Oceania (Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific) - Thinking of moving to Australia

Hi All,

So after going to Australia for 2.5 weeks this past Jan/Feb and serving Yasi I am seriously thinking about moving to Australia.

I have been looking around but haven't been able to find the direct information of what I am looking for so was wondering if people here might be able to help.

So I am a USA citizen. I have a 4 year degree in accounting and have been doing tax accounting for the past 5 years. I was wondering what is required to get a visa/passport in Australia as well as what is the pay like in Australia and are companies willing to hire people from USA.

Thanks,
Alex

Here is some general info for skilled migrants (http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/):

And, more specific information for accountants who want to immigrate (http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/occupations/a/accountant-general.htm):

Depending on your age and nationality you may also be eligible for a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) (http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/). This can be a good option to start out with, although it will limit the type of work someone will want to employ you for, because of various restrictions on length of employment.

For an idea on pay, you can check out Seek.com.au (http://paycheck.seek.com.au/).

Have you been working for a big four accounting firm or smaller? With big four experience you should be able to get something similar in Australia.

Now let me open the can of worms for you, where were you planning on living? Bright sunny Sydney or cold bleak Melbourne?

You have an option of pursuing a skilled work visa on your own, which will allow you to work and live freely in Australia, and have permanent residency. I have this visa and it is expensive (expect to spend about $3-4k total), and it will take 6-9 months. But it gives you the most flexibility.

Alternatively you can seek employment in Australia and get a sponsored visa. At best this will cost nothing to you, but it may cost $2-3k depending on what your employer is willing to pay for.

Check out http://www.australiaforum.com for a lot of good information.

Your best bet in terms of getting a visa is to have a job lined up with an employer that is willing to sponsor you for a Skilled - Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 856) visa. This visa is cheaper and easier to obtain and these types of visas are processed ahead of applications for Skilled - Independent visas.

Another option is to find an employer that wants to bring you over on a Business - Long Stay (Subclass 457) temporary visa. These visas generally last around 3 years and are often used as a trial before nominating someone for a permanent visa. If you were to go down this road, the 457 visa itself is cheaper but requires an employer nomination and, obviously, does not come with the benefits of a permanent visa.

Thanks for the info everyone.

No I never worked for a Big 4 firm but I have worked at large multinational firms which do have operations in Australia but they don't have tax depts in Australia.

Haven seen the high cost of living in Australia (Yes coming from NY, we in NY also have a very high cost of living) and for me what looks like a pay cut how are people able to save or are there a lot of programs/support for people who live there?

You don't come to Australia to make money (though with the change in exchange rate pay is 50% higher than it was a few years ago, in USD). You come for the quality of life. The high cost of real estate -- higher than in most of the US, even NYC -- is a reflection of how desirable people find it to live in Australia. Some things cost less, some the same, some much more (e.g. luxury cars, for example Mercedes costs 100% more than in US for the same model). Non-luxury cars cost about the same, though. Partly it is a different tax structure, partly a "captive" market. How much it affects you depends on what you buy, but housing is expensive in SYD/MEL, less so in BNE and quite cheap in Hobart or Adelaide. Find work in the right location and it will cost much less than NYC, with a higher quality of life.

You don't come to Australia to make money (though with the change in exchange rate pay is 50% higher than it was a few years ago, in USD). You come for the quality of life. The high cost of real estate -- higher than in most of the US, even NYC -- is a reflection of how desirable people find it to live in Australia. Some things cost less, some the same, some much more (e.g. luxury cars, for example Mercedes costs 100% more than in US for the same model). Non-luxury cars cost about the same, though. Partly it is a different tax structure, partly a "captive" market. How much it affects you depends on what you buy, but housing is expensive in SYD/MEL, less so in BNE and quite cheap in Hobart or Adelaide. Find work in the right location and it will cost much less than NYC, with a higher quality of life.

Actually it depends what you mean by a higher quality of life. Yes there is much natural beauty and a laid back lifestyle but if you are working for one of the big four firms your quality of life hours wise is not going to be much different.

There are huge support systems but as a migrant you will have to wait to take advantage of them. The one thing that is great in Australia is its access to education. Public schools are cheap and have a great standard.

Cars are expensive - the standard Commodore in oz costs as much as a mercedes in the United States. For a New Yorker moving to Sydney your day to cost of living is going to go up and rental in Sydney now is getting close to Manhattan rentals. One thing that is cheap and good quality is fresh food and vegetables. I hear that utilities are about to skyrocket again.

You don't come to Australia to make money (though with the change in exchange rate pay is 50% higher than it was a few years ago, in USD). You come for the quality of life. The high cost of real estate -- higher than in most of the US, even NYC -- is a reflection of how desirable people find it to live in Australia. Some things cost less, some the same, some much more (e.g. luxury cars, for example Mercedes costs 100% more than in US for the same model). Non-luxury cars cost about the same, though. Partly it is a different tax structure, partly a "captive" market. How much it affects you depends on what you buy, but housing is expensive in SYD/MEL, less so in BNE and quite cheap in Hobart or Adelaide. Find work in the right location and it will cost much less than NYC, with a higher quality of life.

BNE and PER are now not much cheaper than MEL, much of the increase driven by the mining boom. At varying points in the last few years, the median house price in PER has been higher than MEL and the BNE median has been within a few thousand of MEL.

With regard to luxury cars, it's a combination of a few things: unique design rules, charging what the market will bear, taxes.

Actually it depends what you mean by a higher quality of life. Yes there is much natural beauty and a laid back lifestyle but if you are working for one of the big four firms your quality of life hours wise is not going to be much different.

There are huge support systems but as a migrant you will have to wait to take advantage of them. The one thing that is great in Australia is its access to education. Public schools are cheap and have a great standard.

Cars are expensive - the standard Commodore in oz costs as much as a mercedes in the United States. For a New Yorker moving to Sydney your day to cost of living is going to go up and rental in Sydney now is getting close to Manhattan rentals. One thing that is cheap and good quality is fresh food and vegetables. I hear that utilities are about to skyrocket again.

I'm not sure the education system is significant to a young accountant, unless he meets an Aussie girl and plans on staying!

With regard to cars, it's all relative and depends on how you measure it. Yes, a Commodore costs as much as a Merc in States, but's it bigger and more powerful. If measured against the average wage, the Commodore is cheaper in terms of weeks of average wage (something like two thirds of a year), compared with the nearest equivalent in the US, a Chevrolet Impala, which is about 3/4 to 4/5 of a year's average wage in the US, despite being almost half the price. That's before you get into how better a Commodore is!

I have a mate who hired an American in IT, so Americans shouldn't have a problem being hired. He also got permanent residency within a couple of months (sponsored).

I've had a few friends move from the USA to Australia and vice versa.

As someone who has lived in Melbourne all my life and travelled quite a bit...the differences between the US and here are mainly

*Our health care system is eligible for all, no matter the income...and in spite of some aussies complaining, really is one of the best in the world
*Housing in Sydney and Melb is expensive..and rentals are difficult with low supply in the major cities
*Food is fresh and of good quality
*Utilities are way out of control...electricity especially
*Wages compared to the states depends on whether you work for one of the major accounting firms and what sort of expenses you will have here

The Australian way of life as mentioned can be laid back, however if you work for one of the majors...PWC, E&Y etc...the same corporate pressures apply no matter where you are in the world. It is also tiring travelling when we are so far away from everything.

But having said that...we have lots of space, clean air, wonderful surroundings..and people that are willing to embrace anyone.

There are major shortages of certain jobs if you look on the aus visa website and you can apply through that angle...or be sponsored.

Good Luck!

Also check out www.britishexpats.com, a FlyerTalk brethern from the Internet Brands stable.

Economist magazine just named Melbourne as "best city to live in" out of 140 major cities that are ranked, but costed it at 40% higher than NYC (mostly due to housing). SYD, PER and ADL also made the top ten (SFO was 51st, for comparison). "Cheapest" in Oz was ADL at 25% more expensive than NYC.

Great info everyone. Looks like I need to think more about it all or maybe just try to start something else up and base it in Ausi.