Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

We arrive early morning Thursday 6 Jan in Sydney and I start work there Monday 10th.

Thursday we will be knackered, but what are the things we must sort on the Friday?

By then we will already have a Oz bank account and temporary accommodation.......looking back on your move, what did you do/meed to do immediately?

Ta

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Sleep, and car!

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Get online and order a TFN, you can't do it until you get there. As you start work straight away the sooner you have it the better.

Go to the bank and activate your account.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

I second the sleep and car recommendation - although it depends if you're in the city or not for the car, you might get away with public transport???? I've been here 2 weeks and am still a bit screwed up with the body clock (although I've had to work some late shifts to overlap UK hours)

And for me, getting internet and a phone sorted. I picked up a Crazy Johns sim at Melbourne airport and then a mobile broadband dongle at Target later on. Absolute lifesavers....

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Change your Oz bank account address to your Oz temp address and get a print out as proof of address. Then use this to...

Exchange your drivers license(s) for Oz ones. It's a great piece of ID with your new address on, even if it's temp.

Can't buy a car unless you have a Oz drivers license. (at least in QLD with a QLD license)

Good luck. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Yes and if they give you poxy (savings only) bank cards, order decent Visa or Mastercard debit cards for your account so you can spend more than a restricted daily limit.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

I'm new to all this, what's a "TFN"?

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

TFN = Tax file number. A bit like a national insurance number and essential for work in order to pay taxes.

In WA you dont need a WA licence to buy a car. In fact i got away without showing them my UK one as i had misplaced it.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Your name according to the ATO (Australian Tax Office). ;)

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/co...tent/38760.htm

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

We bought a car despite only having UK licences, so it is possible in NSW.

Still it is something that will need doing so might as well get it out of the way.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

for us, the first thing was picking up a hire car that we had organised for the first two weeks...then drove it through the local BWS drive through bottle shop (new experience for us that!) for some beer and champagne, then visited the local IGA - didn't realise that there were other supermarkets in the area - was horrified until we discovered Coles and Woolworths - and bought a few lovely seafoody things for dinner. then straight back to the holiday rental and chilled out with wine and food whilst trying to stay awake for the rest of the day and evening!

the next few days like jet-lagged zombies we activated our bank accounts, got our Queensland drivers licences, signed on with telstra for mobile phones and a mobile broadband dongle thingie as we had our laptop with us(not alot of choice for decent coverage in our area unfortunately - we are still with them 2 years later so not all bad). Once we'd done that we went online and got our tax file numbers, signed on with medicare and started looking at permanent rental.

good luck with everything. its a shame you have to start work so quickly...

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

We did - was just a matter of providing enough other forms of id.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Must be a QLD thing then. The car dealer said if would be "1000" times more difficult to buy a car in QLD without a QLD license.

Anyway, had them done way before then so not worried. :thumbup:

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

We were in Qld :D

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

How many demerit points do you have? ;)

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

None - I tend to find that if you don't speed, you don't get demerit points (well, not ones for speeding anyway)

Controversial, I know

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

1) Make sure you get a driving licence - you use it everywhere as id
2) SAT NAV - invaluable when you 1st arrive
3) TFN - as already mentioned on thread
4) Medicare cards
5) Try and do some fun things

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Although one could argue not strictly NECESSARY....we have digital cameras that do videos, we did a 10 minute video of us (one person would interview the other) in the last hour before we left our house in the UK, and another one when we arrived in Australia, then a third one in our new empty house just before our container arrived. Sometimes during those moments you are so busy 'coping' that life becomes a bit of a blur. I look back on those videos now and treasure them as they were landmark moments. It makes me remember what headspace we were in. :)

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

ENJOY! :thumbup:

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Yep for some. I haven't get any either and hope to keep it that way.

Yes GPS is a must. Just picked another one yesterday for the other car for $185 - Tom tom 250XL.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Not is you are on a temp visa.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Not what if you are on a temporary visa? Buy a car or change the driving licence? :confused:

I don't remember the car dealer asking to see my visa if the former.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Change the licence I think. You are allowed to keep using your UK licence if on a temp visa otherwise it needs to be changed within 3 months.

No worries buying a car though.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Mobile dongle thingy? Is this a kind of wireless modem? We have just bought a new lap top for Oz.......what is the quickest/best way to connect when we arrive at our temporary address?

A and M

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Something like this:

http://store.vodafone.com.au/handset...broadband.aspx

Go into any mobile phone shop and check out prepaid mobile Internet deals like above.

Works well as long as you're in an area with good mobile phone coverage.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Couple more thoughts :

If possible, renew passports before you leave if they are getting close to expiry. Will save a load of hassle trying to do it when you get here.

Don't pick up a mobile broadband dongle at the airport when you first touch down, they are a lot more pricey than grabbing one at your local telco shop/dept store.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Whilst it is important to get an Oz licence, you can get away with using a British one. I used my British one for over a year even though you are meant to exchange it for an Oz one after 3 months. I used the British licence for ID everywhere, including buying a car from a dealer and opening a Westpac account.

I even got stopped for a random breath test by the cops and they checked my licence and gave me the green light.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

:lol: That's thoroughness for you!

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

My thoughts exactly, so it can't be that important.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

I submit this short tale as an ex-copper UK. I was on holiday in Oz a few years back. Still a copper then. Flew from Melbourne to S.A. picked up a hire car with QLD plate. Drove back into Vic...some old dear decided to use me as target practice...outside a police station. Sgt and Senior Con arrived. Gave the sarge my UK licence which he unfurled and checked all over. Said he'd never seen a clean licence before. Said to his mate, "This blokes on holiday from QLD." "No I'm not, I'm on holiday from the UK" "Is that a pommy licence? Big isn't it." :unsure:

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

I would not advise using your UK license over the 3 months as the police can & will check! Besides, it's not that hard to change, so why risk it?

To the OP, as you are starting work very soon after arrival, I would advise that you really prioritise what you need to sort out. TFN, as others have said, is important but you can do this online.
Make sure you get some rest & adjust to timezone before starting work. Stuff like Medicare can wait.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Actually I made Medicare one of the first things I got sorted, even though I was still covered by travel insurance at the time (an aussie policy), together with joining Ambulance Victoria. Medicare office was just up the road so was dead easy for me even in my jetlagged state. Call it a little bit of peace of mind!

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

[QUOTE=Iando;8937384]1) Make sure you get a driving licence - you use it everywhere as id


You dont need a driving licence for ID at all - i dont drive (medical condition prevents it) and have been here 4 years with no need to provide a driving licence as proof of ID. Passport suffices just as well.

Medicare card I would definitely get sorted though - you dont seem to exist without one over here! ;)

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

The Police did check and said it was fine.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Well I would say you were lucky. I was stopped for a breath test after we had been here 6 weeks & they told me very politely but firmly to make sure I got my QLD licence within 3 months. They even called through to the station to check how long I could use my UK one for.
As I said before, why take the risk?

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

[QUOTE=scotdownunder;8948533]Agree you dont need it as id but I have found it great for acceptance everywhere and it is convenient to carry v a passport.

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

I don't mean to hijack this thread but I am in a similar situation and thought it would be best to continue along on this one rather than start a new one.

I am arriving in Sydney on 13th evening at 8 PM with wifey (no kids) and then going straight to holiday rental. Start work on 16th morning which gives me exactly two days to complete must do formalities. So reading this and other post, I have made a list. Any suggestions are most appreciated!

Day1 (Sunday)
1. Buy PAYG prepaid sims - split between Virgin prepaid and Crazy John's. Need something with cheap international calls and mobile internet.
2. Buy prepaid mobile dongle - Haven't decided on which one
3. Buy groceries, drinks and essentials
4. Relax and soak in the new place
5. Oh yes- apply for TFN

Day2 (Monday)
1. Activate my bank account
2. Collect my credit cards from bank (if they approve it before I get there)
3. Go to medicare office and register ourselves.
4. Shop around for a new car - was looking at Honda Jazz or Hyundai i30 though not sure if the dealers will offer finance on job offer letter without salary slips. This can wait but it would help rather than spending on rentals for long time. Any suggestions on buying a car?

Day3 - Work

Day5 - Identify suburbs where I want to stay and which fall in my rental budget

Day6, 7, 8- Search and visit rentals, hopefully find something and get accepted. Trying to prepare a document pack for applications.

Day 14,15 move in to rental, shop for furniture and white goods

Day 16 hopefully I should be done

Day 21, 22 - exchange my US license for a NSW one

Now only if I can get it done :fingerscrossed:

Re: Initial Advice on Arrival in Oz
 

Wow!! From day 5 to day 16 sounds extremely tightly packed: find a suburb you like, find an apartment in that suburb, have an application accepted, shop for furniture and move in .. all in 11 days, while you're working full time?

Although if your wife is not working, then maybe she can help with your timelines. But for me when I moved over and started work within a few days, even though I had done a HUGE amount of research, it took a lot longer than that to get settled.

It was more like first w/end visit several suburbs, sussing out transport and facilities etc in the areas that I had researched.

2nd weekend (and evenings during week 2/3) apartment hunting

3rd weekend (and evenings during week 4) furniture/appliance shopping

4th weekend - move in with the minimum needed mattress/fridge/washing machine and basic stuff while I waited on shipment to arrive

weekends 5 - 8: lots of shoppng/assembling, and unpacking shipment

So I would say it took closed to 2 months to get somewhat settled... but then if I had a wife to do all the shopping etc for me, well it would have been a lot easier !! Yup, it's a man's world ;)

Good luck :)