Visas & Advice Detail
How much to emigrate to Australia?
Before you emigrate, working out a realistic, budget for your emigration process can make or break your dreams of a new life Down Under, writes Patricia Curmi
Get it wrong, and you could be left with only huge bills and a headache to show for your efforts. Perhaps the most difficult obstacle is finding out what you will actually have to pay for. You might have calculated your application fees and plane tickets, but what about medical examinations? Police checks? Shipping costs? The potential expenses can be daunting.
Jed Lea-Henry now lives in Perth, Western Australia, but a mistake with the sale of his home before he and his family left to emigrate to Australia almost left them financially high and dry. "We had a rough idea, from talking to our relatives who lived over in Perth, how much day to day living was going to cost. But we didn't reckon on the cost of renting which, as we hadn't yet sold our house in the UK, meant at one point we were literally living hand to mouth. "If I had to do it again, I would have made sure the house was sold before taking the risk that it would sell before our savings ran out!"
Research is also obviously important. Looking at websites, talking to expats who've already made the move on forums and visiting the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) website, which has a section on potential costs once you've arrived in Oz, can all help.
While specific amounts a migrant requires varies depending on individual circumstances, it is a good idea to list the stages you will probably go through from start to finish. So, applying for the visa, job searches, any potential research trips, housing costs for the first six months, shipping of your goods or purchasing new ones, all of these stages can be given a rough estimate in terms of outgoing finances. This way, you might come across a stage you never bargained would cost you anything and budget some money in the event it does. Leaving a margin of error for unexpected expenses means you're less likely to panic if a lump sum is needed.
Sam Hopwood, an immigration sales consultant from 1st Contact Immigration, says, "Most costs for an Australian visa should be fixed and known to the client before entering into any contract. "However, some migration agents will charge a fee depending on how much time things like consultations, emails and phone calls are required to complete the case. In this way costs can potentially balloon out of control."
Sandra Bolton, a registered migration agent from Access WA, based in Western Australia agrees with Hopwood stating that these hidden fees can cause the estimated costs to reach unrealistic levels. She recommends that, "It is best to get several quotes from different companies if you have a strict budget and make sure that you have all costs itemised. A registered agent should be used and you should receive a written contract that clearly stipulates the fees to be charged and services to be provided."
As for hidden costs, Hopwood thinks doctor's fees could eat up migrants' finances unless they're willing to shop around.
For further information:
1st Contact Immigration
Access WA
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