Savings accounts

You can and should open an Australian bank account while you are still in Sg. I personally chose NAB because it offered the best saving interest rates at that time among the various banks that allow migrants to open accounts prior to landing in Australia. NAB doesn't charge account fees or ATM fees and doesn't impose a minimum balance. NAB is one of the big 4 banks in Australia (Westpac, Commonwealth and ANZ being the other 3).


If you use NAB, open a Classic account and an iSaver account. The Classic account is your so-called transaction account which is tied to your debit card and your cheque book. It earns practically zero interest (currently 0.01%). The isaver account is your saving account. It earns about 3% for the first 4 months. Your transaction account is your working account so you have to ensure there is enough balance for your ATM withdrawals and purchases. You need to transfer money from your savings to the transaction account via online. It sucks that you cannot transfer at an ATM. Luckily almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays. You can do that through their app.


Once you arrive in Australia, go to the specified branch and validate your identity by presenting yourself and your passport. You cannot touch your money till this is done. You can transfer AUD in but you cannot move it out. Also arrange for a debit card which also acts as an ATM card. A debit card allows you to pay for things without the need of carrying too much cash and for purchasing stuff online. The debit card is extremely useful until you get your first oz credit card. Whether you should get and the pros & cons of using a credit card is another story.


You might want to open other bank accounts when you are more settled in Australia. Deposits in each bank are guaranteed by the Australian government for up to $250k. So if you happen to have more than $250k, you can reduce your "risk" by splitting your money into different banks. If you are kiasu like me, always check if the bank you are going to transact with is in the Oz government's list of eligible institutions. If you Google interest rates, you may see some unfamiliar names promising much higher interest.

Also several banks (including NAB) preferential interest rates are good only for the initial few months. Online banks offer better savings interest. The catch is : these online banks won't have a branch if &/ when you need face-to-face interaction. The online banks' savings interest are usually even better than most term deposits (or what Sporeans called fixed deposits). Currently the best 12month term deposit interest rate is 2.80% while ME Bank Online Savings (OSA) offers 2.95%. The OSA offers the additional benefits of liquidity (no-lockin) and monthly rest interest (though negligible).

You can read more about the government guarantees here:
Government guarantees on bank deposits

For a quick comparison of interest rates:
Canstar deposit comparisons
Infochoice term deposit interests comparisons


ME Bank
Members Equity Bank (or ME Bank in short) is based in Melbourne, VIC. But you can open an account anywhere in Australia. At the moment its OSA offers 2.95%. The catch is you must tap their debit card at least once a week. Their debit card comes in several cool colours like orange. A couple of years back, they even offered $50 (or was it $100?) just to open an account with them. You can withdraw cash at any Westpac ATM without any charge.
ME Bank Online Savings Account

UBank
UBank is the part of NAB and it is an online bank. No, unfortunately you cannot perform bank transactions at a NAB branch's counter. Their best savings interest is 2.87% which is probably comparable to 12month term deposits but with the advantage of liquidity of a saving accounts. With UBank, like NAB, you can use any Redi ATM without any charge.
UBank savings accounts


I can't claim whatever I wrote so far is complete - it's likely not. There maybe some institutions out there offering a better deal. Do your research. I know some banks offer higher interest but you will have to do regular (monthly) deposits. Eg ING offers 2.80% on savings but you will have to deposit at least $1000 monthly. Is this easier than tapping the ME Bank debit card once a week? I guess it is up to one's preference.
More information on savings accounts


Once you have a tax file number (TFN) with ATO, remember to inform the bank. If the bank doesn't have info on your tax residency, the bank will withhold part of your interest earned which you can claim back when you file your tax (lay chay). When the bank has your TFN, you will also notice the interest earned with the bank is auto-filled in when you lodge your tax online.


Lastly, in case you are wondering how the wonderful interest you are earning in Oz measured up to Oz inflation, inflation information can be found at RBA websites. RBA offers a calculator that allows you look at inflation numbers between 1966 to 2016. Using the calculator, $100 in 2015 is as good as $101.28 in 2016 giving an annual inflation of 1.28%.
RBA inflation calculator

Communications matters before leaving Sg

There are some communications stuff you can and might want to do while you are still in Singapore.


If you have family members who are going to miss you big time (like your old folks wanting to talk to their grand children) or you have a business & need to be contactable all the time, you can buy a global Sg telephone number at talk.pfingo.com. For $30 a year, you can buy a Sg number that anyone in Sg can call you at. This works not just in Oz but anywhere on Earth as long as you have an active internet connection. You will need to install a VoIP/Sip app on your phone such as sipdroid on an Android device and the setup was pretty straight forward. Someone in Sg calls this number like a normal local Sg number whenever he/she needs to talk to you. One word of caution though: the call quality depends on internet quality. You can also top up credits at pfingo which allow you to call any Sg number at 2cents per minute. When I had my Sg number and whenever I was unable to answer a call, the caller could leave a voicemail and the voicemail was emailed to me as an audio file attachment. Unfortunately due to infrequent usage, I have terminated my Sg number so I am not sure if the voicemail still work as such. But I thought it was pretty cool.


If you need a Sg mobile phone number in Oz to receive SMS (for whatever the reason), you can consider getting a Starhub prepaid SIM card. Receiving phone calls through roaming is just overly expensive but I believe receiving SMS is free. This is irrelevant if you are keeping your Sg teleco subscription. For $15, a new Starhub prepaid SIM expires in 180days. You need to top up $18 after 180 days to keep it alive for another 180 days. In other words you will need to spend $36 annually to keep the phone number. You can then use this credit to activate data so that you have access to Internet whenever you visit Sg. And btw Starhub prepaid also has this wonderful thing called Unlimited Social Messaging. Please note you have to keep this Starhub SIM active. Else Starhub will suspend it due to inactivity. You will then have to visit Nex, Vivo or Plaza Singapura Starhub with your IC to re-activate it.


I have a dual SIM mobile phone which I find useful in Australia and when I visit Singapore. When in Sg, I will have both a temp Sg SIM card and my Oz SIM card active at same time. So I can receive Oz SMS thru roaming all the time in Sg eg when I need to logon to Oz bank websites and reminder SMS from MyGov. Of course this is irrelevant if you don't mind carrying two devices. Please note as 2G network has been shutdown in both Sg and Oz, older dual SIM phones are useless for this purpose. If you are on Android, newer phones that runs on Snapdragon 820 or MediaTek X20 should be fine.


If you have a friend in Australia whose address you can borrow, you can order SIM cards to be sent to his/her address. In that way you will be contactable the day you land in Australia. Please see post on mobile in Australia. And having a letter with your name and address is also very useful to get certain things done in the first few weeks.

Passport matters

If you do not intend to return to Singapore anytime soon and your passport is going to expire in < 2 years, you might want to apply for a new passport. Applying for a new passport via online will set you back $70 but it will save you the trouble of getting a new one later. Sg ICA carries forward a maximum of 9 months to your new passport. Unless you are moving to Canberra, collection of a new passport may be very lay chay and/or costly. Validity of a new Singapore passport


This 5+9 (5years+9months) is sort of a "magical" number if you intend to apply for Australia citizenship. To apply for Oz citizenship, you need to be an Oz resident for 4years. According to Immigration website the processing takes about 1 year. When you travel, your passport needs to be valid for at least 6 months. So a new passport should last you till you get an Australian passport. In theory at least. And assuming there are no complications with your application.

If you have a young son, get him a new passport.

If you have a new passport (ie a passport newer than the one indicated on your current Visa), you have to bring both old and new passports when you check in at the airport counter. The airport staff will help you update the system with your new passport number.

When you first enter Australia as a resident, go through the immigration counter. This should get you a datestamp chopped on your passport. When I first entered Australia "permanently", I went through the automatic gate. I regretted that cause now I have no official record of my first entry as a permanent resident. Besides a record for your personal remembrance, the initial date might be useful such as when you start to calculate when you can apply for your Oz citizenship or if you have fulfilled 2 out of 5 years for RRV purposes.

Renting a house in Australia

Renting a house in general is a bit lay chay. Most of the time the landlords rent out their houses through property agents and do expect quarterly property inspections. Most rentals will require you to be physically in Australia so it is highly unlikely you will be able to secure a rental place while you are still in Sg. You will likely have to fill up an application form to apply for a rental and you are expected to attach proof to support your application.


If you are currently renting a place in Singapore and have a good relationship with your current landlord, you are in luck - get him to write a letter complimenting you as a tenant on matters like keeping the place neat/clean and always paying on time.


If you do not have an existing landlord, get someone (eg colleague,pastor) to write a letter to say you are a responsible person etc. I believe any proof indicating that you are a working professional might help.


It also helps to have a print out of your bank account to show that you are able to pay your weekly rent. If you are lucky to have a job waiting for you in Australia, attach the employment letter.


If you are required to apply online, you may need to submit supporting docs in soft copy. Most public libraries allow you to scan documents for free but you have to bring your own thumb drive. You can also print hard copies at the libraries. But it is probably cheaper in the long run to buy a printer. Once a while you will find very good deals for printers. I have seen $18 for b/w laser printer. It is a case of use and throw. Replenish the cartridge cost more than the printer, not good for the environment tho.


When you have time, go online to do a "paper" search to get an idea of the rental cost and the kind of property that is available.
https://www.realestate.com.au/rent


You will have to decide what suburbs you will be looking at - for most folks, these are usually decided by schools and work place. Some folks believe that as new immigrants, we should mix with the locals and don't be kiasu about schools. Then there are folks who believe there are some schools that provide better environment/education. There are always two sides to a coin, think there is no clear cut what is correct or wrong. Anyway here are some websites that may help if you believe in the latter:
https://bettereducation.com.au/SchoolRanking.aspx
https://www.goodschools.com.au

If you locate a public school you prefer/like, make sure to visit their website to get an exact map of the school zone. So when you shortlist your rentals, be sure that it is indeed within the school zone. If you are living with the school zone, the school has an obligation to accept your child/children. Some popular/crowded schools can be very strict with zoning.


Australian summers can be really unforgiving. If you can, you might want to look for a rental place with very little grass. When summer comes most lawn sure chow dar unless you have a lot of time to take care and water the lawn frequently. It will be very stressful if your landlord is very particular about keeping the place. Artificial lawn is the best in my personal opinion.

The house I rented had no fruit tree. The house next door was also owned by my landlord. My neighbour was so lucky to have an orange tree that produced very sweet naval orange fruits. Who doesn't like free fruits? Renting a house with fruit trees is definitely a plus.