Australian bureaucracy

It took almost 18 months from start to finish to get our visa for Australia. Admittedly, a large part of that time was taken persuading the CPA to recognise my accountancy qualification. (And a large part of that delay was down to the migration agents moving and not collecting their post!) However, I still got the impression that Australian bureaucracy ran at the same pace as in the UK.

With apologies to any civil servants, it appears that everything is made slightly harder than it really is and takes as long as someone says it takes, rather than happens as quickly as it could take. From my stereotypical viewpoint in the UK, there also appeared to be the added handicap that everyone in Australia leaves early to go to the beach!

We had a pleasant surprise, therefore, when we arrived in Australia and started getting the necessary documents to be able to survive. I was expecting this to take months. However, as soon as we got to talk to people face to face everything changed.

We met a helpful lady at Commonwealth Bank and had a working bank account and cards the day after we arrived. They also sent us a statement a day later, showing initial deposits etc. That gave us evidence of an address.

With our passports, we could now go to the RTA office and get our driving licences. That was when I was really impressed, not only by the fact that we could actually go to an office, but also that we could deal with an unforeseen clerical error and pick up the licences, all in 30 minutes!

Armed with these, we then went straight round to the Medicare office to register there. Luckily I haven't had to spend too much time in DHSS offices in the UK, but I am certain that a similar process in the UK would take a lot longer than the 20 minutes it took us here!

We also registered online with the ATO. They were the slowest to respond, but as they are likely to be taking money from us, I was more relaxed about that.

Effectively, within a very few days, we were a part of the Australian system. I have never had to go through the process in any other country, but I cannot believe that it could have been any quicker. I was very impressed by the helpfulness of all of the officials we dealt with and the service they provided. When you have just landed in a new country and everything is new, that makes a huge difference.