Our move to Australia

We moved to Australia when my wife was offered a job in a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. We reached Australia in August on work visa 457, which is an employer sponsored work visa. The process of applying this visa was quick and we did not face any problem. We applied this visa on May and it took about slight over a month to be approved - mainly because the job offer was there and it was nominated by the employer. 

The 457 visa was  a two step process which was the employer was to nominate the employee and thereafter the employee would need to submit an application. Documents required were fairly simple which were the employment contract, proof of health coverage (not required for NZ citizens), x-ray (or full medical check up if you are working in a classroom environment or in health care), proof of identity such as passport, police clearance from countries which you have stayed for over a year in the past 10 years. If the spouse is in the application the marriage certificate and of course the application fees. For more details you can visit the Australian immigration website. 

Under the visa 457, we can request the employer to nominate us to for residency status under visa subclass 856 or visa subclass 857 if your application is in a regional town. I shall discuss more details of the differences in these visas in my subsequent blogs. As in our case we applied under visa subclass 857 as we are in a regional town. There are many other classes of visa to be considered depending on each individual's circumstances.

Under the visa 457, we have to pay half international school fees for our daughter which amounts to AUD4,500 pa. We were lucky that we are a New Zealand resident and we have access to the free accommodation in the public hospital but we would still be required to pay for the medical costs. As a New Zealand resident we are do enjoy the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme under the reciprocal aggrement between Australia and New Zealand which provides only a minimal subsidy. However the pharmaceutical costs here is far more expensive as compared to New Zealand. Should you be from another country please check the if your country is covered under the reciprocal health care. Each country's agreement differs from one to another. It would be advisable to at lease take a cover for health insurance should you move to Australia since medical cost can be very expensive. Unless we are a resident of Australia we would not be covered under the Medicare. Some of the insurance company that provides for imigrants are Medibank, nib, HCF and more.

This visa 457 is merely a work permit allowing you to work legally in Australia but it provides little entitlements. For example application for loans and credit card could be difficult given the situation that either we do not have any credit standing or we are non resident as required in most Credit Unions or some credit card companies. As such it is advisable to quickly launch your residency application soonest possible for you to be entitled to more benefits.