Moving to Australia

Moving to Australia

Let’s recap on what we have so far. First you have the idea. It’s a simple idea which that says “I want to live in the paradise known as Australia”. Then you decide on the basis of your application having looked at the various Visa options. Now you need to start the application process. The dreaded paperwork.

Before we go any further, let me tell you what you need to know immediately.

How much does it cost to move to Australia?

The process is not cheap, you will need deep pockets. May as well get used to that now and learn to smile as you write out cheques. Please do also note that our costs were incurred way back in November 2007 or before. Prices of everything have certainly changed a lot since then, upwards, of course. I can’t tell you exactly what it will cost you now, but I can tell you what it cost us back then.

capture1 252x300 Moving to Australia   Part Three.
•    Shipping a container load of furniture roughly £6,000
•    One way flight tickets for the average family roughly £2,000
•    Medical fees roughly £300
•    Bringing your  dog, (and if you’ve got a dog, you’d better), roughly £3,000
•    Fees to the Australian government roughly £1,000*
•    Your job assessment fee (if you need it) roughly £150
•    Lots of admin fees, certifications, criminal record fee, postage £150

So far that’s about £12,600.

* This fee to the government has changed drastically since I moved, and does vary depending on the type of visa you are going for. Our fee to the government would have more than trebled at today’s charges, so you really should find out exactly what the cost of your visa would be for you and your family. See my page about Visas for more information.


Prices quoted above are not meant to be an accurate guide because everyone’s costs will differ quite substantially. I am merely trying to prepare you for the expense. I am also trying to make it clear that the expense of a MARA approved migration expert is just a small percentage of the overall costs. Because it comes first in the decision and cheque writing process, you may be tempted to try and do it yourself. I say don’t.

•    The cost of a MARA Migration Agent is somewhere between £1,000 and £2,200.

By the time you get to the end of this process you will be numb from writing out cheques, you will be past caring. What I am suggesting is to start this process from a position of numbness and carry on from there.

Updated costs guesstimate as at 2013

I’m kind of guessing, but for us (two adults, one child and a dog) I reckon the total cost to move today including using a MARA registered migration agent (as we did) would be nearer to £17,000, that’s something like $25,000-$30,000 depending on the exchange rate.

Of course, the figure you will pay will need to be adjusted massively depending on what you’re bringing, whose coming and where you are coming from.

Choosing Your MARA Migration Expert

This is how I think it works. The migration experts are registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority and must adhere to a strict code of professional conduct. They do not work  for the Australian government, they get paid direct by you as their customer.

But, the Australian government do not want to have to wade through thousands and thousands of poor quality applications. So they expect these agents to filter out applications that do not meet the standard required.

So, for a MARA registered migration expert to put forward your case, they have to believe your application will succeed. Because if they put through too many failures, I believe they will lose their licence. So these agents won’t just take you on to earn a fee, they will only take you on if they think you have a good chance. On that basis I believe it is best to use these people. Most will do a preliminary assessment for a small fee. I think it’s the way to go.

We made a mistake when we selected our agent. We were given the name of someone in Australia who was supposed to be very good. So we contacted her from the UK and asked if she would represent us. To cut a long story down to a medium story, things moved slowly.

She would ask for more information which we would send. But she wouldn’t respond so we would chase. She would make various excuses and apologies and promises to get on our case “ next week”. Before we knew it, three months had passed and she still hadn’t actually agreed to represent us, let alone get the application underway.

We had seen this coming and my wife and I had agreed that if we did hit the three-month stage without any concrete action we would ditch her. We did and we did. We didn’t write to her formerly to tell her, we just stopped communicating. She never chased us or contact us again either. It was a silent mutual ditching.

Why? Two reasons.

First: Let me explain what I believe is inherent in many Australians. They hate to say no. They would much rather say “yes I’ll do it next week,” and then just not do it. I think most Australian people understand that system, so when someone lets them down, they just immediately go and find someone else to do it. Us British folk tend to leave it an extra week and then chase them up if nothing has happened.

Because the Australian still doesn’t want to say no, they again say they will do it next week, but don’t. They hope that this time you’ll get the hint. Since living here, I have learned to take that hint.

I should have picked up on it quicker. If you look through the classified ads for tradies, lots of them do say as their unique selling point “We actually turn up!” – and I used to think “ why, who wouldn’t?”. The answer is lots of them.

Second: She just didn’t believe in our application. When we realised that, it was a shattering blow to our confidence. Here was an expert who didn’t even think our application was worth starting. Living in Australia now seemed further away than ever.

But we didn’t give up. We looked for a new migration expert based in the UK which, on reflection, is much better than trying to deal with someone 11,000 miles away and on a completely different time zone. Our new migration expert did believe in us and all of a sudden things were moving much faster.