Optometrist Jobs Abroad (2026): What Official Pages Say

United Kingdom: Health and Care Worker visa code and GOC registration

The GOV.UK page on the UK Health and Care Worker visa lists the occupation codes that can apply, and the list includes “2252: optometrists”. The job must be with a UK health and care sector employer approved by the Home Office. The page says “You’ll usually need to be paid at least £25,000”, or the going rate for the job if that is higher, and for health and care jobs outside its separate list of codes with different salary requirements it points to the table of national pay scales for eligible healthcare jobs.

The General Optical Council (GOC) publishes the registration route for optometrists who qualified outside the UK. For those who did not qualify in the United States or Canada, the GOC lists these conditions: three years’ full-time optometry training at a level equivalent to a UK post-baccalaureate qualification; legal qualification to practise optometry outside the UK; one year of unsupervised practice within the last ten years; registration with a regulator in the country of practice, if the profession is regulated there; an Academic IELTS overall score of 7.0, with no section below 6.0 and at least 7.0 in Speaking; and verification of the professional qualification through the GOC's partner platform, Qualification Check. The GOC's fees for scrutiny of the application, assessment and interview are charged as the application progresses, total £790 and are non-refundable. Optometrists who qualified in the United States or Canada are directed to a separate direct-entry page.

The GOC adds that it cannot assist with visa advice or sponsorship, that applicants must meet the UK visa requirements before starting the Scheme for Registration, and that a new international application process is expected to come into effect in early 2027.

UK Visas and Immigration: Health and Care Worker visa, Your job · General Optical Council: International optometrists

Ireland: Critical Skills Occupations List and CORU

The Critical Skills Occupations List published by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment includes, under “Health Professionals”, the employments “Optometrist” and “Ophthalmic Optician Community Eye Care”. The Department says occupations on this list are eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit. The list pages read here do not state the permit's salary threshold or its other conditions.

To practise in Ireland, CORU's Optical Registration Board regulates optometrists and dispensing opticians. CORU says this Board is the designated Competent Authority and is responsible for recognition of qualifications gained outside the State.

DETE: Critical Skills Occupations List (CSOL) · DETE: Critical Skills Occupations List (document) · CORU: About the Optical Registration Board

Canada: Express Entry healthcare category and provincial licensing

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) lists “Optometrists”, NOC code 31111, in the Express Entry healthcare and social services occupations category. For every occupation in that category, the page asks for at least 12 months of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time experience) within the past 3 years, in a single listed occupation, in Canada or abroad. Candidates must first meet the minimum criteria for Express Entry, including one of the 3 immigration programmes it covers, and in category-based rounds candidates must also be eligible for the category to be invited.

Licensing in Canada is provincial. The College of Optometrists of Ontario says optometrists trained outside North America, in programmes not accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), must complete an assessment from the Federation of Optometric Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FORAC) before registering in any jurisdiction except Quebec. For Ontario, the next steps it lists are the Internationally Graduated Optometrist Evaluating Examination (IGOEE) and then the Optometry Examining Board of Canada (OEBC) exam.

IRCC: Express Entry, category-based selection · College of Optometrists of Ontario: International Graduates

Australia: skilled occupation list, OCANZ and the Optometry Board

The Department of Home Affairs skilled occupation list shows “Optometrist”, ANZSCO 251411, on the lists marked “MLTSSL;CSOL”, with the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand (OCANZ) as the assessing authority. The visas it names for this occupation include the Skilled Independent (subclass 189) points-tested visa, the Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa, the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) Core Skills stream and the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) Direct Entry pathway. The page says applicants must also meet all other requirements.

OCANZ says anyone intending to migrate to Australia under the General Skilled Migration programme must apply to it for a skills assessment, unless already registered with the Optometry Board of Australia. Registration to practise is a different process. The Optometry Board of Australia says practising requires registration with the Board, that the Board registration and the Home Affairs visa are entirely separate processes, that holders of an optometry qualification from outside Australia and New Zealand must first apply to OCANZ to complete the Competency in Optometry Examination (COE), and that they must demonstrate competencies in ocular therapeutics before applying for general registration.

To sit the COE, OCANZ asks for a course of at least 4 years full-time study, or a course of 3 years full-time study followed by one year of supervised clinical practice. OCANZ adds that a subsequent pass in a professional examination is also necessary if the country of practice requires such an examination for registration purposes. The clinical examination is held at the Australian College of Optometry in Melbourne.

Home Affairs: Skilled occupation list (Optometrist) · Optometry Board of Australia: International practitioners · OCANZ: Migration · OCANZ: Overseas Optometrists

New Zealand: ODOB registration

The Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board (ODOB) says that to practise as an optometrist in New Zealand you must register with it and hold an Annual Practising Certificate. Its scopes of practice notice, in force from 10 October 2024, says applicants with a primary optometry degree from an overseas university need pass grades in both the OCANZ COE and a specified, Board-approved therapeutics qualification for the Optometrist scope of practice. Optometrists registered with Ahpra in Australia may apply under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997. OCANZ adds that working as an optometrist in New Zealand requires an optometry qualification recognised by the ODOB.

This page does not state whether Optometrist is on Immigration New Zealand's current Green List: the official Green List search did not return a readable list when it was checked on 23 October 2026.

ODOB: Register as an optometrist · ODOB: Scopes of practice Gazette notice

Singapore: Optometrists and Opticians Board

Singapore's Optometrists and Opticians Board (OOB) says a person must be registered with the Board and hold a valid registration certificate and/or practising certificate to practise optometry in Singapore. Its registration criteria include an approved optometry qualification and an offer of employment as an optometrist with an appointed supervisor in Singapore. An applicant with an approved foreign optometry qualification and at least one year of practical experience may be granted conditional registration, under which the registrant must practise under supervision. The OOB page covers professional registration only, not work passes.

Optometrists and Opticians Board: Apply for registration

What the official pages used here do not cover

Silence on these points is not a rule. The pages read for this revision do not settle:

• whether Optometrist is on New Zealand's current Green List (the search tool did not render);
• Singapore work pass rules for optometrists;
• United States licensing for foreign-trained optometrists, which no state board page read here covers;
• salaries for optometrists in any of these countries, beyond the general UK Health and Care Worker salary rule;
• processing times, Critical Skills Employment Permit salary thresholds and Express Entry score cut-offs;
• other destinations, which are left out because no official page read here says something specific about optometrists.

Related pages: the healthcare workers overview of official pages and the UK Skilled Worker visa guide.