Hi ladies & Gents

Please could you offer some advice, we arrive in Brisbane in October and we have a 3 week holiday home booked on arrival.

Problem we have is you have to give a fixed address for your TFN/Medicare/Bank/Car Rego/Driving licence etc...............How did you get around this before you secured a rental/mortgage?

I have seen somewhere that some people have opened a PO box account and are they accepted as the norm under the circumstances (new migrant) or did you use your temp holiday home/short term rental address to get the ball rolling?

Thanks for your help

Well, we stayed in a pre-booked Hotel in Melbourne for the first week then had a pre-booked Holiday Rental for a month while we searched for and rented our long term rental (been in it 18 months now).

We did it in this order:

• Bank Accounts & Credit Cards - On the first day we opened our eyes in Australia (used the Holiday Rental as our address)
• TFN - sorted by our Accountant who we arranged from the UK to setup our Company, etc, but we used the Holiday Rental
• Medicare - We sorted this out on around Day 10 and we used the address of the Holiday Rental then changed it (just walked in and told them, very efficient) when we knew the address of the long term.
• Car Rego - We had a rental car for the first month, you can usually get good rates for longer term rentals. Just don't rent from the airport. We bought our first car about four weeks in while in the Holiday Rental and used the address of the Long Term rental we had, by then, arranged. It's not hard to change the address through. Insurance is the one you need to look out for because the premiums will change based on the suburb, type of property and how you are storing the car which will no doubt change when you rent/buy your long term.
• Driving licence - Sorted at about he 2nd Month once we were in the Long Term rental. If you're PR you have 3 months to transfer your License to an Aussie one, but if your TR then you don't have to at all. Not a big deal either.

Hope this helps

Al

Hi
we were same as bigAPE a handwritten paper receipt for our sef catering accomodation was enoguh for driving licence and then as the driving licence has address that was enough for everything else

How will they know its a short term address and not your permanent residence?!

We also lived in short term rented accommodation on arrival although it was a bit longer than your time frame.

We got the bank cards on day 1. We'd bought a car from the UK (using the temp address) and had that delivered on day 1. Day 1 we also applied for the TFNs.

Day 2 or 3 we applied for our WA driver's licences (with temp address).
Day 4 for Medicare card (with temp address) and for library card (also with temp address).

Then when we moved out of the temp place, we got a three-months postal redirection from Auspost to our next rental home. We also told ATO, licencing, Medicare, and library our new address. The post re-direction was just insurance so no important mail would get lost.

Getting the driver's licence a.s.a.p. is a good idea as certainly here in WA every "official" place wants to see it - saves having to carry your passport around.

No-one will know that your address is only "temporary".

Gina

thanks everyone, appreciate your replies

hi www.jimboombarelocations.com do address service & they can email you mail if required jonny

We too used our temp accom address for Medicare, TFN, Drivers licence, Rego, fully comp car insurance and bank accounts without any problems. Just remember when you move to notify them. Plus if you are renting and you have a good relationship with the owner of the accom, they can give you a reference for when you apply for a rental,, if you need to..

I opened a bank account using the short term rental address, and asked the bank manager to do a "proof of address" letter - this is a fairly standard form that the banks address to the payroll manager. I used that to get the driver license, Medicare, etc.
NJ

How long does it take after applying before you get a TFN? Or a driving license for that matter. We've got accomodation in Brisbane for 10 days and don't know whether to get paperwork sent there or onto my sister-in-law who's 5 hours away, I need things kept as simple as possible. How efficient is the Australian postal re-direct service?

Really starting to panic now...7 days to go!!!!!

Paula & co