Moving to Australia

If you are a NZr you are automatically elible for residency, if you wanted to become a full blown Aussie citizen I think you can apply after 2 or 3 years. Yup you can go there and work, they do a 3 month probation period which means should they feel your not suitable for the job the can dismiss you, and vice versa...within that first 3 months. Centrelink do a kind of WWF package but since you won't be an Oz citizen on arrival you'll need to look into what you're entitled too. They have a thing called medicare over there which subsidises Drs appts etc if they're registered. You'll need to get health insurance to cover admissions to hospital and some other health services. Also most health insurance won't cover pregnancy (neonatal, c sections i think...stuff like that) for the first year of the policy. Ummmm dental work, unsure about that.

But make sure you have birth certificate, drivers licence, evidence that you've permanently moved to Oz, cos you need to build up points (100 I think) in order to get a medicare card, and get HPs etc over there.

Doesn anyone know how it works, do we have to apply for residency? You are entitled to work there as you are NZ citizen, however after 2 years of being there they do ask you to become an Aus resident/citizen

Can we just go there and work? Yes, but first you need to get an Aus IRS (IRD) number first

Are we entitled to assistance like the WFF we have here? Not sure on that sorry

Anybody done it, moved across the ditch? What are some things we need to know? My mum and dad went back a year ago now and they love it (they went home, but had been in NZ for 23 years). They say go over and see where you want to live, just because everyone is going to the gold coast doesn't mean it will be for you.

Does anyone know how medical and dental works over there? You have to have Medicare

Oh cool. The ANZ website says you can open a bank accoun t from here and deposit money into it and then when you arrive over there you just take your passport and they will let you withdraw your money.

You aren't entitiled to any goverment assistance (wff etc) till you have been there 12 months. Got a friend with 5 kids who moved over about a year ago or so.

It is totally not worth sending money to an Australian account from here - it costs you $25 EACH time you do plus a $12 receiving charge.

Also you have to do a minimum $100+$25 charge every time you do it.

So it works out very costly.

If your wanting to set up an account for Australia, your best to set up a savings account here that you cant touch and call it Australia or whatever.

These are what you're may be entitled to on arrival (so just by being a NZ citizen permanently living in Australia )..there is no 2 year waiting period on these.

Family tax benefit part A, part B, maternity allowance, child care benefit, carer allowance

Other ones that are exempt from the waiting period are, disability support pension, parenting payement (should you become a single parent after arriving)  special benefit, bereavement allowance, mobility allowance.

Centrelink website has all the info for newly arrived citizens, and tells you whats available.

Anybody done it, moved across the ditch? What are some things we need to know?
Yep we did it just over 2 years ago now and were moving back to NZ in January. When you come over bring your ID, someone said you need 100 points. This is correct. Your passport usually has the most weighting of about 70 points but each place has different weighting system.
You will need a TFN (tax file number) its the IRD number eqillivant. You can apply for this online, well we did when we came over.

Does anyone know how medical and dental works over there?
There is a govt scheme called Medicare. You get a percentage of your medical costs reimbursed to you, i.e. if seeing your GP costs you $50 you get about $30 back. Its instead of subsidising Dr's directly. Dental is NOT covered by medicare.

In regards to Health insurance you definitely need it!!! Most policies have a 12 month pregnancy stand down period. Dental is usually covered with most basic health isnurance policies. There are so may policies and so many providers you will need to do your research.

Good luck

When did that happen Rianna?? I was last over there in 2004 and my cousin didn't need them on her car.

geez it seems rather differcult to move to oz!

mummy_becks wrote: When did that happen Rianna?? I was last over there in 2004 and my cousin didn't need them on her car.

Err, Beck going off the top of my head it was end of last year or start of this year. They have 2 P's here now, a red one and a green one. Im not too sure how long you have each as we've never needed to go through it because we hold a full NZ licence we just paid for a QLD licence, had a photo taken and away we went