id say if you were to find an apprenticeship in another country say australia for example you may have to do some of the schooling again. you would definitely need to do the exams. apprentices here do one of two ways, you can enrol in a pre course that takes about 9 months full time and you complete a lot of the licence exams then you have to find an apprenticeship. the second way is you get hired with no prior experience and you go to school a few times a year for a few weeks each and do the theory and exam then over the course of about 4 years. you can be licensed after a 4year apprenticeship if you get all the boxes ticked off.
hope this helps a little.