Relocating to Australia is a daunting exercise. There are innumerable challenges when moving to another country. Australia is the largest island in the world, albeit it is not classified as such since it is a continent. Greenland is the largest island as per classification but it is less than one third the size of Australia. The sheer length and breadth of the country, the stringent import laws and effective customs, elaborate screenings and some rather demanding practices are at play when you are moving to Australia.This is a six-step guide that will allow you to simplify the complicated process of Moving to Australia and make it a better experience.

For instance, your parcels or shipments must be free of all kinds of contaminants, pathogens and foreign material other than the acceptable items that are declared beforehand. If shipping boxes are not fumigated and you do not have the appropriate certificate saying so, then your consignments will not be allowed to pass through any of the ports of the land down under. Relocating to Australia has to be simplified for a convenient and predictable experience.

Simplify the Process of Moving to Australia

• You should seriously consider outsourcing the whole process of moving to Australia from New Zealand to an expert. Hire a shipping company, appoint a dedicated consultant who will not only help you with the logistics but also the customs and guide you throughout the journey till you and all your belongings reach the final destination, plan your entire schedule meticulously and execute it impeccably. Hiring an expert will enable you to know about the customs, the relevant duties or taxes you should pay and the best ways to ensure that your goods easily pass the intense scrutiny by the AQIS or Australian Quarantine Inspection Service. AQIS is the regulatory body and it is as efficient as a federal authority can get.
• Do not carry or ship anything that is not allowed and avoid all suspicious materials, including animal and plant matter. Contaminated soil, food and even dirt can lead to a holdup of your goods. Shipments are actually screened for microbes, germs, pathogens and pests. Shipments that fail these extensive tests are either confiscated to be quarantined or just destroyed. You do not want your essential items to be held back for quarantine while relocating to Australia. This process can take a while. Hence, planning and avoiding such fallouts is the best way forward.
• You should declare everything you are carrying with you and sending as unaccompanied baggage. Get the expert consultant to walk you through tricky items such as vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, golf clubs and other handheld tools, powered or not. These items usually draw intense scrutiny, so do straw packages, seeds and nuts, plant-based items including wooden materials and handicrafts as well as animal-based items including drums, rawhide, furs, shields, hair and feather. You should also declare dried fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, medicines, teas and coffees, tonics, cakes and confectionary, from biscuits and crisps to chocolates and sweets. You should declare instant meals, processed foods and dairy products. Failing to include even one item will land you in trouble, unless it is absolutely harmless, say a personal handkerchief, but not a premium piece that has been just purchased from the country you have flown in from.
• Relocating to Australia is not only a logistical nightmare but also a financially taxing exercise. There are heavy duties to be paid for a few items. Fortunately, you can have some import duties waived if you can appropriately declare certain boxes or shipments as personal items. Also, temporary shipments which are basically goods that are not intended for sale in Australia and will not be in the country for a period longer than a year do not warrant any customs duty or import fees. You must obviously declare such shipments appropriately. The expert consultant or shipping company can easily help you in this context.
• It is fairly easy to claim the waiver when you are moving in with your personal goods. You must seek such a waiver for your unaccompanied baggage as well. There will be scrutiny. Extensive inspections will still be conducted. But you will be able to get your personal goods through the customs without paying any major fee. Temporary shipments are a slightly different ballgame. You must provide evidence that you are going to move back within twelve months or send the items back within the same period of time. Temporary shipments do not have to be about personal goods. You can bring in different kinds of stuff but for a while and they should not be put to commercial use. These items should be used personally or for non-commercial purposes. Such waivers can save you a lot of money.
• It is not necessary to ship office goods as commercial packages. If you are moving to Australia with materials for your home office, then you can declare them as personal items and get the waiver on import duty. However, you cannot move in with plenty of computers, electronics and other hardware that will clearly exceed the needs of a home office.