Hi haven't posted on here for a while. Looks as if we will be making the move in a few months as I have had a job offer (at last). My wife won't be working initially and it just occurred to us that as migrants and while working out salary, cost of living etc, we just assumed that we would not be entitled to any benefits due to single income. Having spoken to a relative in Oz, we are now unsure if that assumption was correct. Does anybody have any info about this or where we can find out. We are a family of four, two boys aged 5 & 7 and will be on a 175 visa. The job offer I have is in NSW. Thanks for your time.

You can check here for Family Assistance payments.

You won't get childcare benefit if you are unemployed. You both need to be in employment or studying to get childcare benefit because you do not need to pay someone to take care of your child if you are unemployed.

You may get family tax benefit based on your income from the previous year. That includes worldwide income. You may get nothing or quite a lot. But as a new migrant who is unemployed they usually pay it at the end of the year because the likelyhood is you will find a job and then you will have been paid too much that has to be repaid. Family tax benefit is worked on yearly income so if you get the top rate based on $0 income then find a job of $80000 you will end up with a huge bill to pay back, hence the yearly payments.

We do well with FTB but they should get rid of it and just reduce general tax levels all round. We got it from day 1 and also got rent assistance too. Seemed a bit weird to get that but soon realized it's all part of the "propping up property values" ethos of the government.

It will all depend on your income. My hubby works full time, I sometimes work casual and we have one daughter. We aren't entitled to anything benefit wise x

Congrats on he job offer.

Childcare Benefit is income based. Childcare Rebate, which you can only get by applying for Childcare Benefit is, in general, available to most people. You could be entitled to receive 50% of your childcare costs up to a maximum amount per child (IIRC it's $7500 per child).

Be aware, that if either of your LOs are under 7, they will have to have a HepB immunisation catch up programme once you arrive, as the Rebate will not be given, unless you have an acceptable reason why they cannot have it. The programme is free for under 10s.

If you are eligible for Childcare Benefit, you can choose how to receive it. Either regular payments (fortnightly I think), or quarterly, but this is paid directly to your chosen childcare provider. If you choose the lump sum payment, this is paid at the end of the financial year, and takes into account any fluctuations in your income. This is the option we have chosen.

Childcare Rebate can be paid directly to you, or to your child care provider, on a fortnightly basis. Or it can be paid out as a lump sum. If you choose this method, you will have to pay all your childcare fees yourself, then claim 50% back at the end of the financial year. For us, the option to have it paid directly to us is the easiest method as we only use childcare periodically (school breaks etc). All we have to do is fill in their registration form, and our provider does all the rest. We receive a bill from them for the full amount, and a couple of days later, our 50% rebate is in our account.

Be aware, that the letters they send out are not the easiest to comprehend initially. It can take a few readings, and maybe a phone call or two (!) to understand what they are telling you but once the process is up and running, it appears to run quite smoothly. We have had no issues with payments so far. The end of year payment 'should' be processed automatically so we shall wait and see what happens about that.

Also, you must ensure your chosen Childcare provider is an approved one, not just a registered one. The link provided earlier tells you how to find a local one.

IMO work in the assumption that you will get nothing. Apply for your Benefit and Rebate, request the annual payment, and then if you get something at the end of the financial year, it is a nice little pot for things like school fees, uniforms etc.

I agree with that. We had the rent assistance and childcare rebate fortnightly from day one of arriving here and when we did finally both find work we had to pay $6000 back because our combined income pushed us beyond the boundary to be entitled to it for that tax year. For us it was welcome assistance when we needed it but it did have an unexpected sting in it's tail.

Thanks for the replies everybody. Yeah I think we will do just as you point out in your last paragraph Rasen. We weren't expecting anything to start with so we won't miss it.

Hi Everyone,

I initially wanted to start a new thread regarding info about rental assistance but found this to be a relevant thread ... so here goes. I moved here last year september along with my wife and it has been tough going. We only managed to find a job this march and as a result our total income for this tax year would only be around 30000 for the whole year. Will i be entitled to any rental assistance if we apply for it? Any pointers would be appreciated.

PS: We are not citizens ... just PRs.

Are you in receipt of any other Centrelink benefit? If so, then possibly http://www.dhw.wa.gov.au/housingopti...s/default.aspx

Thanks quoll for the link. We haven't availed of any of the benefits from centrelink yet. Just paid a visit to get registered once during our early days. We live in Sydney so not sure about the Western Australia link you sent.

Go to www.centrelink.gov.au they have estimation calculators there that you can use without registration