# Wanting to move to Australia from USA. Help



## tcscivic12 (Jul 2, 2008)

Hey all I am living in the United States (living in South Carolina) and am getting ready to go to college for electronics engineering. I would like to study abroad in Australia and eventually move there and pursue my career in Australia for Electronics Engineering. Any tips for an American in the United States living and working in my interest of work in Australia would be greatly appreciated. Also, I hope to get to know some people from Australia and keep in touch with them until I actually get there (eventually) if anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.


----------



## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

Hi tcscivic12, 

Welcome to the Aussie forum. 

Check out the "PLEASE READ...." post since that has links to visas and you'll want to check that you can get in with a student visa to study here. 

Quite a lot of us on this forum aren't Aussies since we've either moved here (or are in the process of moving here ) from somewhere else. I'm sure as a student that you'll mix with lots of Aussies once you are here 

Regards,
Karen


----------



## upnsmoke (Jul 2, 2008)

I'm Australian, currently in my expat here in the states.

The few differences I've notice with U.S and Australia.

- Health insurance, in the U.S you usually need health insurance to be able to afford getting the right treatment. In Australia, the health system is much "better" that any citizen or expats covered by medicare or some private health insurance, should be okay. Dental is expensive just like U.S however.


- Studying wise, you might have to pay up front in colleges/university. In the states, most engineering degrees require around 60K for a 4-5 year course, am I correct? Hence the student loans.
In Australia, if you are under HELP (formerly HECS), you can defer your payment, it comes out of your salary as part of your tax... and only if you make a certain amount. 
In your case, you might not be qualified for HELP, so you might need to pay upfront, or apply for some assistance. It'll most likely cost you 40K for a whole course that way... Im not sure, but medicine cost 60~70K in Australia. In the U.S I heard it could get into the 100K+.


- Career wise, engineering is in shortage in Oz... I am an engineer also... although not electronics. Pay wise, a graduate in Oz with 1 year experience gets the same amount as U.S graduates... but in Oz, things like cars, clothes, furniture are more expensive than U.S so you end up with less.... BUT again living in Australia has many advantages over U.S also... the health system being 1 of them, which is HUGE.

- Housing, you have options, university/college students usually live together near campuses, for some affordable cheap accomodations. Plenty of them if you arent picky who to move in with.



- Just a note, Australian cities like Melbourne and Sydney are very very very multicultural... US cities are too, but just not as high in ratio as Australia. I am ethinic also so I know and have noticed the differences. 

- People age 20~35 are into trends a lot, fashion, latest gadgets etc. Australians are usually up to date with best of Europe and States, but again expect to pay premium, I can say that U.S prices for clothing is much much cheaper. Expect to pay triple the price for american brands such as CK, Guest etc. Euro brands like G-Star and other designer... well they both expensive in U.S and Australia.


- Australia is very much a "relaxed" country, people are much friendlier usually, as long as you are also friendly.


----------



## tcscivic12 (Jul 2, 2008)

Thank you for the information! I will be posting more questions on here about Australia as I have them and have been r eading this forum a good bit now and from what I am hearing I am really looking forward to moving to Australia.


----------

