Indian Community in Australia

Checklist for migrant who are coming to Australia.

In this blog I assume you have already received visa and excited to explore new country. You have already booked your ticket. Now before you leave India make sure you have couple of things ready.

Accommodation:

Make sure you have arranged temporary accommodation before arriving to Australia. If you know someone in Australia you can ask for their help to arrange an accommodation for you. If you don’t know anyone You can go to Indians in Australia Facebook page and ask for help. Make sure you don’t pay money in Advance as you never know if this is just scam or real. You can find more about accommodation in our accommodation blog.

Documents:

Make sure you bring important documents with you.
– Passport, ticket and visa approval letter(Keep in hand bag with you as you need to show at airport couple of times to different entry)
–  University Offer and admission letter
–  Licence (smart card licence not paper one). You can drive in Australia on Indian licence. You can easily convert Indian licence into Australian licence. More information about licence and how to convert Indian licence in to Australian licence
– Birth, Marriage, university certification original copies as well as True Copy
– If you have children then make sure to bring their school record, Immunisation certificate and record as well as academic record

Money/Cash:

This is most important. You must bring some Australian dollar in cash so you can use it straight away
– You should bring at least $1000 cash with you. Check living cost in Australia if you are not sure how much it costs to live in Australia
– Rest money bring as travellers cheque

What to and not to Bring:

This is most common question asked by people arriving to Australia. You can find everything in Australia such as chilli powder, turmeric, spices, tea masala almost everything you name it so don’t worry if you can’t bring something. You can easily buy from here.
– Bring enough summer as well as winter cloth
– Pressure cooker, cooking pan (If you don’t want to buy from here as here it will expensive compare to India)
– If you are bringing any cooking pan from India make sure surface is flat.  Most of all Australian old houses has electric stove so if surface is not flat it won’t work properly.
– Do not bring any dry fruits or any raw spices (Almonds, cashew, fennel seeds). Customs do not allow these unprocessed raw items and you won’t be allow to bring in to the country.
– Do not bring gold jewelries. Thief here in Australia knows Indians keep lot of gold and they target Indians so make sure don’t bring valuable jewelries.
– If you are bringing medicine make sure you have doctor’s prescription with you

Mobile:
– Bring your Indian mobile handset as well as Laptop from India so you don’t need to spend money on that

At Airport in Australia:
– Make sure you have all your belongings with you
– Take extra care while filling arrival card (Customs Form) and declare everything you have. Do not try to hide anything. Example if you have dry fruits or medicine or anything made from wooden declare it. If you have declared and customs officer finds it they will destroy that from you. But if you did not declare and they will find you will get fine up to $300 (Not a good start)
– Take Taxi to your arranged accommodation