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The only alcohol I truly miss from Australia is the Jack and Coke in a can.
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Sep 16, 2015 22:20
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You guys are great. Mrs. Banzai wants to know if she brings her Kitchenaid Mixer, Blendtec blender, and Cuisineart chopper, will they work well enough with a 240->110 transformer? Will the 60 Hz -> 50 Hz burn it out faster?
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Sep 20, 2015 02:50
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They basically won't work at all, not worth it.
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Sep 20, 2015 03:22
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HookShot posted:They basically won't work at all, not worth it. Yeah, I sold my sous vide rig when I moved here. I wouldn't bother messing around with a transformer, especially in the kitchen.
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Sep 20, 2015 03:45
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BuckarooBanzai posted:You guys are great. Mrs. Banzai wants to know if she brings her Kitchenaid Mixer, Blendtec blender, and Cuisineart chopper, will they work well enough with a 240->110 transformer? Will the 60 Hz -> 50 Hz burn it out faster? I used to do it with electronics back in the day like my super famicom. If you use a beefier transformer it works but it's actually not worth it because of the major power loss. You can attach an extension cord to the transformer and plug in everything but it's a bit of a house hazard. Being in Australia everything is expensive. So but UK versions and be done with it. Either through friends who work at the consulate of other sources to save on shipping
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Sep 20, 2015 13:02
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BuckarooBanzai posted:You guys are great. Mrs. Banzai wants to know if she brings her Kitchenaid Mixer, Blendtec blender, and Cuisineart chopper, will they work well enough with a 240->110 transformer? Will the 60 Hz -> 50 Hz burn it out faster? They'll work with a decent transformer, though at a slightly slower speed. Normally it wouldn't be worth it, but the prices for kitchen appliances are obscene here, so I would look into it if I were you. For example, the base KitchenAid Artisan mixer starts at around $700, Blendtecs start at $1000, and the Cuisinart Elite I just bought myself was around $600. All of those prices are pretty much 3x US prices. Even spending $600 for a top of the line 2kw Tortech isolated stepdown transformer you'll still come out way ahead: http://www.tortech.com.au/step-down-transformer-australia/isolated-step-down-transformer Note all of the above assumes you're doing something like bringing a shipping container or something, and shipping the stuff here isn't costing you any extra. If you're paying to individually ship each of those, the shipping cost might start to eat into the savings quite a bit. Edit: Reading through the comments here, I get the impression that most (all?) Blendtecs are actually 50/60Hz, so you won't even get a speed difference using a stepdown transformer. http://www.blendtec.com/blog/can-i-use-my-blendtec-blender-in-other-countries/ JBark fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 09:32
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Another question. We're looking at private health insurance and saw that preexisting conditions aren't covered for the first year. My wife has no thyroid and has to take thyroid hormone every day. Would she be unable to see a doctor during that year to even get proscribed the hormone? Would we just have to pay for it out of pocket?
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Sep 28, 2015 05:19
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You can go to the doctor, you just have to pay for it out of pocket. It's around $50 for a visit (as long as it's just a normal GP visit, I have no idea how much specialists are or if she'd need to see one), plus the cost of the hormones.
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Sep 28, 2015 05:43
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HookShot posted:You can go to the doctor, you just have to pay for it out of pocket. It's around $50 for a visit (as long as it's just a normal GP visit, I have no idea how much specialists are or if she'd need to see one), plus the cost of the hormones. Thanks for the response! I found another random post from a few years ago where a dude who has the same condition is paying 30$ for a 4 month supply. If it's just GP plus the out of pocket Rx cost that's pretty doable.
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Sep 28, 2015 07:41
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Hopefully I can get a bit of initial advice from Sydney goons. An opportunity has just come through work, for a job based in the Wetherill Park region. No idea where my partner would end up working, but I would assume somewhere more central. (She currently works in the public service as an investigator in regulatory compliance, but I'm assuming a similar job would be difficult to pick up in Sydney, particularly outside of the central region). We've been living in Auckland for a while. I grew up in Aus but hardly spent any time in Sydney, she is a kiwi. So some initial assistance would be really appreciate: - What sort of areas should we be looking to rent in? Preferably keeping my commute down as much as possible, and within reach of reasonable public transport into the city. (We are currently in a nice area, 10 minutes from my work, 15 mins from city centre (no traffic - 40 minutes in traffic), with okish public transport) - How much would we be expecting for a 2-3 bedroom place, free standing/townhouse/unit. not an apartment. - Is there actually anything to do in western suburbs, or is it the really the hellhole I hear about? We tend to like good restaurants, nice parks to walk in and are too old to do the clubbing thing. I also dive, so the thought of moving away from the Akl region to Sydney makes me a bit sad. - How is the job market currently, particularly for the public service (or failing that, legal sector), or have the dual lib governments killed it off entirely? - Am I mad for thinking about moving to Sydney in the first place?
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Oct 11, 2015 00:19
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I'm applying for the Work and Holiday Visa and it's asking if I have health insurance. Obviously I plan on getting some sort of insurance, but I don't want to buy any until I know whether or not I get the visa. But I'm seeing some stuff saying that you need to have insurance BEFORE you apply, which seems ridiculous. Also does anyone know what level of insurance I should be looking for and what I should expect to pay?
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Oct 13, 2015 19:40
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My husband was in Australia on a 462 visa (work/hol) and he didn't have even a stitch of insurance. What happens if you say no, I wonder..
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Oct 13, 2015 21:02
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A Time To Chill posted:I'm applying for the Work and Holiday Visa and it's asking if I have health insurance. Obviously I plan on getting some sort of insurance, but I don't want to buy any until I know whether or not I get the visa. But I'm seeing some stuff saying that you need to have insurance BEFORE you apply, which seems ridiculous. It'll depend on your age and stuff, but I pay about AU$50/mo for my overseas student health cover. It's pretty good compared to what that would get you in the US. Speaking of this, what do folks do for dental insurance? Looks like I may need a bit of work done in the near future.
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Oct 13, 2015 21:26
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Most health insurance plans let you chose a couple of areas where you get extra cover. I'm with HBF and have physiotherapy and major dental, which means most of my dental bills were covered when I had my wisdom teeth out. I think I get one free scale and clean per year as well.
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Oct 14, 2015 00:13
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I also just lied about having insurance.
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Oct 14, 2015 00:16
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HookShot posted:I also just lied about having insurance. So the best move is to just answer "Yes" and worry about it later only if they follow up?
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Oct 14, 2015 00:20
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A Time To Chill posted:So the best move is to just answer "Yes" and worry about it later only if they follow up? That's what I did! If for whatever reason they ask you I'd just get it after they ask and go "oh I thought the question meant would I have it by the time I entered Australia" and it'll almost certainly be fine.
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Oct 14, 2015 02:34
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Speaking of this, what do folks do for dental insurance? Looks like I may need a bit of work done in the near future. I have the "core extras" plan from nib, which is a bit over $30/mo, but apparently the extras plan my OSHC provider (allianz) offers is only a bit over $20/mo. I've been too lazy to get the transfer paperwork done though :V
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Oct 14, 2015 12:58
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Canadian thinking of moving to Australia here, currently on vacation in Perth. I'm a firmware engineer and there's a small consulting company that I had talks with that want to hire me but sponsorship would be a headache for them. I talked to an immigration agent and they suggested coming here on a 417 year long work&holiday visa and applying for a permanent (189) visa partway through. Just wanted a second opinion, is this feasible? According to this form: (https://www.border.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1445.pdf), I can extend my 6 months on the 417 with a specific employer if I'm applying for a longer term visa such as the 189 which does not require me to leave Australia. Is that correct? mila kunis fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Oct 21, 2015 |
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Oct 21, 2015 06:21
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tekz posted:Canadian thinking of moving to Australia here, currently on vacation in Perth. I'm a firmware engineer and there's a small consulting company that I had talks with that want to hire me but sponsorship would be a headache for them. I mean, once you get your stuff together for the 189, it's like a 2 week turnaround from Expression of Interest to getting an offer to apply for a residency visa. Once you do that I assume they'd grant you a bridging visa with work rights? As of July 1 the Work & Holiday visa will mess you up pretty hard on Aussie taxes, so there is a definite incentive to not do it that way if you can. edit: I've only looked into the onshore process for the 189 visa, actually not sure about the bridging visa in that case. Still, if we're talking after July, you would do well to minimise the amount of time you're on a Work & Holiday visa.
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Oct 21, 2015 08:09
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I was told that the time from the expression of interest to getting a visa application would be around 3 months. edit: Do I also require a Police Clearance Certificate for the 417? I've lived in 4 countries in the last 10 years, do I need one for each of them? That might be a bit of a headache mila kunis fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Oct 21, 2015 |
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Oct 21, 2015 08:53
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tekz posted:I was told that the time from the expression of interest to getting a visa application would be around 3 months. Mmm, when I looked the turnaround was more like 1.5-2 weeks from EoI to invitation to apply for a 189, I was also surprised by how quick it was at the time. The ~3 month thing was actual time to get the visa approved, IIRC. It makes sense as the EoI is just "does this person have the points where we should bother to look at their application closely?" whereas the visa application itself is verifying all the stuff is genuine, etc. If you have a look on Immigration's websites they'll have the statistics up somewhere. If you don't need it for the 417 you will need it for the 189 so you might as well get crackin'. I *think* it should only be for places you've lived longer than a year, if that helps. I get to fly to Melbourne at some point for the pleasure of spending 20 minutes getting fingerprinted at the Japanese consulate, other countries are less idiotic and will let you have the local police do your prints, stamp the form, and send it in. If you have any old ones laying around they are probably useless, Australia only recognises them for two years. If that means I have to keep making pilgrimages to the Japanese consulate every two years to maintain teacher's registration, I am going to be very perturbed.
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Oct 21, 2015 10:32
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For my 457 visa I had to have proof of insurance before the visa was approved.
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Nov 7, 2015 20:04
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What's everyone' favourite way to lie about previous overseas work experience? Have sent out 20+ job applications this week, don't even get callbacks. From the job listings, most employers seem to believe that the last person who could ever possibly learn to pour a beer, wait a table, or interact with a customer has already been trained.
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Nov 7, 2015 20:34
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BuckarooBanzai posted:For my 457 visa I had to have proof of insurance before the visa was approved. I ended up not getting asked about insurance but I did have to prove I was a high school graduate. My guess is it's randomized. "For this application we want proof of *rolls d20* education!"
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Nov 9, 2015 02:17
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A Time To Chill posted:I ended up not getting asked about insurance but I did have to prove I was a high school graduate. My guess is it's randomized. If you're from the UK this is not a requirement. All because our NHS is pretty amazing and has a recipriocal agreement that covers all healthcare costs of Brits within Australia. BuckarooBanzai posted:For my 457 visa I had to have proof of insurance before the visa was approved. Regardless of where you're from the health insurance is a direct requirement of the 457 visa whereas it isn't for others. Also pay attention to the requirements for pay as a borderline paying job can lead to you falling below the threshold and if someone notices you can end up with your visa being cancelled. Pinball Jizzard fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Nov 22, 2015 |
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Nov 22, 2015 08:00
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Is the reciprocal agreement for ALL healthcare? Because Australia and NZ have the same thing, and this summer in NZ when my husband broke his rib it turns out the reciprocal agreement only covers hospital "acute" care cases, which they decided his broken rib was, so we didn't have to pay anything, but otherwise it was going to be paid for out of pocket.
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Nov 22, 2015 08:38
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You may be right. The only time I've encountered it was during a short period of liver failure and all costs were covered by the agreement.
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Nov 22, 2015 12:15
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Yes, the reciprocal care agreement is only for emergency treatment not for general healthcare.
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Nov 22, 2015 17:21
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Yeah, sounds about right. We had health insurance anyway so it didn't matter but it was nice that we didn't have to pay the excess in NZ. If we'd just gone to a GP instead of the hospital it would have cost us straight up.
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Nov 22, 2015 19:16
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I was under the impression that reciprocal healthcare (which Australia has with lots of other countries too, I think, like France and Germany) was only for tourists, not people on residency visas.
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Nov 23, 2015 00:05
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freebooter posted:I was under the impression that reciprocal healthcare (which Australia has with lots of other countries too, I think, like France and Germany) was only for tourists, not people on residency visas. I'm pretty sure it's for everyone, no matter what their status.
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Nov 23, 2015 01:01
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freebooter posted:I was under the impression that reciprocal healthcare (which Australia has with lots of other countries too, I think, like France and Germany) was only for tourists, not people on residency visas. If not for my experience whilst I was on a 457 visa I would have agreed. I'm guessing residency visas with healthcare requirements generally supercede the need for the recipriocal agreement to be used except under certain circumstances.
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Nov 23, 2015 07:25
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I did a temporary duty in the Us military in Brisbane back in August and I loving loved it. The CAPT I was talking to tried to get me to jump ship and move over there, and I am drat tempted. I am a video/photographer journalist with emphasis in videography and stories. Typical news bullshit. How hard or in demand are those jobs? How much is moving stuff across the pond? Will it matter if my steering wheel is on the wrong side? Typical pay/housing in Brisbane? Got a family of 4. Does being a PR mean I have to switch nationalities?
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Nov 29, 2015 08:09
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Soulex posted:I did a temporary duty in the Us military in Brisbane back in August and I loving loved it. The CAPT I was talking to tried to get me to jump ship and move over there, and I am drat tempted. I am a video/photographer journalist with emphasis in videography and stories. Typical news bullshit. Check the Skilled Shortages Occupations list to see if it's in demand, photographer wasn't last time I checked, dunno about journalist, but knowing what that job market is like in the US, I'd learn towards "not". OTOH, I have seen some journalism jobs advertised down here in Tasmania (aka The Land Which Employment Forgot), so maybe it's not that bad? Regardless, if it's not on the SSOL I think it's a lot harder to get sponsored for, or maybe you need relatives here to sponsor you or something, I can't really remember. Buuut, that's not the end of the line for you. You can pick something on the list that's in demand here, go to school in Australia for it (your GI benefits can be applied at some Aussie universities, I'm pretty sure it's the same ones listed on the Dept of Ed's list of foreign universities participating in the federal student loan program), and then apply for residency via an Independent Skilled Migration visa. I dunno your particulars but if you're a native English speaker between ages 25-32 who did an Australian qualification in a field that's in demand, you should be sitting pretty (see Immigration's points calculator for specifics). Independent skilled migration means you don't need a job offer or sponsor, you are just applying for residence based on your own merit/attractiveness as a migrant. AFAIK there is actually nothing tying you to work in what you studied with an Independent Skilled Migration visa, so if you still were dead set on working in journalism, you could go to school for say, nursing or engineering (there is actually a pretty diverse array of trades/professions on the list, it's not all STEM stuff), use that degree to help qualify you for residency, and then as soon as you get the visa, sod off and work as a freelance journo the rest of your life. You should be OK if you have some savings and are getting GI bill to cover tuition and COLA, although fair warning the visa at the end can get expensive. Between fees, mindlessly redundant qualifications assessments, police checks, etc I don't expect to walk away for less than AU$6.5-7k for me and my partner, and we don't even have kids. The good news is it's supposed to be relatively quick, according to Immigration they get 70% of the Independent Skilled applications through within 3-4 months. If you haven't done college in the US already, a Bachelor's here normally takes 3 years, otherwise you need at least two years of study (typically a Master's, although you can "top up" shorter qualifications by doing another in a closely related field) to qualify for the Australian Study requirement. Your dependents' ability to work is tied to your own visa conditions as a student, it's normally 40 hours per fortnight while school is in session, unless you're doing a Master's by Research or PhD, in which case it's unlimited. If you really want to move your whole household like that, shipping container is the way to go, especially if you're based near a port in the US. However, since Uncle Sam is no longer footing the bill, you may do the maths and realise it makes more sense to just sell your furniture/appliances (especially anything that's not dual voltage) and re-buy it here. I was back in the US helping a buddy unpack after he separated last fall and it blew my mind he bothered to move his crappy particleboard furniture and mismatched dishes to and from Japan, Arkansas, Florida, etc  If you've got family/friends, can leave stuff with them and bring it over bit by bit when you go home to visit. Like, will it matter to you personally driving over here (it's not that bad to get used to, just remember that the driver's side goes towards the centre of the road), or are you planning to bring a US car? If it's anything newer than an '89, forget about the latter. Australian citizens and permanent residents can bring back whatever vehicle (singular) they want if they've been living overseas and owned/drove it for at least a year under the Personal Vehicle Import Scheme, you wouldn't be eligible for that even if you were able to apply for permanent residence before you came to the best of my knowledge. I was speculating that if you filled out the rest of a shipping container with vintage (pre '89) Harleys or something you ought to be able to break even on moving a household or maybe even turn a profit, but I had nowhere near enough stuff to make it worth the hassle of attempting. IDK anything about Brisbane or journo salaries, sorry. No, you can even naturalise (become an Aussie citizen, can apply after PR and a couple years) and retain US citizenship. State doesn't like it but it's basically a DADT policy and you can never be stripped of your US citizenship against your will anyways. However, if you were thinking of going back into the military or US government work, you can kiss your security clearance goodbye if you naturalised in a foreign country, PR probably wouldn't be looked on too favourably either. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Nov 29, 2015 |
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Nov 29, 2015 09:17
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Is 85 minutes enough time to make an international connection from NZ -> Sydney -> USA?
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Dec 3, 2015 01:00
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It's definitely cutting it close. Is it the same operator?
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Dec 3, 2015 07:50
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CrazyScot posted:It's definitely cutting it close. Is it the same operator? It's not, but the thing I have on my side is that I'll be flying on an employee pass for the Sydney -> USA leg, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I missed the flight and had to wait til the next day. But it sounds like I have no choice but to check my bag from AKL-SYD bc of weight restrictions for carryons, so that pretty much kills me, I think.
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Dec 3, 2015 18:13
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UZR IS BULLSHIT posted:It's not, but the thing I have on my side is that I'll be flying on an employee pass for the Sydney -> USA leg, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I missed the flight and had to wait til the next day. But it sounds like I have no choice but to check my bag from AKL-SYD bc of weight restrictions for carryons, so that pretty much kills me, I think. Rechecking means you have near zero chance of making the connection. Sydney is a horrible airport for changing flights and is slow at the best of times. Good luck however.
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Dec 8, 2015 04:14
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Sydney is definitely a horrible airport, but I wouldn't try to make a connection anywehre on anything less than a two hour gap.
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Dec 8, 2015 08:35
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