• Post # 1 on reasons to move to Australia from India : Here
• Post # 2 on finding a job in Australia : Here

Now time to touch upon a sensitive topic, Finances! To each their own I say, but there are a few things common to all of us, and I am trying to put those figures together here with some information that might be of help to plan ahead

First let me list down a few questions which do not have an answer, so don’t bother trying to find either

1. How much money do I need to migrate to Australia from India
2. How much money do I need to survive before I find a job in Australia

Why I say these don’t have answer? Its because “it depends“, and that is probably the closest response I can give to these two! However there are some questions that have a more objective answer.

Let’s say D is the day when you are travelling to Australia. Lets list down the expenses now!

D-1.5 years to D-60 Days

• Visa fee : For yourself and your dependents. This changed twice during the course of my PR process, so I recommend going to official website and looking it up yourself. This is a significant amount of money and needs some savings. I remember my visa fee (myself, my wife, and daughter) was about Rs. 350,000, plus some 400 AUD earlier during the process
• Agent fee : When I started my process, this was around Rs. 85000, and I could pay in 3 monthly installments. A lot of people like to do their own research, and file the applications themselves. They are able to save this money, and it does make sense. I did not have the time to go through the entire learning learning experience, and wanted someone to guide me through. For the record I used Visa & Permits, Bangalore
• Document validation and notarization : This changes from state to state, and at times by the registrars office as well. I think I paid about 1000 bucks to get all my photocopies stamped. At a later stage, when I was getting my self declaration of job responsibilities notarized, I was asked for 1000 bucks just to stamp one document as it was going out of India. This was in Noida
• Printing/Scanning etc : I had a MFD at home, so did not really spend hard cash on printing and scanning the documents, however I remember printing over 100 pages just for the first application, as my agent wanted to ensure every possible document asked for to be included in the application. So 100+ pages printed, notarized, scanned, and emailed for the first stage.
• Medical Examination Fee : I got my medicals done along with my wife @ Max Panchsheel, if I remember it right it was about Rs. 10000.
• PCC Fee : I had to get my PCC from USA as well because my total stay in USA was more than 12 months, which if I remember it right was around 40 USD plus Rs. 3000 for finger printing etc, and some money for FEDEX courier to US. India PCC was also done for both me and my wife, and I am not sure how much it was for. Was about Rs. 500 each I guess, but the real pain was to go to Passport Office a couple of times!

D-60 Days – D Day

• Tickets : Yatra in my opinion has the best deals. I remember getting Rs. 2000 off on my one way ticket because of a promotion running at the time.
• Check-in Bags : If you are not a frequent traveler this is another significant expense. None of the good bags come cheap, and a few brands you can consider are Samsonite, VIP etc. Keep an eye on offers of travel bags, and get these when you can during the process
• Shipping : This is another scary beast. It took me and my wife weeks and weeks of research to find someone who could give us decent rates to ship stuff. India Post send 20 kg boxes for Rs. 7000, however this can only be used for linen, books, and utensils (You have to pack everything yourself, seal it in a cloth too, and take it your local PO; takes about a month to reach Australia). Shipping companies will charge you by cubic meters and would end up giving you mind spinning quotes if you are shipping a lot of stuff! The easiest and cheapest way is to find a decent logistics broker in your area, and let them ship it for you. We finally did that, and I think paid around Rs. 410 per kg. Had to pay another 100 AUD once the boxes reached Australia and were sent to the local address here. If you have a fancy fridge, a costly mattress, loads of books and memorabilia, you might be better off shipping it instead of buying it here again! Do that maths and start early.
• Gifts : If you are going to be with friends/extended family in Australia for a while, its a good idea to buy some things for them. Also if you are close, do ask if there is anything that they need and get that.
• Household items : The only thing that I believe one needs to carry to Australia is a pressure cooker, and not because you don’t get it here. Its just too expensive, and if you get it from India, it does not really take a lot of space. Rest, don’t even bother! You name it, and you get it!

Before you travel arrange for the following expenses while you are out of the country

• School fees for your kids if they are not travelling with you
• Monthly home expenses for the time when your family is in India, and you are in Australia
• Insurance Policy Premiums for the next one year (Personal, Medical, Life/Term, Car etc.)
• Home EMI for atleast 1 year (not that it takes anyone that long to start earning, however the longer you can defer sending money back to India, the better it is in my opinion)
• Maintenance amounts for home repairs etc
• Money to survive the first few months in Australia (The big black box, however let’s see if the following helps)
• Buffer for medical or other needs in India

D Day onwards

• Transit/At the Airport Costs : Don’t think this would cross $100 for a family or $50 for one person (includes a meal and a drink at your stopover airport) unless you are buying stuff at duty free

Tip : Look for free wi-fi at the airports instead of buying a coupon first! Maybe a coffee at the shop that offers free wi-fi to customers is good enough.

• Taxi to your hotel/destination : Check the distance, and get an estimate. Uber does a good job of giving you an estimate of the travel costs. I would have said take a train as well, however that is tough with bags, and right after a long flight
• Hotel for the first few days (assuming that you are not staying with a friend or people you know) : I haven’t seen any hotels for less than 90 AUD a night, and I find it annoying to be honest. US is way cheaper that way!
• Flat-share : You can try looking for flat-shares from India itself, and start talking to people. Flatmates.com.au and Flatshare.com.au are decent options. Also look for Facebook pages related to flat-share in the city you are going to spend your first few months in. I know there is a dedicated group for flat-share in Canberra, however am not sure of Sydney or others. Weekly rent for a decent size room (for one person) should vary between 150 AUD to about 250 AUD depending on what is included, location of the house/apartment (Units is another name for what we call flats and apartments in India, so don’t get too confused), proximity to bus stands, and CBD (Central Business District; part of the city where most businesses are located). Some people allow a couple to share a room, so you can check that option if you are travelling with your spouse and don’t have kids.
• Independent Unit/Apartment/House : This is totally dependent on the city you are in, and also the part of the city you are going to be in. For Canberra a decent 2 bed room unit would be around 350-400 AUD per week. For Sydney there is a huge variation in the weekly rents based on the location, however in Parramatta area, where I am currently living put this figure around 400-450 AUD per week

Tip : Its very difficult to get an independent place immediately because you would not have any work or rental history to show. Some real estate agents ask for upfront payment of 3 months worth of rent, and at times 6 as well. Another way out is have someone who has a rental history be a part of the lease. If you are travelling with your family (spouse and kids), plan accordingly. You might negotiate a monthly/weekly stay on websites such as Airbnb as well for the first few weeks or the month to make it relatively easier for you.

• One time setup (includes all groceries, consumables, a basic sofa, fridge, TV, coffee table, one queen size bed ) : With my example, and of a friends, I would put this around 3000 AUD
• Groceries : For a family of three (like myself), weekly groceries should be around 60 AUD, which includes all basic necessities
• Fresh produce and Veggies etc. : I would put this around 50 AUD per week tops, again for a family of three
• Indian Store : We make a monthly visit to the Indian store to restock our pulses, spices, raw material etc., and spend close to about 150 AUD on an average. Add another 50 AUD to cater for those unplanned visits, making it a total of 200 AUD per month or about 50 AUD per week
• Internet : Monthly plans start from as little as 60 AUD per month and go upto 200 AUD per month depending on the medium (ADSL 2+, Cable, Fibre or nbn), quota etc. The tricky part is not all places are covered by all service providers, which means that the cheapest option may not always be available
• Phone + Mobile Data : Plans with unlimited calling and text and 1 GB of data start from about 30 AUD per month. Some of the suppliers are Lyca, Lebara, Amaysim etc. I use Vodafone and took their Red Post Paid plan with a contract of 24 months. This plan gave me an iPhone 6plus, has 3 GB data, unlimited national calls and text along with 300 international minutes for 80 AUD per month. There are always new plans available with most suppliers, and you can port your numbers easily. So don’t rush into a contract, get a lyca or a lebara sim first, and move from there. India has some excellent phones these days, so you might want to get a good one from there (Carry an extra battery, and cases for not so popular handsets though). Multiply it by the number of connections you take
• Day to Day Travel : In Sydney you can get an Opal card, similar to a metro card in Delhi, or Oyster in London.  You would not spend more than 60 AUD per week if you are using Opal in Sydney and surrounding areas. Opal works on local buses and trains. Melbourne, and Canberra have similar travel cards too. Multiply it by the number of cards/amount of travel you would do as a family
• Eating out : If you are eating out, you would be spending not more than 15 AUD per meal per person at most places. A lot of restaurants design their menu to keep it under that figure to attract crowds at lunch. So if you end up eating outside once a day (let’s say Lunch, which I was doing when my wife and daughter were in India for a short vacation), I spent about 75 AUD per week.

D + 3 months

 By this time, you would know the system better than the D day, and can start looking at the following expenses

• Car : I bought a 1999 Volvo s40 within the first month though, because me and the two friends I was staying with thought it would help to have one and reduce our dependency on public transport. It did turn out to be a good decision. You can spend anything from 1500 AUD to 15000 AUD on your first car. Totally depends on what you need and can afford.  In Sydney, you might not always need a car, as buses are frequent and decent public transport is available. I even read an article a few weeks ago on how someone in Sydney did a calculation of owning a car vs. getting a taxi/Uber over 10 years, and found that rentals/taxis/Uber might just turnout to be cheaper
• Insurance : Though you are covered by Medicare for most things including hospitalization, it seems like a good idea to get private insurance cover for your family. Helps with dental (which is irritatingly expensive), Eyes, and Physio in cases. Also there usually is a waiting time for major surgeries in Govt. Hospitals unless its an emergency, and you can skip the queue in a private hospital. One thing to note here is that the Government Hospitals are amazing here, so don’t compare it to a AIIMS or Safdurjung if you are in Delhi for instance. A decent private cover would cost you around 300 AUD per month
• Day Care : Formal education starts after the kids are 5 years, and till then you spend on your own in day care centers. Fees usually start at 80 AUD per day. You usually get some money back from the government if eligible (the rebate could be as much as 50% if your annual income is under a certain figure)

Hope this helped. Also let me know if I missed out on anything important, and I would update this post…

Post # 4 : Speaking English 🙂