Joji

The first home buyers grant is now $20,000 in QLD but It's not for established homes and does have criteria . Banks differ so much and so does each individual's circumstances so my advice would be to speak to a mortgage broker . The online calculators do not give you a true account of what you can borrow so I personally wouldn't rely on these . I personally would speak to a mortgage broker as they can give you free advice on your own personal circumstances and give you a heads up on exactly what you will need to forward plan .

My daughter who has PR has a a car redgistered in her name , her boyfriend from Uk on a working holiday visa incurred 3 speeding fines in under 3 months on his Uk licence under her rego ( stat decs applied for for each offence ) and is now banned for 3 months and rightly so. We did warn him of the speed restrictions but he exceeded them on the same stretch of road and accumulated them within 3 weeks of arrival in Oz . He has a clean Uk licence ,my daughter has a clean Australian licence , her boyfriend has 3 fines to pay and can no longer drive in Australia for 3 months . He now has truly reflected on the consequences of this and deems himself lucky that it was only fines he got and not an accident that he could have caused . Many people in Australia refer to the saying ' flash for cash ' i.e police speed radar guns to get revenue for cars speeding . Don't speed stick to the limit and follow the road rules and regulations and your not part of that revenue , how simple can it be

Sorry I never really considered the risk of your 3 week journey to Malaysia as we came straight to Australia so not sure which would be the safer option to be honest . For rental purposes copies will do but you do need to ensure all your originals I.e birth certificates , marriage certificates , copy of your visa entitlements, or any other legal documents such as ( divorce papers, any avadavits or sworn declarations regarding jurisdiction for removing children ) are secure either in shipment of with you ( we wanted to ensure these wasn't going missing that's why we had them with us in our hand luggage )

Don't worry about school on arrival and get yourselves settled , you are arriving at a good time re schools as they break for summer so you have plenty of time to choose a school of your choice depending on where you reside .

We brought all our legal documents with us and all others related to bank, health , jobs , schools etc as we weren't taking any chances of them going missing . Rental demand is dependant on the area and realestate.au will give you a good guide on prices and they have an online form which will provide you with what necessary information you need to provide . Good areas can be a minefield to secure a property so it's always a plus to have the online application ready before hand , some use a generated online form but others use their own specific form so if you see a rental you like check their application procedure so you have all the necessary documents and forms filled in before your viewing . It does work on a points system initially i.e identification points , birth certificate , passport , drivers licence . If you can I would transfer your uk licence to Australian as soon as you can and get a Medicare card also as these can be used as ID , your temporary address ( holiday home ) can be used as your current address . Good luck with your journey in Oz at times it can be hard at first but not as hard as it is was to get here

We brought all our legal documents with us in our hand luggage , plus all those mentioned and also precious photos , we wasn't taking any chances of them going missing , our container came with no problem following on after 3 weeks but I needed the assurance of all the paperwork with me . It provided a sense of security knowing that if there was any problems with my shipment I had all I needed with me to get started in my new life in Oz