Artificer828

Hello folks, I am new here, this is my first post. It looks as though there are some real friendly and helpful people on here and I hope someone can help me out.

I am in the process of being transferred by my UK employer, to a post in Melbourne, they are using a global relocation agent to process a 457 visa application. My wife and I would go.

Two of our daughters have emigrated to Australia with their families, so this is a fantastic opportunity to go and live near them for a few years.

I had an aspiration that my wife and I would be able to ship some personal belongings as UPE. I see some 'ambigous' wording around eligibility. I downloaded the Aus Gov leaflet 'SENDING YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS TO AUSTRALIA AS CARGO OR BY INTERNATIONAL MAIL' and this leaflet contains the following wording :
------------------------------------------------------------------

For your UPEs to qualify for the available concessions you must:
• be the owner of the goods and have personally owned
and used the goods for at least 12 months before departing
for Australia
• have arrived or intend to arrive in Australia, and
• be an arriving person who is a permanent resident
(returning to Australia) or a first time migrant from a place
outside Australia taking up permanent residency.

If you are not a permanent resident of Australia or are not arriving
to take up permanent residency you can still import some types
of goods as your UPEs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
That last paragraph seems to offer some hope that we can send some personal belongings, but I don't know where else to go to find further details on that.

Does anyone have experience of sending UPE on a 457 visa?

Best wishes to all, Dave

Sarah7263

Hi Dave,

I might not quite be understanding your post but are you just talking about normal possessions or things like cars etc? We came over on a 457 and shipped our stuff but the best people to ask for advice would be your employer and whoever they are using as removal specialists.

I did also see this on the customs website though -
"Who is eligible?
To be eligible to import items as UPE's you must be a migrant who is coming to Australia to take up permanent residence for the first time, a person returning to resume permanent residence, a temporary resident, a returning Australian citizen or an Australian citizen who is residing overseas that has returned to Australia temporarily."

On a 457 visa you would be classed as a temporary resident.

Hope that helps but if you give us a few more details you will get a better response!

Artificer828

Hi Sarah.

Yes I am referring to Personal belongings (Clothes, Bedding, Pictures, a bed etc). My employer is not meeting any removal costs, so I have to arrange that myself. They have arranged for a migration agent to obtain the visa, but any removals, I have to pay for.

I have spoken to Crown Removals / Relocation and they advise me it is possible to ship UPE on a 457 visa. I'd be interested to hear of your experience though.

Regards

Dave

Mummy3

Would sharing a crate be an option for you? Beds are quite big and once you read on here, the advice, which I agree with, is bring as much as you can, it can be expensive here. Crown are who we used last year and were very good.

Being a bit dim here, but do you mean UPS?

Artificer828

Thanks Mummy3 - I am looking at all options and will discuss further with Crown. The official term is UPE - Unaccompanied Personal Effects. Did you go across on a 457? Or did you have residential status?

Dave

Mummy3

457, all done at super speed!! This time last year had no idea we would be in Oz now, but its great!!

Pollyana

Most people on here just refer to it as shipping - which might make it easier when you are searching We have many posters on 457s and they just shipped goods the same as people on PR Phone round the shipping companies and get quotes, easy as

paddyo

Came over on 457. Shipped by two methods; Air Freight (we had a 500kg limit which was generous enough) and Vessel Cargo. Ours was paid by company so was easy for us. Air Freight took 2 1/2 weeks to travel and go through customs, Cargo took 7 weeks.
It is standard for all Temp 457 holders so just arrange your removals as normal, no need for special restrictions UNLESS you are bringing in anything on their 'restricted' list.
We used Crown I think, no issues.

Pomster

we came on a 457 years ago.

Can't remember the address we used, but we had our stuff delivered to the rental we found once here.
We have just moved back a few months ago and filled in a random address on the form when we were in UK...when the ship arrived we had an email asking where our stuff should be delivered, so we gave them our new Aus address. The same will apply on a 457.

Sarah7263

So mine was all organised through Pickfords who I really recommend. It was such an easy process the whole way from start to finish. They came round and estimated how many boxes we would need, then one morning 2 guys turned up and packed it all and it was equally as easy in Aus too when we had it delivered. We didn't bring a massive amount (we were both still living with our parents) but we bought duvets, clothes, shoes etc all fine. There are certain restricted items (some food products etc) but stuff like bedding, clothes etc is definitely fine. You also have to be quite careful with shoes as they have to be spotless and not have any mud on them but whoever you use to ship your stuff will be able to give advice on this!

Hope this helps give us a shout if there is any other specific questions!