zs123456 Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Hi, Just been granted a 189 visa for myself & our family. I'm currently planning the big move including the sale of our house, business etc. Any advice or things to consider before & after the move with regards to every day life and settling down would be appreciated, things you wish you'd have know before you moved that may have made things easier. Any links to websites with advice/blogs on emigrating with information regarding everyday essentials like opening banks, healthcare etc Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Congratulations and welcome to a few months of chaos, but you'll get through it! One big thing - don't close your UK bank accounts. They come in very handy for all kinds of things, especially for holidays. Start by decluttering all the small stuff that you've been hanging on to "in case it comes in handy" - that will make the rest of it seem more manageable. You'll get lots of opinions on whether to ship stuff or just give it all away and start again. I'm in the "ship all you can" camp. If you get rid of everything, then when you're setting up home again once you've arrived, you end up having to dash round the shops and buy whatever you can get to replace it. And suddenly you're stuck with a dinner set or pots and pans or furniture you don't really like but that was all that was available. They're too good to throw away so you're stuck with them for a few years, and you're wishing you never gave away that perfect teapot or omelette pan or tablecloth or whatever... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Congratulations on the visa grant... It quite simple to open a bank account from the UK before you leave, this way you can start transferring funds as and when and especially if the exchange rate goes up. The big banks here are pretty much a muchness ,we personally use ANZ, but there's Commonwealth, Suncorp and Westpac which many people use. Realestate.com is a great website for looking at property, for both rental and buying prices . Its good to have a little file of paperwork ready to submitt with rental applications as in some areas it is quite competitive to get one. Its always worth trying to be friend an agent. More than anything, have fun, put yourself out there as much as you can when trying to make friends,, its much easier to settle if you have someone you can ask questions, directions etc Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 Congratulations and welcome to a few months of chaos, but you'll get through it! One big thing - don't close your UK bank accounts. They come in very handy for all kinds of things, especially for holidays. Start by decluttering all the small stuff that you've been hanging on to "in case it comes in handy" - that will make the rest of it seem more manageable. You'll get lots of opinions on whether to ship stuff or just give it all away and start again. I'm in the "ship all you can" camp. If you get rid of everything, then when you're setting up home again once you've arrived, you end up having to dash round the shops and buy whatever you can get to replace it. And suddenly you're stuck with a dinner set or pots and pans or furniture you don't really like but that was all that was available. They're too good to throw away so you're stuck with them for a few years, and you're wishing you never gave away that perfect teapot or omelette pan or tablecloth or whatever... Thank you, we had thought to keep them open & have a back up cc for "just in case" or emergencies. Currently in the process of de-cluttering think we are going with ship all essentials and things that are going to last us longer than 3 years e.g TV, deter. Items that would replacing within the next 3 years we r going to buy new over there. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 Congratulations on the visa grant... It quite simple to open a bank account from the UK before you leave, this way you can start transferring funds as and when and especially if the exchange rate goes up. The big banks here are pretty much a muchness ,we personally use ANZ, but there's Commonwealth, Suncorp and Westpac which many people use. Realestate.com is a great website for looking at property, for both rental and buying prices . Its good to have a little file of paperwork ready to submitt with rental applications as in some areas it is quite competitive to get one. Its always worth trying to be friend an agent. More than anything, have fun, put yourself out there as much as you can when trying to make friends,, its much easier to settle if you have someone you can ask questions, directions etc Cal xThanks For the advice Cal. what paperwork would be required for rentals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 3 minutes ago, zs123456 said: Thanks For the advice Cal. what paperwork would be required for rentals? You need to do a 100 point ID check but i found the more paperwork you can throw at them the better. We included - copies of passports, copies of driving licence (aussie ones if you get them), paid up uk mortgage statement, paid up uk utility bill, copy of Medicare card (easy to apply for once here) and a copy of a healthy bank account . If you have a job offer include the letter stating salary etc and it's also good to include a covering letter stating your new to the country hence lack of Aussie references. If you are bringing pets ,try to get some pet references as finding rentals who take pets can be much trickier. Hope this helps Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 You need to do a 100 point ID check but i found the more paperwork you can throw at them the better. We included - copies of passports, copies of driving licence (aussie ones if you get them), paid up uk mortgage statement, paid up uk utility bill, copy of Medicare card (easy to apply for once here) and a copy of a healthy bank account . If you have a job offer include the letter stating salary etc and it's also good to include a covering letter stating your new to the country hence lack of Aussie references. If you are bringing pets ,try to get some pet references as finding rentals who take pets can be much trickier. Hope this helps Cal x Great thank you. Medicare is something I don't feel I fully got my head around yet, but the other items shouldn't be a problem- thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 I wished we had sold our car seat for our child (or not bought it - very expensive as it will do our child until they don't require a seat anymore). If you have a child who requires a car seat note that only Australian ones are legal here. We have a car seat bought in the UK that is rated very highly on the safety scale however, as it does not have a harness that attaches to the back of the car it is deemed not acceptable. Ridiculous but there you have it. Aside from that, pretty spot on with all we organised before we left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 I wished we had sold our car seat for our child (or not bought it - very expensive as it will do our child until they don't require a seat anymore). If you have a child who requires a car seat note that only Australian ones are legal here. We have a car seat bought in the UK that is rated very highly on the safety scale however, as it does not have a harness that attaches to the back of the car it is deemed not acceptable. Ridiculous but there you have it. Aside from that, pretty spot on with all we organised before we left. Thank you for this info we have a 5 yr old with a 2 car seats (one for each car) but having just checked the website online they are not legal in Australia, so guess I can take them off the lists of items to ship! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samlab Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 When you go to Medicare you all need to go with your passports. They need to physically see you. I went on my own waited in the queue then had to go back with the rest of the family. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samlab Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Another top tip.. Never sign up on a rental without seeing it yourself first. The agents shouldn’t allow you to do it but they get around it. We moved from SA to Qld and signed a 12 month lease on a property we’d only seen on the internet. It was flea infested and the area was horrible. Cost us a lot of stress and our $1,200 deposit to get out of the lease. We got off lightly! Also if your looking at the commute time from work to a prospective property always check google maps around the time you’ll be travelling. What can be 30 mins in the evening could be 1hr 30mins in peak hour. Especially in Brisbane or the Gold Coast. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 5, 2018 Author Share Posted February 5, 2018 Another top tip.. Never sign up on a rental without seeing it yourself first. The agents shouldn’t allow you to do it but they get around it. We moved from SA to Qld and signed a 12 month lease on a property we’d only seen on the internet. It was flea infested and the area was horrible. Cost us a lot of stress and our $1,200 deposit to get out of the lease. We got off lightly! Also if your looking at the commute time from work to a prospective property always check google maps around the time you’ll be travelling. What can be 30 mins in the evening could be 1hr 30mins in peak hour. Especially in Brisbane or the Gold Coast. That's interesting-thank you, we was thinking of looking at properties online, narrow it down to 2, then send my brother who is already in Perth to check them out. Thanks for the advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 11 minutes ago, samlab said: Another top tip.. Never sign up on a rental without seeing it yourself first. The agents shouldn’t allow you to do it but they get around it. We moved from SA to Qld and signed a 12 month lease on a property we’d only seen on the internet. It was flea infested and the area was horrible. Cost us a lot of stress and our $1,200 deposit to get out of the lease. We got off lightly! Also if your looking at the commute time from work to a prospective property always check google maps around the time you’ll be travelling. What can be 30 mins in the evening could be 1hr 30mins in peak hour. Especially in Brisbane or the Gold Coast. ABSOLUTELY 100% AGREE!! Never ever do this, many times agents will use photos that were taken before the house was lived in, or use a 'similar' property in the block. One place was so different I had to ask the viewing agent twice if this was actually the same place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelverton Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Unlock your mobile phones before you leave the UK 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unzippy Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 On 04/02/2018 at 20:34, calNgary said: You need to do a 100 point ID check but i found the more paperwork you can throw at them the better. We included - copies of passports, copies of driving licence (aussie ones if you get them), paid up uk mortgage statement, paid up uk utility bill, copy of Medicare card (easy to apply for once here) and a copy of a healthy bank account . If you have a job offer include the letter stating salary etc and it's also good to include a covering letter stating your new to the country hence lack of Aussie references. If you are bringing pets ,try to get some pet references as finding rentals who take pets can be much trickier. Hope this helps Cal x We have just moved in to a rented property and have done all this. We found it useful to have all of these things above scanned in and saved on Google Drive. We sat on the garden wall of the property we just viewed, filled out their paper form, scanned it in to PDF with the phone and emailed it in with all the attachments there and then. GeniusScan is the name of the app that can convert pics to PDF. If you are going in to the rental market without jobs - like us, have enough money to offer to pay 3 months rent in advance, it works wonders 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 We have just moved in to a rented property and have done all this. We found it useful to have all of these things above scanned in and saved on Google Drive. We sat on the garden wall of the property we just viewed, filled out their paper form, scanned it in to PDF with the phone and emailed it in with all the attachments there and then. GeniusScan is the name of the app that can convert pics to PDF. If you are going in to the rental market without jobs - like us, have enough money to offer to pay 3 months rent in advance, it works wonders[emoji6] Great idea thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zs123456 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Unlock your mobile phones before you leave the UKYes already on the "to do" list-thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABG Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Good topic - I'm taking notes! We're moving Sept this year so are starting our prep work now too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeNinja Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Get some Aus to UK extension leads. https://www.leadsdirect.co.uk/shop/australian-plug-to-a-4-gang-uk-socket-2m/ And get some Aus power cords to fit your appliances. Get an Anker PowerPort type multi usb charger, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01KUTRGS4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517911638&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=anker+powerport&dpPl=1&dpID=41Jxyda963L&ref=plSrch andget an Aus power cord for it-it'll solve all your charging needs upon landing. https://www.leadsdirect.co.uk/shop/australian-plug-iec-c7-2m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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