Foreign nationals with sufficient policing experience are eligible to apply to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) under a new labour agreement between the State and Federal Governments. The QPS has approval for 500 new international recruits to join the service each year, for five years (from 2023). The agreement allows the QPS to recruit international police officers without the requirement to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

To be eligible, applicants need to have relevant policing knowledge, skills and experience. This experience can be as a traditional police officer, but we may consider other experiences such as: transport and military police. This will be assessment by various documents including: ‘comparable policing’ form, resume, and supporting documents from the policing jurisdiction. Being a security officer does not fit within this scope.

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Depending on the recency, duration and nature of your policing experience, you may be eligible to receive a salary up to Senior Constable 2.10 paypoint (as outlined in the QPS Certified Agreement). For example and subject to these factors, a current police officer in another jurisdiction with 6 years policing experience may be eligible for Senior Constable pay level 2.2 while completing the recruit training.

Depending on your policing experience you may be eligible to under the Police Abridged Competency Education (PACE) Program which is approximately 18 weeks in duration rather than the mainstream course which is approximately 8 months. Please note that just because you may receive a salary higher than the standard recruit wage, you may be required to undertake the mainstream course. Consideration will be given to your ability to develop the required skills to perform frontline general duties in the QPS in an abridged training program.

If you undertake the PACE program, you can apply to exit the First Year Constable (FYC) Program after 3 months, but your appointment will not be confirmed until you have successfully completed the first 12 months of operational duties.

Your policing experience will be considered in terms of your merit for specialist roles and promotion.

Depending on the level and recency of their experience, successful recruits will be trained through either the existing Police Abridged Competency Education (PACE) program or the mainstream recruit training program, ensuring they meet the standards of the QPS.

At the completion of their training, the newest recruits will be stationed across Queensland to commence their First Year Constable program, with the opportunity to expedite this program and enter the service up to the rank of Senior Constable.

Overseas or interstate applicants can apply to the QPS with their current driver licence to operate a car (manual or automatic). Applicants should check that they will be eligible to obtain a Queensland driver licence that meets the police service's recruiting requirements. Once an applicant resides in Queensland, a Queensland driver licence must be obtained. You must hold either an open driver licence or a provisional P2 (green) driver licence before graduating.

For information on obtaining a driver licence, please contact the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Overseas recruit applicants who are serving or recently serving police officers may be eligible to receive a pay which is greater than standard recruits. This could be over $4,000 per fortnight as a recruit, and approximately $130k per annum as a First Year Constable. For more information, refer to the currentQPS Certified Agreement.

These applicants may also be eligible to receive a $20,000 incentive payment. Payments will be made to eligible applicants in two $10,000 instalments – the first on graduation from recruit training and the second when the officer has successfully completed both the First Year Constable Programme and the probationary period (at least 12 months). This initiative will be available to a maximum of 1000 applicants with recognised interstate or international policing experience.

Applications are submitted immediately prior to graduation in accordance with the ‘Police Recruit Incentive Policy’ (2023/06).

The QPS is sponsoring and paying for “Application for Employer Nomination for a Permanent Appointment” for the successful police recruit applicant.

You may include your family member/s in the nomination; however, these costs for additional member/s are to be met by the police recruit applicant.

Your family member/s must be one of the following: 

• Your partner
• Your dependent child or stepchild
• Your partner’s child or dependent stepchild
• The dependent child or stepchild of your partner’s dependent child or stepchild

Any other related costs associated with your visa and your family’s visa will need to be covered by the applicant.

Please note you may be eligible for incentive allowance of up to $20,000 upon graduation and confirmation.

For further information on the labour agreement please visit the associated Home Affairs website.

Please note: If you, or your family members, have significant healthcare and/or community service costs, the visa may not be granted. For further information, please refer to the Home Affairs website in terms of Health and Protecting health care and community services.

Australia uses a Superannuation scheme which is a compulsory system of placing a minimum percentage of your income into a fund to support your financial needs in retirement. For further information regarding transferring of pension funds, please refer to the QSuper PDF.

The panel interview, psychological written assessment and face-to-face psychological interview (if required) are completed online. The fitness and medical assessments are completed in your area. There is no consolidated process for these assessment items.

Under the current Labour Agreement with Department of Home Affairs and Queensland Police Service, applicants must be under the age of 55 at the time of applying for the visa.

Under the current Labour Agreement you need to prove you have competent English to obtain the visa. To prove this, you need to provide evidence of one of the following:

• That you are a citizen of and hold a valid passport issued by the United Kingdom*, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland, with your application. *British National (Overseas) passports are not acceptable as evidence of competent English. OR
• You have met the required standard of one of the approved English language tests. Please note: For the purpose of progressing through the process you can use the remote assessment option, however to obtain the visa you are required to pass the test at an approved venue. The QPS does not pay or reimburse for these tests.

For personnel with police service from another Australian police jurisdiction(s), all combined service will be considered towards three Service Medals:

• National Medal – usually awarded after combined period of 15 sworn years and a clasp every subsequent 10 years.
• National Police Service Medal – usually awarded after a combined period of 15 sworn years – this medal has no subsequent clasps.
• Queensland Police Service Medal – usually awarded after 10 Years of service in the QPs with a clasp every 5 years however can include service from another Australian police jurisdiction if that service was less than 10 years and the member did not receive the 10-year equivalent service medal from their previous Australian police jurisdiction (all have a 10-year medal similar to the QPSM).

This is not available to members with previous service from a foreign police service.

Postings are based on operational needs of the QPS. Applicants are given the opportunity to nominate their preferred locations. The QPS will take your personal circumstances into consideration. You will be nominated to a District as part of your ‘Letter of Offer’.

Depending on your current/previous rank and experience, you are eligible up to the rank of Senior Constable. This will be provided as part of your ‘Letter of Offer’. In terms of Detective appointments, you will need to liaise with Detective Training once you have completed your recruit training. Your policing experience in other jurisdictions will be recognised if/when you apply for a transfer, promotion and/or career development opportunity, including becoming a Detective.

As part of the recruitment process we require a certified copy of certain documents, including your driver’s licence. There are a number of people who are qualified witnesses. When these documents are witnessed, there is a specific format and wording that needs to be used, which is outlined in the Queensland Government’s ‘Certifying copies of documents’. For applicants in other states or countries, you need to certify documents in a manner which is consistent with the Queensland requirements and/or complies with the certification requirements from that state or country.