The moving to Australia checklist: what to do 12, 6, and 2 weeks out

The weeks before an international move are usually spent on the wrong things. After fifteen-plus years on the employer's side of Australian migration, watching new hires arrive both prepared and unprepared, I can tell you the pattern precisely: people overinvest in packing decisions and underinvest in the practical scaffolding that determines how the first month actually goes.

So here is a moving to Australia checklist that works backwards from the flight in four phases: 12-8 weeks out, 4-6 weeks out, 2-4 weeks out, and the day you fly. It is the same structure as our free pre-departure checklist, which you can grab by email here and tick off as you go.

12-8 weeks out: the slow-moving pieces

This phase is about anything with a lead time you cannot compress later.

• Order and certify your documents. Birth certificates, marriage certificate, university transcripts, professional qualifications, employment references, and health records. Certificates take time to order, and apostille certification adds another 2 to 4 weeks on top.
• Deal with pets honestly. Australia has famously strict animal import rules, and the process ideally starts about six months before the move. If it has not started by now, plan for the pet to follow later rather than forcing the timeline.
• Get on childcare waitlists if you have young children. Popular centres in Australian cities are oversubscribed, with waitlists of 6 to 12 months. Joining from overseas is normal and expected.
• Map your medications. Talk to your doctor about a 3-month supply of any prescriptions plus a covering letter, and check the rules for transferring your specific medication.
• Set the budget honestly. Setup costs alone run $15,000 to $45,000+ for a couple in a capital city. Read what the move really costs now, while there is still time to adjust plans.
• Verify anyone helping with your visa. Only migration agents registered with OMARA, the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, or Australian legal practitioners, may lawfully provide immigration assistance. Check any name on the public register at mara.gov.au before money changes hands. Everything in this checklist assumes your visa pathway is already in hand; nothing here is migration advice.

None of these items is difficult. All of them are unforgiving about lead time, which is why they sit at the top of the checklist rather than the bottom of your mind.

4-6 weeks out: money and landing logistics

This is the phase most people skip, and it is the one that decides whether your first month is smooth or chaotic.

• Open an Australian bank account from home. CommBank, Westpac, NAB, and ANZ all run pre-arrival migrant account programs, and setup takes 5 to 10 business days. Without an account you cannot receive a first pay or pay a rental bond. Our guide to opening an Australian bank account before you fly walks through it.
• Transfer your initial funds with a specialist. Use Wise, OFX, or another foreign exchange specialist, not your home bank, whose rate is typically 2 to 4 per cent worse on large transfers. Move enough to cover bond, 2 weeks rent in advance, first-month living, and furniture: AUD $12,000 to $25,000 is typical for a couple heading to a capital city.
• Book temporary accommodation for 2 to 4 weeks. Airbnb or a short-stay apartment. Do not commit to a 12-month lease before arrival; you cannot judge a suburb from photos.
• Sort health cover if your visa requires it. Some temporary visa holders must hold Overseas Visitor Health Cover from day one; check your own visa conditions and arrange cover before you fly.
• Notify your home tax authority of departure. The forms are country-specific and easier to file from home than from a beach in January.

A note on why the rental money matters so much. Australian rentals typically ask for a bond of 4 weeks rent plus 2 weeks rent in advance, payable in one hit when your application is accepted, and rent is quoted per week rather than per month. A property listed at $650 per week is around $2,820 per month once you do the conversion. Having the funds already sitting in an Australian account is the difference between securing a property and watching it go to the applicant behind you.

2-4 weeks out: positioning and packing

Now the job market work starts, and the packing finally earns its place on the list.

• Update your LinkedIn location to your Australian city before you fly. Recruiters search by location, and this one change moves you from invisible to visible.
• Rework your CV into the Australian format. No photo, local contact details as soon as you have them, and achievement-focused content across 2 to 3 pages.
• Pack the underrated items: your 3-month medication supply with the doctor's letter, 2 to 3 Type I power adapters, layered clothing because Australian houses have minimal heating, sunscreen for serious UV, and reusable shopping bags.
• Do not ship the heavy stuff. A shipping container costs $5,000 to $10,000, and it is often cheaper to sell your furniture and buy second-hand after you arrive. Leave the 220V appliances behind entirely.
• Have the trailing partner conversation. If your partner's career or visa depends on yours, agree their landing plan, the one-income budget, and a 6-month check-in before you fly. Couples who skip this conversation tend to have it in month four, under pressure.

The day you fly: protect the plan from jet lag

The final phase is short, and its whole job is to protect the good decisions you already made.

• Carry the paperwork in your hand luggage, not the hold: passports and visa grants, certificates, transcripts, references, and prescriptions.
• Land, sleep, hydrate. Day one is for getting to your accommodation, nothing else.
• Make no major decisions for the first week. Jet lag affects judgement for 5 to 10 days. No 12-month lease, no car purchase, no large furniture buy until your sleep stabilises.
• Know your day-two jobs in advance: activate the bank account at a branch with passport and visa, apply for your Tax File Number at ato.gov.au, and buy an Australian SIM. The TFN matters more than people realise, because without one your employer must withhold tax at 47 per cent until the paperwork catches up.

What deliberately is not on this list

A good checklist is defined as much by what it leaves out. Several jobs feel urgent in the pre-departure weeks and genuinely are not, and doing them early usually means doing them twice.

• Driver licence conversion. You can drive on your home licence for the first months in most states, so leave the conversion until week 3 or 4, once you know your address and routine.
• Furniture decisions. Nothing gets bought until you have permanent accommodation. Buying for an imagined apartment is how people end up paying for storage.
• Gym memberships and social commitments. Community matters enormously, but it builds better once you are settled rather than from a temporary postcode you will leave in three weeks.
• Major financial decisions. Wait until a few pay cycles have come through and you can see your real Australian cost of living, not your estimated one.

In hiring, we call this sequencing discipline, and it is the single trait that separates arrivals who are functional in a fortnight from arrivals still untangling admin at day 60.

Get the full checklist, free

What you have just read is the skeleton. The full pre-departure checklist breaks each phase into individual tick-boxes, in order, so nothing depends on your memory during the most distracted weeks of your life. It is free, and it is the single most-used thing we publish.

And for what happens after you land, the checklist's big sibling is our First 90 Days in Australia guide: the week-by-week landing sequence, the real budgets, and the rookie mistakes that catch every newcomer. If you are coming from Britain specifically, start with the 7 steps for moving from the UK.