Moving to Australia

Here is a list of all the things me and my wife have been doing in order to make this move as smooth as possible. I have organized them into categories.

Visa

Me – Being a New Zealand citizen, I don’t need to apply for one. I will automatically be granted a SCV (Special Cirumstances Visa – Subclass 444)

Wife – She applied through a company to have her visa processed. She is applying for a New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship Visa (Subclass 461)

Insurance

Me – I will be covered by Medicare, but as my wife is pregnant and ineligible for medicare, and as such will be giving birth in a private hospital, I have applied for private insurance. This will not cover her pregnancy costs, but should something happen with the baby, the baby would be covered (under my private insurance policy)

Wife – As a Visa requirement she needs to apply for insurance.

Money

We don’t have much, so its not much of an issue, but I created an account with ANZ over the internet. You are not required to be in Australia to create an account, but you will only be able to withdraw money after arriving in Australia and confirming your identity. This helps because we will be able to transfer money over without having to carry it in cash or travellers checks.

The account costs $5 a month and will begin to incur this fee after your account has been created. It will go into overdraft and interest will be charged. You will also incur a fee if your account is more than $50 overdraft. You can create an account up to a year before you arrive in Australia, but unless you really need it that early, I would not recommend wasting money.

Still to come:

Cellphone

Internet

Gas

Power

Moving Company

Useful Websites