Benjammintoo

Hi Guys,

That's the 175 skilled independent visa granted now, and we fly on 7th November - Destination Sydney!!!

Quick couple of questions:

1, How much cash/travellers cheques can we take through customs, per person without declaring?

2, What if we take more than the allowed amount and have to declare? What would that involve?

3, Is there a preferred alternative to getting GBPounds into AUDollars? Bank transfers? that sort of thing?

Hope you can help.
Thanks in advance, Ben.

roaringmouse

AU$10,000 - which is the total of all currencies you may have on you.

Benjammintoo

Thanks roaringmouse!

Is that per person or per travelling party?

Ben.

roaringmouse

The answer is in your original question

Tramps_mate

You can open a bank account online before you move and also transfer money in to it to be there when you arrive. You don't need to carry cash/cheque's and risk losing them. The small fee to transfer monies is worth it in my opinion.

Tramps_mate

try www.ukforex.com

Pollyana

$10,000 per person

Filling in a form

www.forex.com for large amounts or www.tranzfers.com for small ones - same company, different branches

pomE

I bank with HSBC in Uk and set-up an account in Aus prior to us moving out there. Pretty easy, and allows simple transfers thru their "Global", portal. Not sure if you have to be a Premier member for that though....

Benjammintoo

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I bank with the Halifax in UK which is now part of Lloyds I believe.
I'll check out if they have branches in Australia, and if not I'll explore the forex route or change banks before we go.....

Thanks, again.

comet555

Your bank probably offers the service but I'd seriously consider the amount of fees charged as well as the exchange rate they offer compared to the forex companies.

When we first arrive we did one bank transfer for start up funds, furniture, car, etc and the rate they gave was really, really crappy and it took almost a week to arrive.

After that we used a currency exchange place (Ozforex) and the rate was significantly better. It may not seem like a big difference in rates but when you're moving the proceeds of a house sale it's a huge difference. So do the calculations and figure out how much it costs for the amount you're moving. Oh, and Ozforex had the money there within two days every time I used them.

I would wager that the majority of people on here use a currency exchange place rather than their bank.

brits1

Hi you can also open a bank account from the UK with the Commonwealth Bank (Aus.) and when you arrive in Australia you have your cards etc already for you to pick up at your nears Commonwealth Bank. We always use ozforex for transfers, usually the best rates and every $10,000+ carry no transfer fee or your first two transfers under $10,000 are free. Good luck with everything, November is nice weather time in Aus

OverRun

Strongly recommend what brits1 has suggested - open the account before you leave. It makes the process so much easier. Otherwise it is essential to open an account immediately on arrival because you have a window of a few weeks after arrival during which it is easy to do. It gets a lot harder after that.

There is little or nothing in the way of Halifax and Lloyds presence in Australia. 4 big banks - Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac, ANZ. All pretty similar.

And as has been said in these forums before, please be aware that every transaction (close to or) over $10,000 is reported to Austrac. The teller at the bank is doing the reporting and is assessing you for the credibility of the source of the cash. So simply tell the truth - "moved here from the UK and brought my money in cash because the British banks give bad exchange rates". It is normal now to have large amounts of cash in bank accounts. After the GFC, there are many Australian families with $50,000 or $200,000 or even more sitting in bank accounts.

Benjammintoo

Great advice guys, thanks again!

I have arranged for an account with the Commonwealth Bank, it seems like the best option for my situation.

Still Game

I agree, open an Aussie bank account and transfer using http://www.tranzfers.com/ or www.forex.com

Quick and cheap, have used them for about 8 years now.

Buzzy--Bee

Ozforex. Same as ukforex and tranzfers.

Used them for years and consistently great rates and service.

BB