Before you can become a citizen, you need residency. To stay for more than 60 or 90 day, you will need some kind of residency. If you haven't looked into that yet, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. I think the application is about $700 right now, perhaps a bit more. You'll also need somehere to sponsor you. What line of work do you do? If you're bringing more than just some luggage and a bike, you'll need a shipping container. Rates vary, but plan on $3-4k for that. More if you're not coming from/going to a city with a nearby port. Now, bills. No more free AT&T mobile phones. Figure $200 for a decent phone, and no cheap plans. If you're at all social, that will cost you $70/month, plus your home phone will cost at least $30 for basic service. No such thing as a free local call either - they're 20 cents. Adds up quick. I have a friend in Utah with 3 kids, just like me. While our grocery bill averages at least $300/week, his is about $150. Oh, no Baja Fresh or In N Out Burger either. And sometimes you'll have 2 kinds of tortilla chips to choose from at the grocery store. Those $1.25 MGD's we love so much are $6.50 at the pub. Petrol - $1.30/litre. There's 3.8 of them in a gallon. So figure an easy $5+/gallon. NSW is the speed camera capital of the world too. Tickets aren't cheap. Neither are cars. Have you ever seen a $50k Toyota truck in the US? A fully loaded 4 door 4WD gets into that neighborhood. I don't think you'll find any cheap Honda Civics either. The Subarus are nice. Google Australia news, type in the words "Subaru, smash and grab" to find out what happens when your WRX gets stolen/carjacked. Utilities, let's see. This winter, our quarterly bill was $500. It will get down to $300 when we don't use the A/C or heater. Basically, my friend in the US is paying 1/2 of what we pay here. Of course, you don't have 3 kids and a wife, but you get the idea. In Newcastle, $34k is considered a good wage. That's less than 1/2 of what I made as a single guy in California, so my perception is slightly skewed. I would suggest you do a bit more research into how you'll become a resident, and where you'll live. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have, and I'll also point out that I've got nothing against living in Australia, but I can certainly enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle in the US.
Is the $700 for
just for an application paper or is there screening and interviews? As for the line of work I do.... whatever I can get over here. I plan to go to school so I can wrench on old BMWs, but that's in the future, for now it's mostly low pay grunt work. I figure I'd pay less for bills there than here. I have a roommate now, and I pay for about half of her exesses (cell, high speed internet, bigger apt. than we need, ect.) If I was alone I would cut all utilities to a minimum. Just a small apartment with a light, home phone (no cell contract ****), the neccesities. Not too worried about my car getting jacked since I'd be driving somethinmg more like an 81 mulit colored Leone
If I go, I would sell everything I own that I could bear to part with. Is there some way I could live there for about a year, then make a decision? I always planned on visiting Aus anyway, living there just recently became a possible reality. I really appreciate all the info.
