Higher wages, shorter work hours, better work conditions, and an attractive alternative lifestyle are among the reasons doctors from the United Kingdom are considering a move to Australia over other countries after UK Health Secretary imposed tough new contracts on junior doctors that would have them work longer hours for less money in UK hospitals.

A day after the UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed the tougher contracts, some 3,468 requests for a certificate to practise medicine outside of the UK were made to the UK’s NHS - the regulator normally gets between 20 and 25 requests a day, notes are report in The Guardian.

Depending on their seniority, doctors can earn up to 50% more in Sydney or Melbourne, despite generally working less overtime. The UK provided Australia with 13% of its GPs and 22% of its specialists in 2011. The crisis in the UK could see these numbers rise.

Associate professor Brian Owler, who is head of the Australian Medical Association, who is critical of the NHS contract changes told The Guardian that junior doctors should be “highly valued” and indicated that Australia should welcome them all.

“Junior doctors are almost the engine room of the hospital system,” he said. “They’re the ones that are there every day waiting on patients and sorting out tests, they’re the ones that are still there at night, and without them the whole system grinds to a halt. They’re a bit undervalued sometimes in the services they provide – they’re training as well as working – and people forget how essential they are. Without them, care would suffer. Associate professor Brian Owler, Head of the Australian Medical Association.

“And there have also been quite a number of general practitioners and other doctors come to us because they found conditions under the NHS difficult,” he said. “Yes, we have our challenges here, but we know that there have been quite a number of challenges, particularly in general practice, over a number of years in the UK.”

There are variety of Australian visa options for overseas doctors including the employer sponsored 190 visa, skilled independent 189 visa and temporary work visa – sc457.