Moving to Oz in August - what do I need to do?

[Lisyloo725]

Hi ladies!
My husband is within touching distance of a job offer in Oz, in a role that they are allowing ‘into Oz’ at the moment (there is a priority migration list). The company sort the visa and pay for quarantine etc. They expect it will take circa 3 months.

So, on about 18th Aug, I could be on a plane out there. I have two kids (7 and 3) and one on the way (due October). We have a house we intend to rent out. We have a car it’s not worth taking.

What do I need to do / plan / buy over the next 12 weeks? As soon as the job is offered I’ll want to pounce on my list - and I’m coming to you all to help me compile it (please) 🙏🏻

Any tips/thoughts appreciated

You don’t have to pay for public hospital care. You do for specialist appts but there is a safety net where after your family is out of pocket a certain amount after the Medicare support you are reimbursed more.
You do end up paying 40 a gp visit. On the other hand, I can book one in at a convenient time the next day and a super friendly helpful doctor will see me.

There is definitely no rule your container can’t leave till you have arrived .

My brother had extensive cancer, treated for two years with surgeries, chemo. Had the best surgeons available. Cost = $0. My uncle is currently being treated for melanoma which was initially believed to be terminal. Immunotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery (including brain surgery). All done in the public system and cost him nothing. He is now well on the way to a cure, which seemed impossible a few years ago.

People can choose to pay and choose your own doctor and have treatment in a private hospital, or they can go through the public system and have it for nothing. If you go public you don’t get a choice of doctors and if it’s not life threatening you’ll have to wait, just like in the UK. If you’ve had a previous caesarean you will be offered another one in the public system.

There’s not really a need to go mad stocking up before you arrive as we do have shops here. And you do need different kinds of clothes. Australia is very casual, summer is long, winter is short. You will need a coat but will probably only wear it first thing in the morning and in the evening for a month or two. Even winter, the days are rarely bleak. You will need some decent rain gear as when it rains here it pours! We don’t do drizzle. Australian houses are generally not heated so you’ll need to be prepared for feeling cold indoors. Do try to get an air conditioned property though as you’ll find summer quite hard without it.

@Cormoran

www.news.com.au/national/cancer-patient-tracey-ryans-60000-bill-for-cancer-that-forced-her-to-raid-her-superannuation/news-story/11a90c3647d341692c6b978c6d395ec3 Many pay out of pocket. There was a documentary on it a couple of years ago

She was paying for private care. That is not the public system.

That's why it is important to educate newcomers on how the system work.

Inside a public hospital, all is free (as I said at the very beginning), outside you will probably pay.

So when you go to the gp and he sends you for blood test, you have to ask for those to be bulk billed, if you are sent to a specialist, you have to ask if you can see one at the hospital and so on, because they will send you most of the time to a private one. They are instructed to do so to relieve pressure on the hospital.

My geneticist inside a public hospital sends me to a private neurologist outside hospital, who sends me to private scans and then to a private surgeon.

There is a mix of free/pay. Don't assume it is free. Ask. Request.

@TheSandgroper - city centre apartments are easy to get at the moment- and rents dropped- family homes harder, due to the international contingent not having been allowed back (international students) this is the case in Melbourne anyway. Would be small to start with, but do able

Have to push a baby out on Medicare? That's hilarious. What kind of backwards country do you think it is here? I know many, many, many women that have had c sections on the public system. We do put the health of mother and baby first you know.

Other than that, make sure you have sunscreen. Even on cloudy days the sun can be dangerous.

It's rare for that to happen though. It's when the PBS are not funding a particular drug that people end up paying.

My mother is undergoing treatment for cancer, it's not cost her a cent except for petrol to get to the hospital. My son is waiting for elective surgery (elective simply means non-urgent), he has a CAT scan next month and then will be in hospital in a single room for 3 weeks. Cost to us? Again petrol and probably some parking fees. Cancer patients have a different car park.

@Cormoran

www.news.com.au/national/cancer-patient-tracey-ryans-60000-bill-for-cancer-that-forced-her-to-raid-her-superannuation/news-story/11a90c3647d341692c6b978c6d395ec3 Many pay out of pocket. There was a documentary on it a couple of years ago

That is incorrect. This lady was using her private health cover to pay for her cancer treatment, and in that case you pay the "out of pocket" expenses which you incur in the private system.

Melbourne mum Tracey Ryan has been forced to access her super to pay for her health care, having opted to use her private insurance to treat her cancer

In the public system, cancer treatment is the highest priority. You don't have to pay a cent for your care. I do wish people would read articles before quoting them as gospel.

@MoppaSprings @Lisyloo725
“ School fees for 482 visa are around $5400 for primary”

We’re in Australia on a 482 visa and don’t pay public school fees.

Not much to add but It’s a lot colder than you’d expect, we had a lot of issues getting the immunisation history converted and updated and missed the first few weeks of term at preschool waiting for this.

@walkingintherain23, which state are you in and are you regional? I’m in SA and they done away with the fees for regional schools but not for metropolitan areas.

Im fairly sure that Sydney you need to pay them in a tss visa.

-Sorry just realised they differ state to state.

visaenvoy.com/school-fees-for-children-of-482-tss-visa-holders/

So from what I can tell no fees apply for VIC and NT

It's bloody cold in Sydney in winter and hisses aren't heated. Brrrr!

In spite of all the plans you will need to make - how exciting OP!

What an amazing experience for you and your family. I wish you well 😊

Get yourself into British expats everything you need to know there from a wide spectrum of work/ society.
I went and stayed for 3 years but the pull of family brought me back which the sunshine and beaches could never compete with. No amount of zoom/ calls whatever replaces the day to day/ weekly contact.
However may plan to spend my retirement on Clark’s beach in Byron 😍😍🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️

You have had lots of replies since I last looked @Lisyloo725. I am very jealous of you about to embark on your adventure as ours is ending.

We are on the 482 visa too. I know it has already been mentioned about the timing and our visa was complicated by my son having additional needs, but my husband signed the contract in May, we planned to leave the U.K. in July and eventually left in October. I don’t want to panic you, because of your due date and your visa app may well be quicker and more straight forward than ours was.

I have found the health system really good. We do have insurance, but we have used the public children’s hospital and have had great experiences every time.

In relation to immunisation. We took a print out of all of our medical records and had 2 appointments here, one where the nurse entered all the jabs for the imms register and another when a doctor went through and worked out what they needed. The kids were able to start school/ daycare because they were on a catch up schedule. We did need to provide updates every time they had another jab, so that experience is different to the PP for whom preschool was delayed.

We set up a post redirection to a family member in U.K. who could scan post for us. We also gave their address for things like the mortgage that we needed a correspondence address for.

It’s good to get kids used to headphones before the plane and load up any tablets/ phones with anything they like to watch we took sticker books that kept my 2 year old busy. Maybe pack some jigsaws or games for hotel quarantine.

We had 2 boxes of airfreight that arrived about 2 weeks after we did. We packed far too many clothes in there and we should have put more of the kids favourite toys, as by then they wanted more than the small section we had brought in our hand luggage.

I just checked one of my old lists. Most of it has been mentioned or is personal to us, but one thing on the list was ‘make a plan for the shed’! I have no idea what that entailed! 😆

Good luck OP!

Wow so many lovely replies - thank you!!
@MoppaSprings hubby’s job will be in Sydney central CBD but I think we’d live out of town. He can do a fair bit remote as it’s in IT.
Probably eg. Wollongong - which I think is considered regional.
I didn’t realise that that affected school fees.

@Lisyloo725 it’s worth checking if it affects school fees for NSW or not, it was only recently brought in for SA, but all states have their own rules.

Thank you - I’ve checked and they are $5000 a year per child.
I’ve heard private schools aren’t that much more but I think it depends where you live (how close to the centre).

Thanks v much @Thefourthcraw - I had not thought of sending a big airfreight! That’s a good plan!

As you have children, and you’re moving to Australia, you need to ask yourself, is your marriage rock solid?

Wollongong is one hell of a commute. Why there?

Yes @Possuminthereddress we just know someone there and it seems affordable in terms of housing and school fees (private) but is too far I agree with you!

Get your profile set up on real estate.com.au and domain.com.au with all of your documents etc as lots are done through these two portals. If you see a property call the letting agent and arrange a private viewing asap as you're more likely to get it than waiting for the showing and going through with 30 odd others.
Ask your DH's boss if he will be a phone reference and also if they will provide a written statement.
Definitely get the TFN numbers sorted, and look into the super options as this will make it easy for DH to get paid with no hiccups initially.
When we moved we chose a suburb on a reliable train line that also had bus options which has been fantastic.
We are lower north shore in a town house with loads of parks and both DH and I can walk to work (I'm in the cbd) and our childcare and kids activities are all local so we can walk pretty much everywhere. We do have a car but it's mostly used only once a week or so. Any car related fines are pretty steep.
When looking at rentals please do yourself a favor and disregard any without air con. It just isn't worth it in the 40+heatwaves.
If you go to ikea for urgent furniture you can purchase it and take it to the delivery counter and it will arrive faster (1-3days) than trying to order it online. Or you can hire one of their vans/trucks. Mocka is a good online furniture option too with realistic delivery windows.
No birds is a good car rental company with good rates if you need one to get around and check things off your list. There are also companies like go-get but more for shorter/hourly use.
Get yourselves opal cards and make sure you register them online. DC will need child ones once they are 4years+.
Get your driver license changed over ASAP because the it counts for a lot of ID points for everything else and is relatively easy. You need to take proof of address, current license and any name change docs if relevant. Go to a NSW service centre and be prepared to wait for a bit but it does go quite smoothly.
GP visits are around $90 for us but there are bulk billed options if you have Medicare.
I found the public system amazing for birth and antenatal (even mid pandemic). RNSH is level four or five (?) hospital which means it has all the equipment/specialists etc onsite. The birthing rooms were lovely and modern and I had a private room. I was under midwife care and they took into account what I wanted the whole way through.
We negotiated health insurance into DHs contract which was great, is this an option for you?