Daughter moving to Australia

[Gingefringe]

My daughter is going to spend about 6 months in Sydney - spending time with her boyfriend who's over there (until Sept as part of his Uni Course) and will be looking for work during that time. She has a visa and bought her ticket leaving next month.
What advice could you give? Will she need private health insurance?
All comments/tips welcome.

She should get insurance definitely. I'm from the UK but now live in Australia.

Sydney can be expensive, her boyfriend should start putting feelers out for her to make finding a job as easy as possible so she doesn't burn through her savings too quickly.

She's going to be arriving right when things are heating up so tell her to make sure she uses sunscreen!

Finding work here isn't hard if your a student type...what sort of experience has she got?

She should sign up for the reciprocal health agreement (Medicare - took me about half an hour to do), but also have private insurance. I think mine cost about £130 for a year. When she moves, she can find a centre nearby on the Dept of Health website.

I'd also recommend opening a bank account before she goes - I did it online with Commonwealth Bank, just had to show up (at a branch of my choosing) and let them photocopy my passport to finalise it.

Finding casual work is really easy as so many young travellers do it. She needs to print a load of CVs and pound the pavements... If she wants to make a bit of cash, she should try hosting at upmarket bars in the harbour. I know someone who did that and made loads in tips!

Oh, and get an Aussie PAYG sim ASAP, as employers won't bother calling if her CV shows a UK number!

Great experience for her.

Thanks for the advice so far. She's just graduated in Business Management and worked in retail for the past 6 years since she was in the 6th form - she'll be looking for something in retail or bar work but would consider anything really.

If she hasn't bought full travel insurance including working holiday cover she must not get on the plane. It will not be cheap.

She needs to do an RSA course (Responsible service of alcohol) as soon as she gets here if she wants any kind of work in a licensed premises (bar, waitress, bottle shop). She can't get those jobs without an RSA card. The courses run every day in various city centre venues and it will cost around $100; needing the right piece of paper for a job is common here. There are loads of nice upmarket venues that will hire travellers but she will have to produce her working holiday visa and she will need a Tax File Number. She will be able to claim a refund of tax paid when she leaves. If you look up ato.gov.au the tax info should be there.

My DD1 is doing this right now. Took her a few weeks to sort out work but not long. She ended up working in a chain and really enjoyed it. She earned enough to flat share and to travel. Her chain will sort out a job in her next city. She has lots of bad experience in UK and abroad and did the RS course as soon as she got there. Another thing she's doing this minute is housesitting. She also has an Aus bank account and an AUS sim for her phone, all sorted out by STA.

What type of visa does she have? Unless it is a working holiday visa she will have restrictions on her ability to work.
She MUST buy the ambulance private insurance, because it is not covered by the reciprocal system/medicare but will usually be with any private cover. Do all the dental and other checks before leaving because specialist visits are hugely expensive.

Assuming she will be on the working holiday visa, in which case travel insurance would be appropriate for her rather than health insurance product an Aussie might buy.

I definitely agree visiting the dentist in the UK and getting everything they recommend done, even if she has no current issues, is a good idea. Dentists in Australia are hugely expensive, I would conservatively estimate four times more expensive than a private UK dentist.

There is a prevailing myth about being able to claim tax paid when she leaves. No she won't, whether she can get a tax refund will depend upon whether she paid too much tax or not, same as for everybody else, although tax rates are different (less favourable) for non residents. She would however be able to reclaim her super, which will be a nice bonus.

www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/International-tax-for-individuals/Coming-to-Australia/Working-holiday-makers/

Great tips everyone - I think we have most of these covered now. Im just wondering whether she will need some evidence of funds in her bank account when she arrives at passport control? (Or maybe I've been watching too many Australian Border Control programmes!)

If she has a return ticket she should be OK.

Well she's over there now - all went smoothly with the flight, connections and customs. She's got a few interviews lined up for next week and is really excited. I'm missing her terribly though but she should be back in about 6 months!! Thanks for all your tips.