Melbourne, Dec 22: His colleagues at Queensland’s Gold Coast Hospital considered Indian born doctor Mohamed Haneef a competent young doctor and now his former employer says it would be happy to have him back.

"If he is in a position to seek employment, Queensland Health would be happy to consider his application, " a spokesman for Queensland Health said.

She, however, said that Dr Haneef would first have to obtain a work visa from the Commonwealth and appropriate registration from the Medical Board of Queensland.

"Without a work visa and medical registration, he cannot practice medicine in Australia, " the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Haneef has said that he is likely to re-register as a doctor in Queensland and apply for a job with his former employer.

Dr Haneef is free to return to work in Australia after a full bench of the Federal Court upheld a judge's decision to reinstate his 457-work visa on Friday.

Peter Russo said he would be talking to Dr Haneef on Saturday to discuss the full implications of the decision.

He said Haneef was pleased with the news, but had been hard to contact because he had gone to Mecca.

"We have to work out if there is a job for him at the Gold Coast Hospital and re-register him (with the Medical Board of Queensland), " Russo said.

He said that Dr Haneef was not due to return to his home in Bangalore until early January and would only then investigates his options about returning to Australia.

Russo said Haneef would also have to try and organise a visa for his wife Firdous and their baby.

He said Firdous had some concerns about allowing her husband to return following his treatment at the hands of the Australian authorities earlier this year.

Russo said that Dr Haneef and his family should not find it too difficult if they came to Australia despite the ordeal.

"They are very resilient. He will go about his business, and I'd urge people to give him the privacy that we all give to each other, " he urged.

News.com.au quoted Immigration Minister Chris Evans as saying that a full judicial inquiry would now investigate how the "bungled situation occurred in the first place".

Dr Haneef, a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, was arrested and charged in July in connection with the June 30, 2007 Glasgow terror attacks and was later deported by the Howard Government, despite charges being dropped against him for lack of evidence.

The charges were dropped after the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions announced that there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

Dr Haneef has spent most of the past five months at his home in Bangalore, but Russo has repeatedly said that he wants to return to work on the Gold Coast. (ANI)