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Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by zanyzara: 7:33am On Oct 10, 2017
This thread is about Life in Australia for Immigrants or Permanent Residents.

It is an avenue for people that have emigrated to Australia (with their families) to share their experiences to help future hopefuls.

Kindly share your personal experiences and comments on:

* Your departure experience from Nigerian Airport?
* Stopover experience? When you landed at the airport?
* What are the immigration rules to follow?
* How did you carry all that cash with you?
* Can you open bank account while still in Naija?
* Which State/suburb did you settle in and why?
* Driving in Australia? How long can you use your Naija driving license before you get Aussie license?
* Where you live and why you like it or don't like it? Tips on choosing the right neighborhood, mortgage plans, proximity to work etc.
* How easy was it to settle in, with your kids? How did you go about finding the right schools for them? What is their school system like for toddlers (age 5 and below)?
* Can a mother combine work and taking care of the kids?
* What culture shock have you experienced?
* Tips on how to cloth and cope with the cold weather
* Are there Nigerian food/restaurants etc? Are they very expensive?
* Can one start a business (exportation, consultancy) in Australia?
* How much does your family survive on in a month?
* And any other ...

This thread is for Living In Australia. For any questions outside this to go:

General Australian Student Visa Enquiries Part 3:
https://www.nairaland.com/3786389/general-australian-student-visa-enquiries


OR

General Guide To Australian Permanent Resident Visa Through Skilled Migration

https://www.nairaland.com/3053069/general-guide-australian-permanent-resident

cc;tyosho;bellong;jukeblam;wellendowed;malkinburg;catchdwind4rmkd;sammywemmy;ozymigrant;jamson;vinsmuft;Cuteannie02;scrollmeout;johnsontade;dunsiogundele;oknee;chidike

Zany.

25 Likes 3 Shares

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by latexxbro(m): 7:40am On Oct 10, 2017
it's been easy but I will come to tell ltr after my ogas Don come talk already

3 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Ebimor96: 8:00am On Oct 10, 2017
latexxbro:
it's been easy but I will come to tell ltr after my ogas Don come talk already

Huh?

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by tyosho: 8:14am On Oct 10, 2017
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN(tax file no)
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition).

To get the best energy providers,internet providers,insurance etc,you can make use of iselect.com.au

During cold weather,you wear jacket and use heater(we paid almost 200 a month for heating during this past winter)

I do most of my shopping at Dandenong Market as food stuffs there is cheaper than everyother place I know.There is also Marmara market at Dandenong(all kinds of food items including shaki,cowleg,cow tongue etc) and an African store not far from the market(cant rememeber the name).At noble park is SUR african shop where i get dry fish,palm oil,egusi and stuff like that.

With departmental stores,woolworths is most expensive and aldi is cheapest.Coles is in between.
I know of only one nigerian restaurant that recently opened in the city and i have never been there before.
There is also another popular naija shop in the West called Fatimoh"s shop

With centerlink link claims,we were paid family tax benefit part A and B,family rebate and child care assistance.This all sumed up to $621 forthnightly for the first 4months,it came down to 550 and then now sits at $89 fortnightly.It reduces with every income increase.
Childcare rates was $113 for two kids initially (5days a week) and now is $370 a week.

We also got a concession card which has now been cancelled since we both have jobs.With the concession card,we paid discounted electricity and waterbills,half price for transportation,free ambulance cover,susbsizied fees if we had done any studies at the time and my first kid who is in kinder got 15hours free of daycare weekly .

With jobs,for me,it was just God.I got a job in the Tier 1 team of an IT company with no technical knowledge whatsover.It was my 3rd video interview and i got the job two months after arrival.I commute 54mins by train to the CBD which is quite a distance by OZ standard.But i dont mind really.I got the job through indeed.com which i prefer to seek.com
There a couple of recruitment agencies i know and i will list as i remember.

Strategy one(blue collar)
Adecco
Hoban
Ozstaff(blue collar)
Randstad
Sharp &carter
Hays
Smaart



cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o

427 Likes 49 Shares

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by einsteino(m): 8:38am On Oct 10, 2017
cool.

tyosho please share your experience here. Thanks in anticipation.

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by nikkycool(f): 8:53am On Oct 10, 2017
einsteino:
cool.

tyosho please share your experience here. Thanks in anticipation.
I have been itching to read about this for a long time,thank God it was raised,at least it will serve as guidelines for intending migrants like us.Please feed us well with all the info.Thank you.

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by mohikeX: 8:55am On Oct 10, 2017
I must commend this. I have bin hoping for a thread like this. I would be relocating next year but would love to hear about other people experiences.

3 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by joannes7(m): 9:45am On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition)




Thanks for taking the time to write this. But hows the IT scenario over there?

7 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by einsteino(m): 9:49am On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.......


thanks alot. what is the cost like for public schools; elementary and high school?

you spoke of the need to get a car, could you give insights on cost of acquiring one and maintenance; say gas/fuel, insurance etc.

also how easy is it to integrate into ones profession? i hear the australian work experience is a must have, are there bridging programs for immigrants? thanks alot

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Xkoba: 10:24am On Oct 10, 2017
Tanks may God bless you richly...still processing my PR I ll soon come up wits my detailed write IJN

6 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by praiseisgood: 11:10am On Oct 10, 2017
Madam Tyosho,

God bless you abundantly and preserve your home.

You have done justice to this topic.

Very insightful.

We will all get there.

19 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by zibe(m): 12:44pm On Oct 10, 2017
This thread gives me so much joy!

Why? Cos I know I'll post about my experience someday, after getting my PR. cool

15 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by edoman2016: 1:05pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition)

During cold weather,you wear jacket and use heater(we paid almost 200 a month for heating during this past winter)

I do most of my shopping at Dandenong Market as food stuffs there is cheaper than everyother place I know.There is also Marmara market at Dandenong(all kinds of food items including shaki,cowleg,cow tongue etc) and an African store not far from the market(cant rememeber the name).At noble park is SUR african shop where i get dry fish,palm oil,egusi and stuff like that.

With departmental stores,woolworths is most expensive and aldi is cheapest.Coles is in between.
I know of only one nigerian restaurant that recently opened in the city and i have never been there before.
There is also another popular naija shop in the West called Fatimoh"s shop

With centerlink link claims,we were paid family tax benefit part A and B,family rebate and child care assistance.This all sumed up to $621 forthnightly for the first 4months,it came down to 550 and then now sits at $89 fortnightly.It reduces with every income increase.
Childcare rates was $113 for two kids initially (5days a week) and now is $370 a week.

We also got a concession card which has now been cancelled since we both have jobs.With the concession card,we paid discounted electricity and waterbills,half price for transportation,free ambulance cover,susbsizied fees if we had done any studies at the time and my first kid who is in kinder got 15hours free of daycare weekly .

With jobs,for me,it was just God.I got a job in the Tier 1 team of an IT company with no technical knowledge whatsover.It was my 3rd video interview and i got the job two months after arrival.I commute 54mins by train to the CBD which is quite a distance by OZ standard.But i dont mind really.I got the job through indeed.com which i prefer to seek.com
There a couple of recruitment agencies i know and i will list as i remember.

Strategy one(blue collar)
Adecco
Hoban
Ozstaff(blue collar)
Randstad
Sharp &carter
Hays
Smaart



cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o
How much is average salary for entry level graduate jobs in Australia? And what is the average total expenditure for a single guy in a month in Australia? Kindly help with my enquiries.

15 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Mcslize: 2:50pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho wow that's quite a fascinating narration. I am intrigued. Thank's for sharing. I am wondering if it possible to get Garri over there. If not is it Semovita?

4 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Nobody: 4:08pm On Oct 10, 2017
Thanks for creation of this group & for the valuable insight given already.

Is it necessary/worthwhile to apply for a job before leaving Nigeria? Is there any chance of getting a job when you have a definite date of arrival?

Thank you.

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by kamotisha: 5:17pm On Oct 10, 2017
Tyosho,
Thanks for doing justice as usual grin I don dey pack my boxes o.

It's wonderful to have a thread like this.

Oya oga Vinsmuft, 4mula22, catchwind4rmkd....pls report to the diary room here ....come and top up grin

I hope to contribute my own quota soon by God's grace.

Meanwhile, these IOM people take forever to reply mails o sad

5 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Phlunter01: 5:29pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.


cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o

This is lovely. thank you so much

1 Like

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by toslad: 6:02pm On Oct 10, 2017
Sisterly, you wan make I begin my endurance trek to coman meet you abi?

Thank you for the detailed analysis. Thank you for always being there.


[quote author=tyosho post=61275202]It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.

3 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by nosula: 6:47pm On Oct 10, 2017
My fellow chemical engineer. Please I would like to know the fare price when IOM responds to you. Thanks

kamotisha:
Tyosho,
Thanks for doing justice as usual grin I don dey pack my boxes o.

It's wonderful to have a thread like this.

Oya oga Vinsmuft, 4mula22, catchwind4rmkd....pls report to the diary room here ....come and top up grin

I hope to contribute my own quota soon by God's grace.

Meanwhile, these IOM people take forever to reply mails o sad

1 Like

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by Nobody: 7:00pm On Oct 10, 2017
nosula:
My fellow chemical engineer. Please I would like to know the fare price when IOM responds to you. Thanks


Was charged 407k by IOM, Emirates airline just last week.

4 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by nosula: 7:00pm On Oct 10, 2017
I am presently applying for jobs not necessarily cos am looking to move immediately but rather gauging the adequacy of my resume. I have found seek and indeed jobsite to be very useful. Doing this can help you know if there is a certification you can do to boost ur cv before you relocate and at the same time, u can filter your job search by region/state. This was useful in my case as I initially wanted to reside in Perth, but based on my findings I am now looking at either melbourne or sydney.
Inspire of all I said, it's generally harder to secure a job when you are offshore. In my case I used Skype to get an Australian landline number which is presently on my resume and using a friend's address in Perth.
I would be relocating by early 2018. I hope this helps. Cheers



samge:
Thanks for creation of this group & for the valuable insight given already.

Is it necessary/worthwhile to apply for a job before leaving Nigeria? Is there any chance of getting a job when you have a definite date of arrival?

Thank you.

6 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by kamotisha: 7:35pm On Oct 10, 2017
nosula:
My fellow chemical engineer. Please I would like to know the fare price when IOM responds to you. Thanks

They just did. It's roughly 1.6M. 2 adults, 2 children and 1 infant. We plenty for our yard grin

23 Likes

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by kamotisha: 7:39pm On Oct 10, 2017
I am now looking at either melbourne or sydney.
Inspire of all I said, it's generally harder to secure a job when you are offshore. I[b]n my case I used Skype to get an Australian landline number which is presently on my resume[/b] and using a friend's address in Perth.
I would be relocating by early 2018. I hope this helps. Cheers

I think I should explore this option.
How did you get the line via Skype pls
[/quote]

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by nosula: 8:12pm On Oct 10, 2017
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA256/how-do-i-get-a-skype-number

kamotisha:
I am now looking at either melbourne or sydney.
Inspire of all I said, it's generally harder to secure a job when you are offshore. I[b]n my case I used Skype to get an Australian landline number which is presently on my resume[/b] and using a friend's address in Perth.
I would be relocating by early 2018. I hope this helps. Cheers

I think I should explore this option.
How did you get the line via Skype pls

2 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by suurutu: 8:46pm On Oct 10, 2017
Ope ooo,been looking forward to a thread like this for sooo long. Please keep the info coming!

@tyosho : bless you ma'am for this update.
Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by wunmi590(m): 9:27pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition)

During cold weather,you wear jacket and use heater(we paid almost 200 a month for heating during this past winter)

I do most of my shopping at Dandenong Market as food stuffs there is cheaper than everyother place I know.There is also Marmara market at Dandenong(all kinds of food items including shaki,cowleg,cow tongue etc) and an African store not far from the market(cant rememeber the name).At noble park is SUR african shop where i get dry fish,palm oil,egusi and stuff like that.

With departmental stores,woolworths is most expensive and aldi is cheapest.Coles is in between.
I know of only one nigerian restaurant that recently opened in the city and i have never been there before.
There is also another popular naija shop in the West called Fatimoh"s shop

With centerlink link claims,we were paid family tax benefit part A and B,family rebate and child care assistance.This all sumed up to $621 forthnightly for the first 4months,it came down to 550 and then now sits at $89 fortnightly.It reduces with every income increase.
Childcare rates was $113 for two kids initially (5days a week) and now is $370 a week.

We also got a concession card which has now been cancelled since we both have jobs.With the concession card,we paid discounted electricity and waterbills,half price for transportation,free ambulance cover,susbsizied fees if we had done any studies at the time and my first kid who is in kinder got 15hours free of daycare weekly .

With jobs,for me,it was just God.I got a job in the Tier 1 team of an IT company with no technical knowledge whatsover.It was my 3rd video interview and i got the job two months after arrival.I commute 54mins by train to the CBD which is quite a distance by OZ standard.But i dont mind really.I got the job through indeed.com which i prefer to seek.com
There a couple of recruitment agencies i know and i will list as i remember.

Strategy one(blue collar)
Adecco
Hoban
Ozstaff(blue collar)
Randstad
Sharp &carter
Hays
Smaart



cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o


Very good write up, at lease this piece would give the new comers and new goers to know how Australia is like in general.

God bless you ma'am

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Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by gudxson: 9:35pm On Oct 10, 2017
nosula:
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA256/how-do-i-get-a-skype-number


@nosula Thanks for this info. Kindly help me answer the below questions/concerns. (i apologize if the below question may derail this thread).

1) Do i need to have ready an active visa, if I must use this means? (for immediate traveling in case I get an offer from Naija)
2) What is the logic behind using Aussie house address and phone number if my current CV shows i have an active job in Nigeria?
3) Assuming i dont have an active VISA and by luck, i secure a job, will I apply for an immigrant visa (skilled) or visit visa and convert over there.

Please educate me.

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Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by salford1: 10:07pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
To everyone in the house,
I apologise for staying away,the move has been very tasking jare.
To vinsmuft abeg take this as a reply to your mail.
So upon arrival these are the things we did;

for communication:we got a lebara sim and are on the $30 monthly package(it gives 100mins free to naija,free australia calls and some kain data allowance and stuff)

for transportation:hubby got a car from gumtree.Pls learn from us,buy a car that is registered till year end and has a valid road worthiness certificate.Then any car is just fine and no one cares about your type of car in Oz.Its right hand driving here and hubby don master am already so we use GPS to go everywhere and anywhere we want to.I have driven a few times too and still adjusting.We can use our naija license for 6months in Victoria.

For cash:we came with usd and left some in our niger dom acct(avoid this if you can as you can only withdraw $1k max monthly and the charges are not friendly).Come with all your cash if you can.You can always change usd into aud in any of the many bureau the changes in town.

Then open a bank acct as soon as you come in cos you will need it to make claims at centerlink.

Centerlink is a must within a few days of your arrival.Make sure you go to an office that has both centerlink and medicare to save extra movement.Husband and wife have to register seperately at centerlink while for medicare the whole family ie including kids will fill seperate forms.After medicare reg,request for a slip with your info on it there in the office.You can use this before your card comes in(we took one of our kids to the clinic before our card arrived and we had to pay $75 because we didnt get that slip).We are going to reclaim the money though.

For couples with kids,locate a bulk billing medical practise close to you and go with your kids immunization cards from nigeria(take your medicare slip along)so it can be updated to the australian standard.If there are any outstanding vaccines,you will informed and a date will be given you to come take the vaccinations.If you do not update their vaccines,you will not be entitled to child care rebates from centerlink.

There are certain claims we can request for from centerlink as new migrants in Oz to help offset a few bills(family assistance part A and B,rent assistance,child care benefits and child care rebate).Depending on your individual circumstance,you should be entitled to a stipend monthly.we have applied and is yet to receive.

TFN:Apply for your tax file number at home online.No need to go to the post office.

For accomodation:We are staying with family in Northern Melbourne but we are presently house hunting and leaning towards south eastern melbourne as that is closer to the cbd.Because we are dont have payslips yet and no rental history,it hasnt been so easy getting our own apartment.We sha got somoene who knows someone who"s very close to an estate agent and they are helping.We however have to pay 3months in advance to secure this place.


For work:im not searching yet as kids must start daycare first(they only got their vaccines yesterday).We also want accomodation sorted before they begin daycare.
Hubby too has not been too serious because we both want this housing matter settled.However,he has done two short courses and has offers already but hes stalling because where we are is about 2hrs45mins by train and 1hr 35mins by car from the placement.

Then just as an advice for peeps coming over,keep an open mind with regards to jobs you can do.I have met lots of people who dumped their PR professions and jumped on the wagon of disability and aged care,nursing,fork lift,construction and factory workers in other to earn money and believe me,they are doing so well.So if you have do one of the above until your desired job breaks through,abeg do am and nobody dey look face here as long as bills are paid and there"s dignity of labour.

If i remember more,i will halla.



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Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by salford1: 10:07pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
Thanks tosin.

@oknee:the car was advertised at 3400(negotiable) on gumtree(a toyota sportivo the one we call toyota big for nothing).We negotiated and got it at 2600 thinking we don jam deal we no say na we arab don jam.
So far we have spent over 2500 fixing the so called minor issues,airconditioning and getting a road worthiness certificate.mean while a friend i had here got the toyota pencil light at 1600 and it had road worthiness,airconditioning and was registered.So always look carefully and if possible take mechanic along.

for aged care/disability,there is somewhere in dandenong(south east melbourne) you can do a one day course with fourteen assignments and you get a certificate.the cost is about $1900.Good thing is you can take the course on credit and pay after you start earning money.i will be doing this after we move and the kids begin daycare.Just received the good news some minutes ago that our house application has been approved and we can move in.Its a 3bed,2bath house in south east melbourne going for 375 weekly(me and vinsmuft go be neighbours).will hook you up when you land with the care contact oknee.

hubby did a two day forklift course($400).He has also done a police clearance and working with children check so he can work in the aged care/disability sector(pls opt for disability instead of aged care as aged care dey much more physically tasking).
This saturday though,he has an appointment with a career coach/counsellor who is going to help him build his cv and work with him till he gets a job in his accounting/auditing field.This is costing money same with every other check i have listed above.
You will all find out nothing at all is free in OZ.Even when you buy pizza,you go pay for delivery.

The pay is a bit above decent.The guy we stay with works with autistic people and he earns $33 per hour week days and $51 weekends.His wife who is a registered nurse earns $40 week days and $73 weekends.There"s talk in some places that aged care/disability workers might not earn as much from July this year but i do not know how true this is.
I met a couple a few days ago who were both accountants in Nigeria.Infact the wife na chartered accountant sef.Today she"s a nurse and her husband is a factory worker who is studying to be a nurse by the side himself.They moved here 3years ago and are living in their own house now.

so this place na as you make am be.



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Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by salford1: 10:08pm On Oct 10, 2017
It would be nice if contributors can post pics once in a while to bump the thread. Thanks.

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Re: Living In Australia/life As An Australian Immigrant by salford1: 10:14pm On Oct 10, 2017
tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain aadmission
cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o
cc WellEndowed

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