I've been trying to work out the order I should be doing things when I first arrive. The complication is I won't have a fixed address of my own as we intend to spend several months travelling/visiting family. Everything seems to require documented evidence of an address and most documents on the list (TFN, drivers licence, Medicare card, bank statement) seem to require the other documents to get

Has anyone worked out the best order to get the following sorted?

Divers licence
TFN
Medicare
Bank account activation

And can you do (any) of these without a fixed address?

Rob

If you're visiting family, ask if you can use their address as your 'base'. This way you can register for everything without any issue.
When you have your own place, just make sure that you change your addresses. It's easy. Otherwise, you will have problems without an address.

When we applied for our drivers licence we had to prove that we were staying at an address. Fortunately we were staying at a Big4 so had a receipt to show. How do you do that if you are staying with relatives? Did anyone else have to provide proof?

When I got my license, I just told them that was our address. I didn't have to provide proof.... Perhaps you did because you weren't staying with relatives!

Medicare check you against a list of arrivals in the country anyway, to make sure your visa pans out.... and your passport is worth 100 points in the first couple of weeks you're in the country so you can use it at most places.

Rob, there's a whole list of 'help' threads here you might want to read too. The 'To Do' stuff is relevent.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=345774

Just get your relatives to write a simple letter confirming that you are living at that address. The Manager of the apartments we were in was happy to do the same and we had no problems.

Good point, and a Stat Dec signed by a JP (who seem to be available in suburban shopping centres) wouldn;t hurt either

Is this true? Can anyone confirm it? It'd be fantastic if it is as it'll solve a lot of problems.

I've been through them, but couldn't find a great deal as to how people evidenced identity or the best order to sort these documents. Loads of other really useful stuff though, so I recommend everyone reads them. Thanks TiddlyP

Rob

Passport is the main proof of identity but we don't like walking around with them all the time so our first task was to get our driving licences. For this we needed 3 items of identity we used our passports, OZ credit card and rate bill showing residence. The later being a pain as all our mail had our Dubai address on it. Went to the council offices and they produced a rate statement with our names at the house address on it for us.

I know it's not an official thing but several times I was asked and didn't have proof so they said 'no problem' we will post the documents to you (library card, other small things)....I asked if they wanted me to fax the bills so they could post them out when I got them.....I got a bemused look and a 'naw if you receive the stuff proves you live there right'.....passport was fine for everything else, in fact it was more 'having' an address rather than proving I 'lived there' if that makes sense.

HTH

Probably not the best order but I did:

• Bank Account activation (passport was enough)
• Medicare (again passport was enough but had to wait a few days for the info to come from immigration)
• TFN (applied online, used temp rental address)
• Drivers licence (I used a friend's address for this but I could have used the temp rental address).

When I arrived we still had to do a theory test for the drivers licence which is why it was one of the last things I did. Nowadays it's a straight swap (in most states) so I would recommend doing this as early as possible.

We've only been here just over a week so I've been through all this gubbins too!

TFN - doddle, just do the online form (they check your entry visa so no probs there)
Bank account - passport only
Medicare - doing that today (joy )

The tricky one so far has been the RTA for transferring our UK licenses. We have bought a car (from a dealership) and will need either an aussie license or some sort of number to prove it's being done in order for it to be registered.

Went to the RTA, had a letter from our friends saying we were living there and a letter from the AQIS invoicing us for our pets quarantine addressed to us at that address but the (really very rude) woman at the RTA said we needed a utility bill in our name at that address. Only a utility bill would do.
Anyway I wouldn't let it lie because obviously I can't get a utility bill and got her to read through the whole form with me and now I have to get my friend to sign the form to prove that I'm living there. Looking forward to doing that again LOL!

Yes of course it's true!

Here you go:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=301835

Thanks TiddlyP!

It looks like Bank Account, TFN and Medicare will now be OK. The tricky one looks to be the driving licence as we're travelling for 3 months and won't have a Queensland contact address in that time. But as the UK one is valid for 3 months it looks like we'll be OK, if a bit tight.

Thanks everyone.

Rob

Keep your UK one as long as possible..........you're bound to get nicked for speeding and they can't put points on a UK license especially if you're going to visit Victoria ( the land of the camouflaged copper)