Arriving in Sydney 17 June 2018

[CharlesH]

I will be in Sydney on a LSD trip for 3 weeks from 17 June 2018.   I am staying in an Airbnb in Ermington.

The entire family is relocating permanently in on 5 August.

My plans in June/July are to:

1. Get a prepaid sim card (at the airport?)

2. Present myself at the nearest Westpac branch to verify the account I have already opened and get bank cards and a bank statement

3. Register myself for medicare (the rest of the family will register when they arrive)

4. Look at a few neighbourhoods/schools (although they will be closed) that we would like to settle in

5. Find a rental if possible

6. Do some sight-seeing

7. Attend job interviews

8. Register for TFN (or in August?)

 

Anything else I should do while I'm there on my own?

[vitchie]

Are you activating PR visa's on this trip? If so, are the rest of the family joining you?

 

I'm just curious, if you have relocation planned for 5 August is the "D" part of LSD is just a formality?

Edited April 27, 2018 by vitchie

[CharlesH]

1 hour ago, vitchie said:

Are you activating PR visa's on this trip? If so, are the rest of the family joining you?

 

I'm just curious, if you have relocation planned for 5 August is the "D" part of LSD is just a formality?

I am going alone on this trip to set some things up.

[SimpleSimon]

Why Ermington?

[rozellem]

The Sydney schools close on Friday the 5th of July and open on Mon the 23rd.  So you will still be able to go see some.  Make a short list now, go on their websites and make an appointment to see them before they close.  You do know that on the ground in Sydney, it is better to join a local RSA facebook group for local information.  Like "South Africans living in Sydney" and the very active "South Africans in Sydney (the hills)".  Ask the Mums (because they know stuff ) about schools.  You may find people with real, recent knowledge about this, because they've had to go through the process of picking a school themselves.  

[Tntaglia]

You may well find that the schools aren't that keen to meet with someone who doesn't live in the area yet. We tried the same thing last year in October on our LSD trip and almost all the schools said "find a rental in our area, then we have to admit you, then we'll talk". It wasn't the case everywhere, and the kids are now enrolled at a school that was willing to meet with us and show us how they do things, but just be aware that you may run into that problem. So @rozellem's advice is great, if you can find another source of information you can choose a school based on that and then try to find a rental in the area.

[CharlesH]

Thanks for all the replies.  So at this stage I have a job interview set up for my solo visit.  I also have a few leads with several recruitment agents.  But I am also in discussions to do  do contract work for my current employer until I find a permanent position in Aus so I will at least earn something, albeit in Rands.  But that is better than earning nothing.  I will have to engage with a tax consultant in Aus for that (please let me know if anyone knows of a good one). 

I have made contact with several schools and all have made it clear that we need to have a rental agreement in place in the school's catchment area.  It is probably going to be a bit challenging but I hope to secure a rental while I am there.

[Mara]

@CharlesH

With regard to the working for your employer: If you are on contract, you will obviously give him a monthly invoice,  you will not be charging him any GST, as you are doing work for a company overseas. You declare these invoices as income on your Australian tax return. That is the simple side of it... I worked for eighteen months for a company in New Zealand, so pretty straight forward. In my case the company I worked for paid me in Australia Dollars, so there were no conversions to do, which made it easy. Also the funds were paid to me on a monthly basis, in Australia, upon presentation of my invoice.

 

Obviously, everyone has a different set of circumstances, so you will still have to check it out.

 

 

[RedPanda]

Depending on what you fill in on your landing card (yes, the Aussies read them, and they are immediately put onto a national system) you might not be able to register with medicare. They only allow you to register once you have ticked "migration" or "permanent", I can't remember what it says but I know there is a difference between what you tick for activation trips and your one-way trip. And bottom line, they know.

A TFN on the other hand is super easy, even on an activation trip. Just a heads up, do it asap once you've landed, because they send you the number by regular post. So obviously if it arrives after you leave that will be a problem. But they are usually quite quick. So if you do it first thing (online, onshore) then it should be fine.

Re sim card, if you're stingy then I would really recommend taking the Amaysim deal: $10/28 days, 1GB data, Unlimited Talk & Text in Australia. No strings, no lock in. We love it. We initially got it on our own activation trip, and it ended up being so easy to keep going that we still have the same sim cards with the same numbers! The deal steadily got better with time. In four years we've had zero issues with them. Caveat: we live on the far eastern side of Melbourne and generally stick to metropolitan areas. Other people have mentioned that the coverage is not as good as Telstra. But I'm of the opinion, pay $10, see how it goes, if it doesn't work, switch then. If it does work you'll have the cheapest deal in Australia.

All the best!  

[ChrisH]

18 hours ago, RedPanda said:

Depending on what you fill in on your landing card (yes, the Aussies read them, and they are immediately put onto a national system) you might not be able to register with medicare. They only allow you to register once you have ticked "migration" or "permanent", I can't remember what it says but I know there is a difference between what you tick for activation trips and your one-way trip. And bottom line, they know.

 

Just something else to take into account.  If you are planning on getting private medical cover to avoid the medicare levy (and you are over 30), the government gives you 1 year to sign up to private medical cover to avoid lifetime health cover loading over and above your base premium.  More information on that here: https://privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/incentivessurcharges/lifetimehealthcover.htm

 

Take note of this:

If you are a new migrant to Australia, then you have until the later of 1 July following your 31st birthday or the first anniversary of your full Medicare registration to take out private hospital cover without incurring a Lifetime Health Cover loading.

If you miss your Lifetime Health Cover base day or delay purchasing private hospital cover for more than 12 months after registering, you will have to pay 2% more in addition to your hospital cover premium for each year you are aged over 30 when you take out private health insurance.

 

If you tick the box for permanent emigration to allow you to register for Medicare on an activation trip it will catch up with you eventually down the line because there are many other incentives linked to this data. 

 

[RedPanda]

4 hours ago, ChrisH said:

 

If you tick the box for permanent emigration to allow you to register for Medicare on an activation trip it will catch up with you eventually down the line because there are many other incentives linked to this data. 

 

 

So tick it when it really applies to you, and just take note in your planning on what you will and won't be able to do on an activation trip  

[CharlesH]

Thanks for the replies.  It looks like I am going to get paid through our Australian office.

 

Good point regarding the medicare.  I did not know about the possible downsides to ticking the permanent migration box on an activation trip. 

Here is a link to the landing card: Landing Card. I suppose I would select option B on page 2 with holiday as my main reason for travel for my first trip. Option A would be for our 1 way trip in August.

 

I won't really need Medicare until we permanently emigrate in August so in light of what you guys have said here, it will be better to do it with the rest of the family in August.

 

I see you have 3 months to convert your licence in NSW (if I remember correctly).  It would probably be better to do that once we all arrive. However, I am concerned about the 100 point check for a rental.  Would it be a disadvantage not having a Aus driver's licence for this?  

 

Edited May 19, 2018 by CharlesH

[CharlesH]

For clarity this a look, see, discover trip - so the topic is maybe not entirely in the right section.

[CharlesH]

On 5/17/2018 at 5:36 AM, RedPanda said:

e sim card, if you're stingy then I would really recommend taking the Amaysim deal: $10/28 days, 1GB data, Unlimited Talk & Text in Australia. No strings, no lock in. We love it. We initially got it on our own activation trip, and it ended up being so easy to keep going that we still have the same sim cards with the same numbers! The deal steadily got better with time. In four years we've had zero issues with them. Caveat: we live on the far eastern side of Melbourne and generally stick to metropolitan areas. Other people have mentioned that the coverage is not as good as Telstra. But I'm of the opinion, pay $10, see how it goes, if it doesn't work, switch then. If it does work you'll have the cheapest deal in Australia.

All the best!  

Thanks. This one sounds exactly like the one I need for the first trip.  It will probably go to my 15 year old daughter when she arrives.

[Ta2Bryan]

48 minutes ago, CharlesH said:

. However, I am concerned about the 100 point check for a rental.  Would it be a disadvantage not having a Aus driver's licence for this?  

 

 

There is a post somewhere that deals with this, but to recap

You send a mail to davidm@rtmc and request a printout and confirmation letter of your drivers licence with a copy of your drivers licence and ID.

We collected them a week later in Midrand. Very smooth service.

You use the letter for both your licence conversion and car rental

We hope to be travelling at about the same time to NSW, but that is Visa grant dependent.

 

[CharlesH]

11 minutes ago, Ta2Bryan said:

 

There is a post somewhere that deals with this, but to recap

You send a mail to davidm@rtmc and request a printout and confirmation letter of your drivers licence with a copy of your drivers licence and ID.

We collected them a week later in Midrand. Very smooth service.

You use the letter for both your licence conversion and car rental

We hope to be travelling at about the same time to NSW, but that is Visa grant dependent.

 

Thanks, I already have the letter. Just wondering whether it is best to do the licence conversion on my activation trip or on the one way trip.  Oh and I was referring to a rental home - they sometimes require various identification documents - wondering if an Aus licence would be beneficial for the ID check.

Edited May 19, 2018 by CharlesH

[ChrisH]

11 hours ago, CharlesH said:

they sometimes require various identification documents - wondering if an Aus licence would be beneficial for the ID check.

They always require 100 points of identification. An aussie license contributes 40 points so yes it definitely helps. 

[RedPanda]

The problem with converting drivers licenses (my reference is for Victoria) is that it take some time to get an appointment. Once you've seen them, the card gets mailed to your address in a very short time. But for recent friends they could only get an appointment 3 weeks hence. I don't see any reason why not to do the conversion on an activation trip, we did. They don't take your RSA license, and they don't require the "immigrated" tick on your landing card.

[iambrettstar]

2 hours ago, RedPanda said:

The problem with converting drivers licenses (my reference is for Victoria) is that it take some time to get an appointment

 

I can second this - the earliest we could get in Melbourne was 3 weeks hence. So, if your activation trip is likely to be more than 3 weeks, then do it.

 

Your passport gives you 70 points, an Aussie driver's is another 40 - so there's your 100 points of ID. If you don't have that, a bank card is worth 25 points and a foreign driver's is also worth 25 points. See here for reference.

 

We were able to secure a rental without an Aussie driver's license - we submitted passports, birth certificates, bank statement, bank card, and SA driver's license. 

[CharlesH]

Thanks for all the very useful replies. 

 

[CharlesH]

So 12 days and counting...

 

In terms of suburbs, I'm look at the Hills area (Baulkham Hills, Caste Hill, Cherrybrrok, Kellyville etc).  I have found several places on realestate and domain within our budget. 

Any comments on suburbs like North Rocks, Carlingford, Epping in terms of public schools?

I will be working in North Sydney. What are the buses like from the Hills area to North Sydney?  I work flexi hours so I'd need to find the best times. 

 

Other areas I'm looking at are Schofields, The Ponds, Stanhope Gardens.  Although Schofields is near a station, I am a bit concerned about the public schools in Schofields (both primary and high) as they don't get very high ratings on myschools. Any comments?

 

Any other areas to look at?  Looking for family friendly 3 bedroom house or townhouse, good public primary and high school. No more than an hour's public transport commute to North Sydney.

 

[vitchie]

Hi Charles. I think I actually saw your resume at my company a few months ago. I put in a good word but I guess it didn't work out. 

 

I stay in Beaumont Hills and there is a t-way bus stop 1km from there. There is a 602X express bus to North Sydney. It should take less than an hour (I'm in the CBD so I take the 607X which is a bit further). If schools are a significant part of your decision then definitely look at catchment areas for Beaumont Hills Public School, Ironbark Public School or Sherwood Public School. They are all pretty good.

 

I would always try and find something east of Old Windsor Road. Also anything North of Norwest Blvd is more South African than the area's further South (Depending if that is what you are looking for)

[SimpleSimon]

Carlingford and Epping have some of the best primary schools in NSW. Carlingford High, Epping Boys and Cheltenham girls are in the top 100 high schools. Both Carlingford and Epping have great transport to N Sydney and CBD and are close to forests and Parramatta. You won’t go wrong staying in those areas. The reason the schools do so well - large Asian population.

[CharlesH]

So I fly to Sydney on Saturday evening.  Will report back once I am in Sydney!

[CharlesH]

I am back in SA.  I got my TFN, bank account sorted, converted driver's licence.  All very quick and easy! I left Medicare registration for when our family returns in a month.