Queensland will begin training its first influx of overseas police recruits within months after "extraordinary" interest in a scheme to bolster the sunshine state's thin blue line.
Under a state and federal labour agreement announced in February, the Queensland Police Service was given the green light to sponsor up to 500 new officers a year for five years through the Employer Nomination Scheme.
The campaign has already attracted about 15,000 expressions from skilled police officers around the world, with the most interest received from the UK, Canada and South Africa.
The agreement allows the force to recruit international police officers without the requirement to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
All officers recruited under the new agreement will be required to pass testing and vetting.
The scheme is part of a broader recruitment drive to ease staffing pressures on the state's police service, including enticing recruits with $20,000 payments help them relocate to Queensland.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said 314 overseas applicants were "already in the pipeline" and set to be in the academy by October.
"Last year was quite challenging in terms of recruitment, particularly because of the current labour market, and we have seen extraordinary interest in our organisation since this announcement - some 15,000 inquiries," Ms Carroll said on Wednesday.
The thousands of dollars in relocation incentive payments had also drawn additional interest, she said.
"I think we'll easily fill that 500 each year for the next five years."
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said he was pleased the Albanese government had been able to work with the Palaszczuk government "to ensure that we can focus on what really matters in our national interest, keeping communities safe".
Police Minister Mark Ryan said the recruitment drive offered a unique opportunity for people across the globe to join a world-class organisation and for the service to expand the diversity of its workforce.
"I call that a win-win," he said.
Queensland faces competition from Western Australia, which signed a similar agreement with the federal government in 2022 as it targets officers from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand to fill vacancies.
