Before you start

A visa conferring Medicare eligibility, or citizenship of a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement country
Passport and current visa
A Victorian residential address
For temporary visa holders: a compliant health insurance policy in force from the day you arrive

Step-by-step

1
Establish which category you fall into
Permanent residents and applicants for certain permanent visas enrol in Medicare. Temporary work-visa holders generally do not qualify. Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK hold reciprocal agreements with their own separate terms.
OnlineWho: You
2
Buy Overseas Visitors Health Cover before you fly, if on a temporary visa
Employer-sponsored visas carry a condition requiring adequate health insurance for the whole stay. The policy must be live from your arrival date, not from your start date at work.
OnlineWho: You or your employer≈AUD 85–180 per month for a single adult
3
Enrol in Medicare, if eligible
Enrol online through myGov, or in person at a Services Australia service centre — the Melbourne CBD and Box Hill centres are the busiest. Documents do not need to be certified.
OnlineWho: YouSame day to a few weeks; card posted afterwards
4
Take out Ambulance Victoria membership
Buy it directly from Ambulance Victoria. It covers emergency road and air transport and clinically necessary non-emergency patient transport for members. Pensioner Concession and Health Care card holders may be entitled to free cover in some circumstances — check before paying.
OnlineWho: You and everyone in your household≈AUD 56 / year single, ≈AUD 113 / year family — reset annually
5
Register with a local GP clinic
There is no catchment or assignment — you can attend any practice. Some bulk bill, meaning no out-of-pocket cost with a Medicare card; many charge a fee and you claim a rebate back. Ask which applies when you book, because the difference is AUD 0 versus AUD 50–100.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport and current visa
Evidence of permanent residency where applicable
For reciprocal agreement claims: passport of the agreement country, plus a national health card or statutory declaration for some countries
Victorian residential address

Things most newcomers don’t know

Medicare does not cover ambulance transport in Victoria, and the state expects you to insure separately.

Medicare covers no ambulance transport anywhere in Australia; funding is a state responsibility and Victoria bills for it. A metropolitan emergency call-out runs into four figures and an air ambulance far more. Ambulance Victoria membership costs about a dollar a week and covers the household. Queenslanders get ambulance free from their state budget and often move to Melbourne without realising the cover disappeared at the border.

Source: Ambulance Victoria — membership; health.vic ambulance fees

Ambulance membership and private health insurance ambulance cover are not the same product.

Many hospital and extras policies include some ambulance benefit, but often capped, or limited to emergencies, or excluding non-emergency clinically required transport. Read the actual limit before deciding the membership is redundant — for most households it is cheaper and broader than the insurance add-on.

Source: health.vic — ambulance cover comparison

A reciprocal health care agreement covers 'medically necessary' care, not everything Medicare does.

It exists so that treatment which cannot wait until you go home is not refused. Elective procedures, most dental and ambulance transport sit outside it. UK and Irish nationals in particular arrive assuming NHS-equivalence and discover the gap at the worst possible moment.

Source: Services Australia — Reciprocal Health Care Agreements

Bulk billing is a choice each clinic makes, and inner-Melbourne clinics increasingly do not.

The Medicare rebate has not kept pace with practice costs, so bulk-billing GPs have thinned out in Fitzroy, Carlton and the CBD while remaining common in the west and north. Ask the receptionist directly, or use the Healthdirect service finder — the same ten-minute consultation is free at one clinic and AUD 95 at the next street over.

Source: community-reported, consistent with Services Australia bulk billing data

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a work visa includes Medicare — most temporary visas do not.
Skipping Ambulance Victoria membership because Medicare or your health fund 'covers everything'.
Arriving days before your Overseas Visitors Health Cover starts, leaving a gap in a visa condition.
Treating a reciprocal health care agreement as full Medicare equivalence.
Booking a GP without asking whether the clinic bulk bills, then being surprised by a AUD 95 invoice.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.