Migrating to Australia with high hopes

mdnelle · July 2018

@chococrinkle following your query and interested sa response.

Sa Philippines/outside AU po ba kayo magopen bank account?

chococrinkle · July 2018

@mdnelle Yup dito kami pinas mag open. For BM kasi daan muna sydney ng 1 week before pumunta ng SA so if pwede naman makuha agad sa sydney yung debit card after verification, then dun nalang namin kunin. :-)

agentKams · July 2018

@chococrinkle iyong debit card isesend po sa address niyo sa AU.

chococrinkle · July 2018

@agentKams Thanks for your reply. So possible ba that we indicate Adelaide address on the account application but we do the 100 pts verification in Sydney?

agentKams · July 2018

@chococrinkle that I am not sure. you can email the bank officer assigned to you once they have opened your account. goodluck sa BM!

chococrinkle · July 2018

@agentKams Noted on that. Thank you. :-)

Lrac · July 2018

@chococrinkle sa mga nabasa namin dito sa forum, some said you can verify it sa ibang branch pero based on observation, kaya nilalagay mo yung preferred branch because the bank's main office will send your ATM dun. Once andun ka na, the officer will just check your 100 points of identification and give you your ATM on that day. If you will activate it in other branches, I think there will be a waiting period like 3-5 days.

chococrinkle · July 2018

@Lrac Thanks for your feedback. Hmm.. maybe its best to ask nalang the bank officer on our best option. Thanks a lot. :-)

dyanisabelle · July 2018

@Lrac @chococrinkle this is true. Yung branch na inindicate ko nung nag apply ako offshore, hindi ko pinuntahan nung nag activate ako haha. Sinubukan lang kasi namin sa random NAB branch sa mall. Pwede naman, naactivate naman pero yung cards daw namin nandun sa inindicate kong branch. So inorderan nalang kami nung officer ng bagong cards tapos pinadala thru mail sa address namin.

dyanisabelle · July 2018

@mdnelle we applied for medicare the day after our arrival, oks naman. Hehe

gracee04 · July 2018

Just following this thread ksi for BM na din kame ni hubby this October. Napakalaking tulong talaga ng forum na ito

chococrinkle · July 2018

@dyanisabelle Thanks for the feedback.

Lexi · August 2018

Guys, NSW visa 190 ako. Pwede ba ko mag-initial entry sa ibang states, like Melbourne? Ma-question kaya ako ng immigration officer?
Thanks!

EGMS_AU2017 · August 2018

@dyanisabelle hi mam ask ko lang po kht sa ibang state ka titira pede ba apply ng medicare? Plan kc nmin mag sydney muna then melbourne po magsettle. Can we activate it sa sydney kht few days lang kami dun? Thank u po

Heprex · August 2018

@Lexi yep, tingin ko pede.

@EGMS_AU2017 yes, pede. Although you need a permanent residential address dito sa AU, kase dun nila ipapadala yung card. Kung lumipat ka man ng ibang states, pede mag update ng address.

Lexi · August 2018

@Heprex Thanks bro. I plan to do my initial entry in Melbourne by October before moving to Sydney after a few weeks. Hirap ng walang kakilala sa Sydney eh

Megger · August 2018

sa mga nakapag big move na. I understand mahirap makakuha ng bahay sa Sydney, ano ba mga docs na hinahanap ng mga agents, at ano pwed mo gamiting leverage para ma secure yong bahay specially kung job hunting stage ka pa. Salamat sa mga sasagot.

batman · August 2018

@Lexi congrats! granted ka na pala.

Lexi · August 2018

@batman Thanks bro! Nung last month ko nakuha. Eto excited na maghanap ng work at sa big move. Plan ko sa October na agad haha. Pero di ko na ko naka-exam ng Ethics, naging busy kaya na-defer ko.

Sana may grant ka na din soon

kubera · August 2018

@Megger

Bank statment, medicare, photo card or drivers license, passport

kubera · August 2018

@Heprex

Nakapag BM ka na? Diba IT ang field mo? Kamusta job hunting?

Heprex · August 2018

@kubera yep, nakapag BM na. Hehee di pa ako nag jjob hunting. Nag aantay na lang ako maaprove relocation ko dito para di ko na need mag resign, although nag wowork na ako dito sa melb opis namin, pero pinas pa din sweldo until ma finalise.

anamarie · August 2018

@Heprex congrats sir, dirediretso na ang aussie life, npkaganda pa ng transition ng work!

mdnelle · August 2018

@Heprex ang galing naman po na me affiliate un Company nyo sa Melbourne!

Megger · August 2018

kubera said:
@Megger

Bank statment, medicare, photo card or drivers license, passport

thanks.. @kubera , gaano ka katagal nakakuha ng house?

Heprex · August 2018

@mdnelle @anamarie thank youu!!

athelene · August 2018

Hello hello~

Medyo nakapagsettle na ako kahit papaano sa Sydney (as student, not PR po). The first things I did were to apply for the NSW Photo Card, tax file number (even though wala pa rin akong work till now haha), open bank accounts, and activate OSHC (Medibank). I'd like to share my personal experiences and thoughts about them.

Everything was a painless process, at least to me. For all of these, ang usually hinahanap ay Australian address; some may take up to 2 weeks (10 business days) to receive in the mail, so it's ideal that you have a place to "crash" if you haven't found a place to stay permanently, maybe for at least 3 weeks.

Banking

I applied for Commbank and Westpac accounts while overseas, and apparently those were the transaction accounts. Sa Westpac I think I nominated the one in Sydney CBD (Martin Place), so I went there, bringing only my passport, visa, eCoE. They were able to verify my identity using my passport and eCoE (wala na silang hiningi na iba).

The bank officer will usually offer to open a savings account for you (no minimum deposit required, unlike sa Pinas), and they'll print out like a bank letter indicating your bank account number/details. They'll ask for your address, since they'll send your ATM card to that address (I received Westpac card 4 business days after activating my account).

For Commbank, I just went to the one on uni campus and just showed passport and eCoE din. Commbank card took longer, I believe (not sure which day it arrived, but definitely within 10 business days).

The banks would also ask for your Australian mobile number, but since I told them I didn't have one yet, they said I can just update my contact details later.

NSW Photo Card

The NSW Photo Card is pretty handy for international students, so apply for one as soon as you arrive (if you're not applying for a driver's license). If PR, I'm not sure if you have a different kind of identity card or ito rin yung kailangan niyo hehe. You can simply go to any Services NSW centre; bring along your passport and bank statement showing your Australian address. I asked if the welcome letter from the bank was permissible, despite it showing my PH address, but surprisingly they said it was fine.

One of the staff gave me an application form and helped me photocopy my documents, and then they gave me a ticket for the queue. At the counter, you just need to submit your application form, photocopy and original passport and bank statement/letter. Then they'll take a photo of you on the spot (my pic turned out ok despite feeling so haggard that time hahaha), and then you'll have to pay the processing fee (I paid AUD 54, for a 3-year validity).

My NSW Photo Card arrived 3 business days after application. Since they're pretty strict here in Australia about drinking alcohol when underage, you can simply show your Photo Card when entering bars (Asians like us look very young on this side of the world).

Tax File Number (TFN)

I applied for this the same day I arrived in Sydney. You can just apply online at ATO website. They will ask you for Australian address, because they will send a letter with your TFN details (they won't issue this TFN over the web, like the TIN in Pinas). The letter from ATO with my TFN details arrived 5 working days after application.

OSHC (Medibank)

This may not be relevant for PRs reading this, but I figured I might as well share this in case may mga fellow students na napadpad dito hehe.

I received an email from Medibank reminding me to activate my OSHC upon arrival in Australia, and I did it online on Medibank's website. If your OSHC provider is not Medibank, check your provider's website if they have a menu or page that allows you to activate it (if necessary to activate lang ha, sa Medibank kasi kailangan). Once I activated my OSHC, I applied for a physical card, since I preferred that to a (downloadable) "digital card." Please note that it is NOT necessary to apply for a physical card, but I thought it might be handier than having to rummage through my phone for that "digital card."

The physical card arrived in the mail about 5 business days after online application.

Australian Mobile Number

I only picked up a prepaid sim card maybe 4-5 days after I arrived; I just got the cheap Amaysim AUD 10 sim card from Coles. You'll find these sim cards near the cashier/counter, usually outside the store pa. You can grab which one you want and pay for it sa counter. The Amaysim sim card pack did not have that small pin to release the sim tray (and I assume ganun din sa iba).

SUPER TIP: I discovered later on that at Central Station, the tourism/visitor centre there has tons of free brochures. And they have free Vodaphone sim pack (AUD 2 worth daw, but you have to recharge/load it up to be able to use it), that includes the small pin for the sim tray! May free sim card ka na, may pin pa hehehe!

Anyway, for the prepaid sim card, you have to activate it online and to be able to select your mobile plan and number (I just chose a memorable one from the offered options). If you don't like your current mobile provider, you can change to a new one (if you're not on a contract) and transfer your existing number (they call it porting).

Since I wanted a cheap prepaid plan, I transferred to Jeenee Mobile. I had to wait several days to receive the new sim card from Jeenee; again, you have to activate the new sim and apply for porting. Porting took maybe 3 normal days before the sim was fully functional (I applied for porting on Friday night, and the sim was usable around Monday afternoon).

So there~ I hope my tips would help you figure out how to get started in settling in Australia~

dyanisabelle · August 2018

@athelene binibigay pala nilang free yang 2aud na vodafone sim. Binili pa namin yan, sayang ang 2. Hahaha! Nahassle pa kami nyan kasi di namin maactivate nung una. Magkano gastos mo for mobile?

athelene · August 2018

@dyanisabelle At first i kinda regretted buying the amaysim sim card, but when i realized how that free vodafone sim worked, parang mas tipid ung amaysim hahaha. Poor student lang ako kaya low-cost plan lang ang kinuha ko sa Jeenee, AUD 24/month on a 12-month contract; unli calls+text, plus 10Gb data. Since bahay-uni lang ako, nagagamit lang yung data habang nagccommute or when I'm outside uni buildings. My typical monthly data consumption is around 6-8Gb, so 10Gb is more than enough.

kittykitkat18 · August 2018

@Megger single or married? Based on our experience, we submitted the following - bank statements, certificate of employment, id’s, credit card statement, reference letter from previous landlord (shared house and we just requested a letter from the owner of the house) Approved in one day. Maybe both of us are working. Another unit we inspected responded after a month saying we have a strong application and if we are still interested to secure the unit. Before submitting the documents we wrote the agent a letter stating our interest in the unit (eg. near our workplace, safe environment, family friendly suburb, peaceful area, near train and schools)