# Move to Australia



## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi,

We are an Indian family of 4 planning to move to Perth on a package of 120k AUD per annum before taxes. The company will pay for super annuation of course. I have one school going kid. The other child is an infant. 

Which schools are good for primary kids?
Localities to stay? Are there any places to avoid?
Cost of living? Is it possible to have a decent living and save a little bit on a 120k per annum package?
How would my wife go about finding a job if she wants to work? Are there any home based jobs?
We will moving in October. Is there a big indian community? 

What do people do on weekends? 

Any comments or suggestions would help.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi any suggestions are welcome.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2012)

No idea about Perth but the wage sounds good  what visa are they offering? 
There are not many home based jobs that are any good other than childcare, which can pay well. Look on seek.com.au


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

thanks shel we are going on a 457 . what difference does a visa make? any idea on schools/ localities etc


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2012)

In perth you won't have to pay school fees on a 457 but you will not get any family benefits or help with the costs of childcare. You will also need to pay for full health insurance.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

hi thanks .. do you know of good primary schools? also sub urbs? Are there any sub urbs to avoid?


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## zyoxizol (Apr 10, 2012)

Salary is good enough if you want to earn and spend here in Oz. You might be able to feed your family of four with a decent lifestyle but don't expect to save much for future unless your other half wok full time or part time... This is my opinion, see what others say. Better life for sure...best of luck


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks for the comments. Is it true that if i buy a car i only get a two year loan since i am on 457. I was told that it costs atleast 1000AUD per month on car- that includes insurance, fuel, car loan etc. Is that true?


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

I called some housing agents who told me that houses are un furnished. They just provide a stove and an oven. We have to buy all the white appliances and the furniture, Is that true? Is it better to buy the furniture and ship or is it better to buy in Perth?


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> I called some housing agents who told me that houses are un furnished. They just provide a stove and an oven. We have to buy all the white appliances and the furniture, Is that true? Is it better to buy the furniture and ship or is it better to buy in Perth?


It's quite common for houses not to be furnished in oz. I would recommend you buy your household goods once you get to oz. The plugs in Singapore are not the same as in oz so you would need to buy new adapters to change all white goods. If your company will pay for the shipping of furniture, do it. If not, I would recommend you buy once you get here.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks for the comments. Is it true that if i buy a car i only get a two year loan since i am on 457. I was told that it costs atleast 1000AUD per month on car- that includes insurance, fuel, car loan etc. Is that true? 

Can anybody advise on the car situation??


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> hi thanks .. do you know of good primary schools? also sub urbs? Are there any sub urbs to avoid?


Hard to say which is a good school. What are your priorities? That your kid gets the highest marks? That your kids go to school near your house? Do you have money to send your kids to private school? Here's a link for the top primary schools in Perth. 
Top Primary Schools in Perth

You want to avoid living too far from where your kids go to school. I went to a public school in Perth and turned out ok! Straight A student. But 15 years ago, I have to say there were drugs being sold at my school. It wasn't just my school though....I would say that it's commonplace in a lot of schools in oz. I'm not sure what it is like today but I knew some kids who used to get drunk.... But this is just part of the Aussie culture I guess! .... Don't worry there were also the good kids too! 
I'm not trying to turn you off but just want you to be aware since this was all very new to me having being schooled for the first year of my schoolinglife in an Asian country.


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> Thanks for the comments. Is it true that if i buy a car i only get a two year loan since i am on 457. I was told that it costs atleast 1000AUD per month on car- that includes insurance, fuel, car loan etc. Is that true?
> 
> Can anybody advise on the car situation??


No idea about 457 since I'm an oz citizen, but we are about to buy a new car (salary sacrifice) and we have budgeted 1000 per month for insurance, fuel, registration, and interest on the loan. But we are buying a brand new car (perhaps demo car), probably a Mazda crx.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks a lot for the help. We are looking for a good primary school where there is lot of attention to education. Also looking for something which is very near home. IT does scare me a little bit that there are drugs in primary schools. Isnt that a bit too much ?


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> Thanks a lot for the help. We are looking for a good primary school where there is lot of attention to education. Also looking for something which is very near home. IT does scare me a little bit that there are drugs in primary schools. Isnt that a bit too much ?


Did you check the link I sent? That will show you the highest performing schools in Perth. Do you know where you want to live? 

By the way drugs and alcohol are not in primary schools. That's way too young. Kids may be exposed to this from high school onwards (I.e grades 8 to 12).


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi I did check the website. Very useful. But there seem to be a number of schools. How do we make a choice as to which one to get into. We have no idea about sub urbs to stay in. But are there any sub urbs to avoid?


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

With the 120k pay are we likely to be left over on a per week basis.?


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

What do you mean by salary sacrifice?


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> What do you mean by salary sacrifice?


It basically reduces the tax I need to pay.
Here's more information:
Salary packaging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> Hi I did check the website. Very useful. But there seem to be a number of schools. How do we make a choice as to which one to get into. We have no idea about sub urbs to stay in. But are there any sub urbs to avoid?


If you have money go for a private school. If you don't then I don't think one high school is EXTRAORDINARILY better than another. It might take you a few goes before you decide which suburb is best for you. When I grew up in Perth, we moved 3 times in a space of 17 years. I would recommend that you pick your suburb first and then choose your nearest public school. Anything along the coast and near the Swan River is prestigious. Super wealthy people live along the river. Try not to go too far inland (away from the coast). The further inland, the poorer the suburbs. Inner city living is generally for the young, not married group of people.


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## Laugan2 (Apr 7, 2012)

Hi, we are here on a 457 visa had had a problem getting a car loan as we are only temporary visitors on this 4 year visa, we were initially rejected but had to get help from our personal banker back in the UK to help us get the loan. We pushed and pushed for the loan and after 4 weeks it was granted but we ended up reducing the amount we wanted and reduced the term to 3 years. Was very costly leasing a vehicle whilst waiting for the loan to be approved. I wished we had just brought more money with us from the UK to buy a car. Our bank in Australia told us its hard to borrow money if you aren't an Aussie resident!


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## Naom (Feb 4, 2012)

Perhaps I can pitch in my experiences. We also came in on a 457 visa and wanted a relatively new car. We asked around with banks and got a loan approved smoothly. At the end of the day I guess it depends on your salary. We went with dealer finance because of the interest rates. The length of the lease will depend on the validity of the 457 visa which in our case was just under 4 years as I am here on a permanent contract. Getting a car loan should be possible with banks, home loan would be difficult without a PR.



aussiemover said:


> Thanks for the comments. Is it true that if i buy a car i only get a two year loan since i am on 457. I was told that it costs atleast 1000AUD per month on car- that includes insurance, fuel, car loan etc. Is that true?


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## Laugan2 (Apr 7, 2012)

We were also told finance thru the car dealership offers better rates which was going to be our last resort. I think our problem was that we had been in the country a matter of days and applying for a loan and our bank not knowing what our spending habits were like, they wanted to see 3 months of accounts in Australia first, earnings wasn't an issue, this was with the NAB. Our other car we bought cash to save the hassle again. Good luck with your move in October.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

hi all, thanks for all the feedback. Our kid will go to public school for primary education. Do we need to pay any fees at all? If so how much is it likely to be?I heard in some cities public schools charge for those on 457


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## deeno88 (Apr 12, 2012)

I think it's $4500 per year from the info I've been told. my partners daughter is in a private catholic school and it's that


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## deeno88 (Apr 12, 2012)

that's Sydney though ... not sure where your planning on going


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2012)

Deeno is right, its NSW & ACT where you pay for public school as a temp resident. You will have 'free' education for your children in WA but will have to pay contributions towards books & trips. These fees vary and not sure how much they are in WA.


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

_shel said:


> Deeno is right, its NSW & ACT where you pay for public school as a temp resident. You will have 'free' education for your children in WA but will have to pay contributions towards books & trips. These fees vary and not sure how much they are in WA.


And school uniforms too.


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2012)

Of course, Do you buy them from the school? 
Its not something I'd normally count because you can usually buy from anywhere you want. Although some schools in the UK take advantage and have sweaters and blazers with name badges woven on you can only buy from them for a hefty cost instead of much cheaper anywhere else without the name badge!


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

_shel said:


> Of course, Do you buy them from the school?
> Its not something I'd normally count because you can usually buy from anywhere you want. Although some schools in the UK take advantage and have sweaters and blazers with name badges woven on you can only buy from them for a hefty cost instead of much cheaper anywhere else without the name badge!


Yes you can buy them from the school. I came from a big family so we just had plain tshirts and shorts from shops like Big W or Target. The public schools 20 years ago didn't mind that you didn't have the logo as long as the colour code was correct. I was secretly envious of the students who had logos though! It looked so much better than my plain tshirt! But happy that Australia has a dress code as I would not like to decide what to wear each day!


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## Laugan2 (Apr 7, 2012)

We are in Victoria and for half a year for two children we paid $200 school fees, some of it was voluntary ground fees and some was for swimming lessons. My daughter will go to a Catholic College in Feb2013 for her secondary education and ours will be $4000, you don't have to be Catholic to go thou. As for school logos you can buy plain tops and get the logo printed on in workwear shops, we did it.


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

hi, we plan to relocate from singapore to perth. Are there any movers that can be recommended? Since i have managed to convince my employer to pay for part of the moving costs can somebody advise it is better to buy both white goods and furniture outside and ship them over?


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## AussieFemmeInFrance (Oct 31, 2011)

aussiemover said:


> hi, we plan to relocate from singapore to perth. Are there any movers that can be recommended? Since i have managed to convince my employer to pay for part of the moving costs can somebody advise it is better to buy both white goods and furniture outside and ship them over?


I wouldn't buy white goods and ship over. It's a different plug. You would need to buy adapters for each electrical appliance, plus if something broke, how would you get it fixed under warranty? Buy it in oz, even though expensive, (don't know how much it is in Singapore, but Australia in general is expensive). At least you are under warranty if you buy it new in oz. 
Furniture - don't send over wood items because it needs to go through customs and may need to be treated. Oz is strict about what you bring in to the country.


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## Guest (Aug 10, 2012)

You can take in wooden items, just not wicker (from some countries) untreated wood and outside furniture if from some countries and areas, like the UK which has had mad cows disease & other parasites & illnesses.

There is a database on the customs website that allows you to search the condition of bringing in items from each country.


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## melbourne (Sep 6, 2011)

shel, can you give that link to customs website?


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2012)

melbourne said:


> shel, can you give that link to customs website?


 The database I mentioned....

Import Conditions Database - ICON - AQIS

Goods not allowed into Australia....

Moving to Australia or Importing Personal Effects/Household Goods - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

_Prohibited goods

AQIS will not permit the importation of the following items as personal effects:

* fresh fruit and vegetables*
live plants and bulbs
prohibited and restricted seeds
unidentified seeds, *which can include some foods, including spices*
live animals (including pets) that require an import permit
biological products including some* plant based, herbal medications*
*unprocessed goods* of plant or animal origin
soiled items, or *items containing organic residues*
items knowingly infested with pests or a disease._


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## aussiemover (Aug 6, 2012)

_shel said:


> The database I mentioned....
> 
> Import Conditions Database - ICON - AQIS
> 
> ...


Thanks Shel. You guys are like the encyclopedia.


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## bangalg (Apr 22, 2009)

I was planning to carry some family picture frames, Etc. I can see that "picture frames" are in the prohibited list. So looks like we cannot even carry family photos in frames and the like.


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2012)

Photo frames? Of course you can take photo frames!


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## deeno88 (Apr 12, 2012)

I think it means wooden ones that maybe need treating ;-)


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2012)

deeno88 said:


> I think it means wooden ones that maybe need treating ;-)


 Well if he made them himself out of wood he found in the back yard then no he cant take them 

If like me you bought them in a shop and they are varnished or painted you can. I had a huge box full.


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## deeno88 (Apr 12, 2012)

my friends got stopped with their shop bought wooden ones .. so just stick to normal metal or cheap varnished ;-)


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## Laugan2 (Apr 7, 2012)

We shipped all our wooden framed pictures even canvases with wooden backs, wasn't a problem at all bring them to Australia, the only items we left behind was some wooden Xmas decorations. Surely your removal company should advise you if your frames are ok?


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