Arrival checklist and contacting your family
Your checklist on arrival
You’ll have a lot to do when you first arrive in Australia. This checklist will help you remember everything.
Have you:
- contacted your family to let them know that you’ve arrived safely?
- confirmed your long-term accommodation?
- opened a bank account?
- obtained a Tax File Number (TFN)?
- provided a Unique Student Identifier (USI) through the Web Enrolment System (WES)?
- updated your postal address in WES to your local Australian address?
- added your Australian phone (mobile) number in WES?
- downloaded your Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) app or ordered your OSHC membership card?
- downloaded the Sonder safety and wellbeing app if you have Allianz OSHC?
- explored public transport options in your area?
- found your local supermarket, shopping centre, chemist and medical centre?
- organised furniture and whitegoods for your home (if needed)?
- confirmed that your children have all vaccinations required for childcare or pre-school and obtained their Immunisation History Statements (if required)?
- arranged for your children’s childcare/kindergarten/schooling (if required)?
How to contact your family
How to contact your family After your arrival in Australia, we recommend that you let your family and friends know that you’ve arrived safely.
If you’ve brought a mobile phone (cellular phone) that’s connected to a carrier in your home country, check that it has global roaming for use in Australia. Or, if you’ve brought a mobile phone that you’d like to connect to a carrier in Australia, make sure your phone is compatible here and isn’t locked to carriers outside your home country.
3G network shutdown in Australia
Australia’s main carriers have now shut down their 3G networks. This means that 3G phones and some older 4G phones no longer work here.
In Australia, there are many telecommunication companies offering mobile phone plans with different network providers. Each plan has its own advantages and disadvantages. We suggest you talk to other students about their experiences with mobile phone rates and plans, and carefully read all terms and conditions.
If you’re on a budget, consider a pre-paid mobile phone because this will allow you to monitor and control your spending. Phone cards come in $5, $10 and $20 amounts and you can purchase them from many shops at the airport, as well as newsagents and supermarkets around Melbourne.
There are relatively few public phones in Australia, but you can find some at airports, railway stations and other public centres. Local and national calls to standard fixed-line and Australian mobiles are free, but long-distance and international calls are timed and charged by the minute.
How to make an international call
To make an international call, simply dial the:
- international access code 0011
- your country code
- area code for your city
- telephone number.
A call connection fee applies for all successful connections. International calls are timed and charged according to the destination, time of day and day of week.
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