4dr3n411n3 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Recently moved to the Gold Coast as a 189 permanent resident and thought I'd share this overview of some things (not necessarily an exclusive list) that need to be obtained when moving to (or rather, after arriving in) Australia. While not required for all of them, I carried my passport, driver's license, visa and proof of address when obtaining each. I did everything in the below order. ### Address An adress is required for everything. (including, ironically, finding a place to live) Before I found a place to live, I didn't even have a reliable temporary address. One way of obtaining an address is through a post box. Usually obtaining a post box ALSO requires an address- I just gave the address I was temporarily at. Note that some entities may not accept post box addresses as legitimate addresses. ### Phone Parts of (but not all of) Australia has 4G coverage- check coverage in your area. As of early 2015, 4G phones are still not as common in Australia as in many other countries. Don't assume all available phones are 4G- 4G phones are usually a subset of the available smartphones and will be explicitly labeled as such. I got a relatively cheap unlocked Huawei G6 4G that I'm very happy with. As for providers, there are a bunch. Since prepaid is less hassle than setting up a long contract, I went with Virgin Mobile, who at the time of writing have a prepaid option where you pay AUD 29 and get 1GB of data plus call and text credit. (monthly topup required) I'm happy with it. ### Bank accounts and insurance For me personally, quality internet banking and widely available ATMs are important. Commonwealth seemed to me the best for both, so I went with them. They set me up with an everyday bank account, a savings account, a superannuation account and some basic property insurance. I'm happy with everything, especially the internet banking. I immediately transferred a large sum of money from overseas, so that, when finding an apartment, transferring rent and bond to the landlord would be simple and fast. This is incredibly important: you won't be able to transfer money from your overseas account directly to the landlord, nor get the money out of an ATM. The money must first be transferred to your own account in Australia and then from there to the landlord. ### Medicare number I went to a branch in a nearby mall to get my medicare number. ### Driver's license Licenses from some countries enable receiving an equivalent Australian license. I went to a nearby branch and received an Australian license thanks to having a Swedish one. ### Australian Taxation Office/Tax File Number In order to be employed etc, a tax file number is required. I didn't have to get one as I already got one years ago when working holidaying. I don't know the current process for obtaining one. ### Place to live Finding a place to live may take longer than you think. Be prepared to spend up to a few weeks searching for places (http;//realestate.com.au is arguably the best website for this), doing inspections and filling in paper forms. Usually 4 weeks rent + 4 weeks bond must be paid by the tenant up front. Being a foreigner who doesn't have a rental history in Australia is a big disadvantage when competing with other prospective tenants who do. While it's commonly recommended not to do so, offering to pay more rent in advance can help getting accepted. After being denied several times, I was finally accepted for a place after offering to pay an extra 8 weeks rent (i.e. total 12 weeks rent + 4 weeks bond). Having a local bank account with the necessary funds was vital. ### Friends Last but not least =) for anyone who doesn't know about it, meetup.com is an awesome means to meet people, do fun stuff and make friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Interesting post, thanks for sharing. I've been looking at meetup.com and it seems like there are loads of different groups! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 TFN. .. I had one 12 years ago... I have no idea what it was, but I assume it will be easy-ish to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4dr3n411n3 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Interesting post, thanks for sharing. I've been looking at meetup.com and it seems like there are loads of different groups! I highly recommend meetup.com for those who are already settled in as well, give it a go! =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4dr3n411n3 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 TFN. .. I had one 12 years ago... I have no idea what it was, but I assume it will be easy-ish to find out. Each individual is only ever issued a single TFN. I also got mine years ago and didn't remember it. I simply called the ATO and asked what mine was, they made me answer a bunch of hard to remember questions for verification and then gave it to me over the phone. It's a good idea to record it so you won't have to contact them every time =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungbean Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Great post! For me personally, quality internet banking and widely available ATMs are important. Commonwealth seemed to me the best for both, so I went with them. They set me up with an everyday bank account, a savings account, a superannuation account and some basic property insurance. I'm happy with everything, especially the internet banking. +1 for Commonwealth. They certainly run rings around the other bank I opened an account with before moving out. Here in Sydney they also have loads of ATMs and branches, and the banking app on iPhone is very good too. In order to be employed etc, a tax file number is required. Not strictly true. ATO says it's optional. But if you want to pay the right amount of tax (assuming you earn enough), it's recommended ;-) Usually 4 weeks rent + 4 weeks bond must be paid by the tenant up front. In NSW it's 2 weeks in advance. Unlike in the UK, the bond (deposit) is paid to an independent body, the Rental Bond Board, so you don't have to worry so much about the landlord withholding a chunk of it without good reason. I was told that you have to have money orders or bank cheques to pay both of these (cash not allowed), so this means you need to get your bank account sorted well before moving into your rental. Being a foreigner who doesn't have a rental history in Australia is a big disadvantage when competing with other prospective tenants who do. True, but then again being a single person with no kids and no pets trumps the locals who do. It seems to help if you can come up with any kind of references to prove you are who you say are, and if you can show that you can keep up with the rent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I filled out a form inline for our TFN's. Easy as. When end looking at banks, definitely check out where the ATMs are (Google search) - they charge you to use other bank's ATMs here (like the UK did years ago). great post :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungbean Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 check out where the ATMs are (Google search) - they charge you to use other bank's ATMs here (like the UK did years ago). Looking at my online banking, I spent more than $60 on ATM fees in the first 2 months of being here, mostly in the first month. Given that the charge is usually $2, and sometimes $2.50 or even more in convenience stores and airports, it soon mounts up. It's easy to say "don't use other ATMs", but when you're new in town and you need cash, optimising your ways of paying aren't the first thing in your mind. Now I'm settled in I'm actually finding I hardly pay with cash for anything except for the odd coffee... So many places let you "tap" your card wirelessly to pay without messing around with a PIN, together with using an OPAL card with auto-topup for travel, mean that being cashless is very easy. And as many folk have said, when paying with your card in the supermarket you can get cash out with no charge, like getting "cashback" in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Roberto Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 TA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungbean Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Another +1 for Commonwealth Bank... Applied for a credit card on Monday night online... no faffing or visiting physical branch required. Email saying "conditionally approved" received within minutes, confirmation e-mail the next day, and the card sitting in my mailbox when I got home Today, Thursday. Didn't have to supply any extra docs apart from the 2 payslips I uploaded with the application. Activated the card and set the PIN via their phone app, and we're good to go. First year is fee-free, and no fee after that so long as you spend $1000 in a year, which isn't hard let's face it. A good experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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