Amid debate about slashing migrant numbers in Australia, a rural GP practice in the NSW Southern Highlands relies on skilled doctors from overseas.
Bundanoon practice owner Aarielle Turner says she would pick the same doctors she hired again, despite sponsorship costs of up to $12,000 and hours of paperwork.
In Australia, statistics show 59 per cent of GPs were born overseas.
Practice co-owner Aarielle Turner is the only Australian-born GP out of the five working there.
Dr Turner said recruiting migrant doctors had allowed the practice, servicing the town of 3,000 people, to keep its books open to new patients.
International medical graduate Thilini Wijayarupa said she applied for about 600 jobs in Australia before landing her position as a GP at Bundanoon in January.
The couple is being sponsored for permanent residency by Dr Turner and co-owner and registered nurse Jessie Smith.
Dr Turner said the process also involved navigating multiple bodies such as the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Medical Board of Australia to get the doctors' international qualifications recognised.
Dr Turner rejected recent political sentiment that suggested skilled migrants were taking jobs from Australians.
A past president of the Rural Doctors' Association of Australia, Robert Lewandowski, said recruiting an international doctor was an "intense process".
Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said 59 per cent of GPs working in Australia were migrants, with the proportion even higher in regional areas.
The announcement came as One Nation unveiled its proposal to cut immigration by 750,000 places over three years, while the Coalition is finalising its policy000 and 170,000 people.