meet the comparability standards or you did not reach comparability within 24 months of FTE practice.

You are eligible for the PEP Specialist Stream if you are substantially comparable and partially comparable. If you are categorised as not comparable, then you can apply for Fellowship Support Program (FSP), Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program, or Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS) instead to achieve the RACGP Fellowship assessment requirements.

Please note that as an IMG, working in Australia for the first time, you will be restricted by 19AB and will have to find work in a DPA location. You will also need to provide current Certificates of Good Standing for all jurisdictions of practice since you obtained your specialist general practice qualification. You can also then apply to the Medical Board of Australia for registration using your comparability outcome letter.

What medical registration should I apply for?

You can apply for Limited or Provisional registration, depending on whether where you studied is a competent authority. If you also received substantially or partially comparable outcome from RACGP, you can apply for the following:

Provisional Registration if you are from a competent authority country
Limited Registration if you are from a non-competent authority country

What will I do in the Program?

You will work as a General Practitioner under supervision and will undertake assessments to help you on your way to becoming a Fellowed doctor. Please also note that the learning modules and educational component will begin from their first day of work at the practice.

You will need to submit AHPRA supervisor reports every three months, and undertake a Workplace Based Assessment. The WBA can be commenced as soon as you start work but will need to be completed within 6 months.

For the PEP Specialist program, the registrar’s supervisors do not get payments for offering supervision as compared to FSP. Supervision is also tied to the AHPRA Registration, so if you have finished the program and are in the process of applying for fellowship, you will still have the same Registration until it is converted to Specialist Registration. This would mean that the previous Supervision requirements would remain.

Program fees and charges

PEP Specialist Stream	Substantially comparable	Partially comparable
Comparability application	$605	$605
PEP Specialist program fee (New participants)	$12,525	$12,525
RACGP Membership fee (IMG/GP in Training)	$661*	$661*
Exams (AKT, KFP, CCE)	N/A	$11,602* AKT: $2,868 KFP: $2,868 CCE: $5,866
Total	$13,791*	$25,393*

*Fees are subject to change without notice. Individual circumstances may affect applicable membership fees.

RACGP have also confirmed in writing a couple of questions regarding PEP Specialist Program if a Partially Comparable participant wasn’t able to complete the Fellowship Exams:

If a doctor is unable to complete all required Fellowship examinations within their allocated PEP Specialist Pathway timeframe, are extensions ever available?
- A participant is able to apply for an extension to their Maximum Program Time. Requests for an extension are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and supporting documentation may be required. Approval of an extension is not guaranteed. There are no set circumstances that enable an automatic approval.

If extensions can be granted, under what circumstances would RACGP consider an extension, and are there any conditions or limitations that apply?
- Extension requests are assessed individually based on the participant’s circumstances. Participants are encouraged to contact the PEP Specialist team as early as possible if they anticipate difficulty meeting programme requirements. Any approved extension would be subject to RACGP review and approval on a case by case basis.

If a doctor is ultimately unable to complete the Fellowship requirements within the permitted timeframe (including any extensions, if applicable), what options are available to them to continue practising in Australia?
- The participant would need to contact AHPRA directly to discover other pathway alternatives that are suitable to their situation. There is no generic pathway it is all based on individual circumstances.

Would they be eligible to transition to the Standard Pathway (Fellowship Support Program), assuming they otherwise meet the eligibility requirements?
- Potential eligibility for another training pathway, including the Fellowship Support Program (FSP), is assessed separately and would depend on the eligibility requirements in place at the time of application. Participants seeking advice on alternative pathways should contact the relevant program team directly.

If they were to transition to a different pathway, would any Fellowship examination passes already achieved under the PEP Specialist Pathway be recognised, or would they be required to recommence the examination process?
- Yes, it would be recognised. However, a participant’s candidacy time would affect their ability to sit further exams. More information on RACGP Exam candidacy can be found here: RACGP – Eligibility, withdrawals and candidacy

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!

Book a Consult

Recruitment

Document Assistance

Information from this blog has been taken directly from: