BritVics/Moving

The ToDo List
Most things require X Points of ID. X being between 100 and 140 depending on what you planning to do. You should make sure that you have your UK Passport, UK Drivers License, UK or Australian Credit Card and some form of proof of Address like your signed Rental agreement. We also strongly recommend you get plenty of written references from friends (not family) and make sure they are willing to act as references by email/phone if required. We needed this for our long term rental and were lucky enough to have friends who are a Police Inspector and a Surgeon offer us references. The two best forms of ID you have get in Victoria are the Medicare Cards and the Victorian Drivers License. Apart from that our recommendations, in order, are as follows:

Before you leave the UK
Stuff you should consider in the run up to the big move

Get a Tax Consultant
If you are leaving a home in the UK (i.e. renting it out), have any funds or investments, run a business or just want to know the minefield of Australian Taxation, you really should speak to a registered Tax Consultant skilled in UK and Australian Tax Law. I can certainly recommend Alan Collett at GoMatilda He was not cheap, but his report was very helpful and opened our eyes to a number of issues we had no idea about. I think it saved us a lot more than the report cost us in the short term and will certainly save us money in the long term.

Tax on UK Property
One big thing to remember, once you are tax resident in Australia (i.e. from the day you land) you will be taxed in Australia on your worldwide assets. This includes your home in the UK if you ever sell it. So make sure you get a decent couple of written valuations from estate agents before you leave so that you can prove how much your property was worth when you left. If your home was worth £300k when you left and £450k when you sell up you will be taxed big time on the £150k profit (capital gain). If you don't have a few property valuations the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will calculate the value of your property based on an average for your area which could be MUCH less than your property was really worth (local average was 40% less than our value!!) so you could end up getting taxed on a much larger "profit". There are some exceptions, exemptions and discounts, I think there is a 50% discount on the CGT if you have retained the property for more than a year after arriving in Aus, but again "consult a registered Tax consultant" to understand your own personal circumstance.

Retaining a UK Property
Note that the laws relating to owning multiple homes and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) are a bit of a minefield. You should "consult a registered Tax Consultant" who fully understands the ins and outs of both UK and Australian Tax systems. However, I think the bullet points to be aware of are as follows: 1) Your home will be free from CGT in the UK providing you sell within the first 3 years and it remains your only residence. If you keep it for longer you may need to go back to the UK and live in it for 6 months to avoid CGT. 2) You may get into tax related issues in Australia if you retain the property in the UK for more than 1 year.

Renting out your UK Property
You will be taxed in UK on the "profit" you make on the UK rental (i.e. less management charges and running costs), however you will get a credit. To avoid having to be taxed at source in the UK as well by your Management Company looking after your property you should file an NRL1 (Non-Resident Landlord) form with Revenue and Customs. In our experience this is not actually completed by the Revenue until they receive a matching P85 after you have left (see below). You will still have to pay the tax of course, unless the UK Rental income, plus any other UK income, falls below your UK personal allowance.

Tax on Moving your Money
Also, another tax pitfall is the ForEx Rule which you will get you taxed on the "profit" you make if you leave money in the UK after you land waiting for a good exchange rate! Makes a case for moving as much of your cash over as you can before you make your finalentry (i.e. the day you become an Australian Tax Resident). Again, "consult a registered Tax Consultant" who really knows their stuff.

PAYG Mobile Phone
I would arrange this while in the UK. Make sure you bring a couple of fullyunlocked Tri-Band Phones. Go to www.0044.co.uk and buy oneGoTalk SIM Card. Activate the card and you will get a mobile number you can hand out before you arrive. Worked well for us. Within a few days of getting here get hold of a couple of Telstra "Freedom" PAYG SIM cards which will allow free calls between the two of you for A$30 a month. It's just to start with but we found we called each other every 5 minutes to start and with these cards we used them like walkie-talkies.

Bank Accounts & Credit Card
We set these up in the UK with the Commonwealth Bank, but there are other options. We arrived and on the morning of Day 2 we visited the bank and picked up our Debit Cards. Took another week to get our Credit Cards, but we found they are a must have here.

PO Box or other Postal Address for the first 4 months
You will need a long-ish term postal address here to be able to setup your Bank Accounts, Medicare, Drivers License, etc. We were lucky and had friend who was willing to accept our post for us. You really need this before you leave so you can redirect your UK post to the Australian address. PO Boxes are available in most post offices but they are like gold dust. We originally called about 7 in the area we were moving too and if it wasn't for our friend we would have taken one out.

UK TV License
Call them 3 times and send two letters to explain to these morons that you have left or they will send threatening letters stating that your breaking the licensing law even though your not even resident in the country

Shipping your car from the UK
Is it worth it ? No, probably not, unless you own a rare car or you really can't live without it. Yes, European cars are more expensive here and slightly more prestigious but frankly after all the taxes, hassle and costs associated with bringing your car over it could work out costing the same to sell your car in the UK and buy the same car in Australia. I just imported my low mileage Audi from the UK and it's been nothing but hassle from the moment it started. If you really want to know the process and endless costs involved then PM me, otherwise I am planning on writing a full end-to-end post on this topic for BritishExpats (and here) once it's finally registered with VicRoads this week.

Redirect your Post
Post office offer 1, 3 and 6 month redirection service for Business and Personal post. It's a pig to set up at the post office but works quite well. You can also change the address by phone at the end of each period.

Once you arrive
Things to do once you get here

Get a Melways
The ubiquitous Melways road atlas is like a bible here in Melbourne, so much so that estate agents quote property locations using Melways Page/Grid codes ! A must have if you want to find anything in Melbourne. Don't buy the cheaper rubbish one.

International Telephone Cards
I started off using Skype to make calls back to the UK, but frankly the quality was not great and it was quite inconvenient. I then looked into dedicated Skype phones for the home, but ones which don't require a PC connection are quite costly. Now we use these amazingly cheap calling cards. A$20 GoTalk calling card has lasted us for over 3 months and countless hours of call back home and we ===still=== have about $4 on it. You can get them from any AusPost Office. Excellent value and very easy to use from any land line.

Tax File Numbers(TFN)
Simple to apply for on-line or at the ATO offices in the CBD. Just make sure you bring your ID.

Pick a Footy Team
This is almost as important as a TFN and will provide you with a LOT of enjoyment. Think sporting carnival for all ages with plenty of on-pitch "Biffo" and edge of your seat action. I recommend St Kilda (although most wouldn't)

Rental Car
You need a car here, nothing massive to start with but you will almost certainly want to start looking at buying a car within the first month.

Long Term Rental Property
Spend the first weekend driving around your chosen area(s) of Melbourne, picking up details of the estate agents. Also try the on-line rental sites which collate all the listings in one place. We can recommend Bayside (Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Higgett, Black Rock) as a start, but there are many nice places. We had a top end of A$2,400 a month and found several great 3 bed, 2 car places near the beach, but you have to get in there quick. The rental market is 99% unfurnished. So expect to buy new furniture. If you're shipping furniture from the UK (which I wouldn't recommend) then be prepared to sit on the floor in your house for months while it sails over and sits for weeks awaiting Customs and AQIS clearances. Ours arrives today !! After spending ===16 weeks=== in transit.

Inland Revenue P85
Take these with you for each adult, then complete and send them back to the UK within a couple of weeks of being here to ensure that Revenue and Customs are aware you have left the UK and now Tax Resident in Australia

Medicare
You will need ID for this one, UK Passport which must have your Visa in it, UK Drivers License. Even though you will have reciprocal cover from the NHS in the UK you will need this if you visit a hospital

Victorian Drivers License
This is the best form of ID you can get in Victoria and we recommend getting this ASAP, the problem is you really need a more permanent address and proof of residency (utility bills in your name at that address, etc). If you are here as a Permanent Resident you MUST apply for the Victorian Driver License within the first 3 MONTHS or your breaking the law. If you are on a Temporary or Working Visa then you have 12 MONTH. You can legally only hold one drivers license at a time and they will punch a hole through your UK license when you switch over. Providing your from the UK and can speak English you will not need to retake any tests other than a very brief eye test. Simply call VicRoads and make an appointment at a nearby VicRoads office, turn up with your ID Pack and they will create a Victorian Drivers License for you there an then. Your address is printed on the license and they will require proof of that address.

Schools
This depends on the area you move to, but sort them out ASAP. We were told that we should go private all the way, however our boys are in Primary school and we found the public Primary school in Hampton to be 5 times better than that in the UK, so that's A$20,000 a year saved !

Internet Connection
A lot of stuff is done on-line here and to be frank we could not live without our Internet access (sounds stupid, but we found it real hard for the first week or so, just researching stuff, etc). Also very useful for finding UK phone numbers you can call from abroad when you need to contact any company in the UK that uses non-geographic rip-off numbers (0870, 0845, etc). Check out www.saynoto0870.com to get the real numbers. We brought a small laptop with us and I bought a Telstra NextG Wireless Broadband card (~£120) and a NextG Internet package (A$30-A$150) which gave us ~1Mbps pretty much where ever we are. It's expensive but flexible and reliable. Not a long-term replacement for a decent Internet connection though. We now have a 17Mbps 60GB Cable connection.

Buy a Car
The cheap makes here are Toyota, Ford and Holden (Vauxhall), anything from Europe is more expensive. We bought a highly practical low mileage 2006 second hand Toyota Corolla Wagon for about £9,000 on-the-road. Insurance was about A$750 (£300) through RACV. If you have AA cover in the UK bring your cards out and you can move the remainder of the cover over to RACV for free

Private Health Insurance
Unless you contract a long term costly medical condition not required straight away. We just spent a night in hospital with our son, complex costly surgery with the chief consultant plastic surgeon and top anesthetist and it was all free on Medicare. So take the time and shop around. The government has just released a website comparing all the plans and is worth spending some time checking out. However, before long you will want to get ambulance cover which is cheap and could save you a fortune on the insane ambulance charges here

This list if not complete or intended to be complete, we accept no liability for the Footy team you pick or the information we have provided here. This is based on our experience only and now 10 weeks in we have managed to survive. That's the only evidence we can offer