Thinking of Moving to Australia?

June 11, 2008 by Mira

I have never been traveling around much. So people around me were shocked when they came to know that I am going to move to Australia. I think that moving to Australia is the best experience my family and I have had in our life. Australia has a high rate of immigrants and one of the main factors for this is its low population density.

There were lots of formalities and clearances during our process of moving to Australia. Luckily we sailed all this smoothly though with some time spending on each activity. We had our immigration cleared as part of rules that all persons arriving in Australia on board a vessel need to be immigration cleared. After our arrival to Australia, an officer scrutinized our Passport and Incoming Passenger Card after which we were directed to Customs officer for further clearance.

There is something known as skilled visa while moving to Australia, especially meant for skilled people in their work areas. For getting this, one has to clear the skills assessment.

And I had my skills assessment process in SAP which is my area of specialization and positively could clear the same. After reaching Australia, I contacted some agencies and applied for some jobs and had couple of interviews. The difference I found with the agencies in Australia is that I have to keep reminding them of my search for work. I first got placed in a temp job and then after couple of months got placed in another decent and good permanent job.

The costs that we bore during our process of moving to Australia were for air fares, entries to validate the visa, costs of shipping to Australia. In addition to this, we spent some money on renting cars to move around places in Australia and other discretionary and miscellaneous costs. So all together for our family of four, it costs around Australian $45,000. We were not charged goods duty and sales tax as the goods we imported into Australia were for our own usage. Apart from the above costs, we spent AUD 7500 on shipping costs and the shipping costs generally vary based on the country of origin. Apart from the moving cost, I found the cost of living which includes the food and accommodation in Australia is more or less the same as the UK.

We had our pet dog Rusy also with us and for moving our pet to Australia, we had to get various health and certification requirements. Our official veterinarian to inspected our pet and gave a certificate of inspection which was vital for moving our pet to Australia along with us. We also made used of the Australian Buddy system by which a buddy helped our family in getting around and acquainting with various places in Australia like school, bank, finding accommodation and so on – I found this to be a fantastic network!

This process helped to finish the above activities easily and comfortably.

Australia’s weather was fantastic and this, along with our lovely house there, kept our mind fresh always. I am happy about my decision of moving with my family to Australia and it’s a fantastic place for working and living.