Order of things do do on arrival

[Dugong]

All,

 

Been a few years since i was last on this site and it has changed a lot  I get 175 VISA (with an extension). Good to see how many people are going through the visa process and also to recognise a few people from way back when  

 

Was looking for one concise list of "have to do's" when you arrive in Australia - we will be moving in a while, but are planning doing a trip now in July and I wanted to get all the registration and administration stuff out the way - like bank accounts, mediacare cards etc so that when we move that is all in place already

 

So;

 

to prove 100 points of ID what do you do first? Seems every item almost except medicare requires 100 points of ID? 

 

Then I have

 

Drivers License - can we just swap SA for Aus ? going to NSW

Medicare card - just walk in and apply for this?

TFN (tax file number) - is this the first thing to do?

Bank account

Private medicare (within first 3 months)

Aussie sim card

Postal address 

Update Linked in and get CV into Aus format - want to see a few agents while I am there just to see but again I have time

email addy

 

What have I left out? 

 

 

(not going to worry about rent and schools as we are not moving now, but want to get all the admin out the way)

 

Thanks for the help

 

Edited March 4, 2016 by Lion King

[Mara]

@Lion King there are some things you can do on your activation trip and others that you can only do when you come to settle it once you settle.

 

Drivers License - can we just swap SA for Aus ? going to NSW

Yes you can just swap it and you can do it on your visit, but I do believe you have to make an appointment and you will have to give an address, but I guess you can just change your address once you settle.

Medicare card - just walk in and apply for this?

You cannot apply for this until you settle.

TFN (tax file number) - is this the first thing to do?

You cannot apply for this until you settle.

Bank account

Yes you can do this on your visit.

Private medicare (within first 3 months)

You do not need to do this, it is within 3 months of you settling.

Aussie sim card

Only if you want to use it whilst you are on your visit.

Postal address 

Update Linkedin and get CV into Aus format

You can do this online, there have been a number of posts on the forum regarding this, so just do a search on the forum.

 Want to see a few agents while I am there just to see but again I have time

Your choice.

email addy

Your choice.

 

Hope that these are the answers you wanted.

[RedPanda]

About the driver's license, we were able to have our new licenses issued from our RSA ones, no problem (Victoria though, not NSW). Just note that RSA might be on their 'second list' of accepted countries, where they recognise our driving experience but not test per se, so they will only convert licenses if they have been held for more than 5 years. And sometimes the person helping you might not be aware of the second list, and might try to tell you that you need to do the test again, just ask them to check the second list.

 

I just want to add that we got our TFNs without any problem on our activation trip. (Victoria though, so not sure if NSW is the same???)

 

And we got Amaysim sim cards, that we've just topped up once to keep them active, so when we go back there in May this year they are active and we can just pop them in and load data.

 

We were lucky enough to meet a very friendly landlady at the BnB were we've stayed twice now, who allowed us to use her address for the initial admin stuff.

Good luck! 

[Mara]

Unless you will be back before the end of the next financial year, which is at the end of June each year, I would not suggest getting the TFN number as you may cause yourself more problems than you need to.

[Guest]

I only passed my driving test back in SA in 2014. VicRoads issued me my driving license no problem and after going down with all my docs I received my license in the post 10 days later. Efficiency ?

[RedPanda]

7 hours ago, emmayenkanna said:

I only passed my driving test back in SA in 2014. VicRoads issued me my driving license no problem and after going down with all my docs I received my license in the post 10 days later. Efficiency ?

Did you have a South African road license? Or a British one?

 

Edit: Ag tog...ok, I didn't read that through...

Edited March 6, 2016 by RedPanda
Blindness

[Chips]

On 06/03/2016 at 3:01 AM, emmayenkanna said:

I only passed my driving test back in SA in 2014. VicRoads issued me my driving license no problem and after going down with all my docs I received my license in the post 10 days later. Efficiency ?

Thanx Emma was a bit worried heard if your licence is less than a year it's hard to get an Ausie one.