How much money do I need to move to Australia?

It depends on your visa type and your plans. Build the number rather than guessing it: your visa application charge from the Home Affairs pricing estimator, plus flights, plus 4 weeks rent as a bond, plus your first month's rent, plus living costs until your first pay lands. For a student visa the evidence requirement alone is $29,710 of 12-month living costs on top of course fees.

Do I need to prove I have savings for my visa?

Some visas require it and some don't, and where it applies the amount is set by Home Affairs for that subclass rather than being a general figure. Check the "Have enough money for your stay" requirement on your own visa's page. For a student visa (subclass 500), Home Affairs publishes 12-month living costs of $29,710 for the student, $10,394 for a partner coming with you and $4,449 for a child, plus at least $13,502 a year of schooling costs for each school-age child. Those are the minimums you have to evidence for the visa, not a budget — Home Affairs says actual living costs vary across Australia and may be much higher. Course fees for your first 12 months are counted separately, on top.

Should I transfer money before or after arriving?

Opening an Australian bank account from overseas is easier with some banks (like ANZ, NAB). Transfer a portion before arriving so you have funds available immediately.

Visa & Relocation Savings Goal

Plan savings for visa, move and first months in Australia

Work out how long it takes to reach a target for visa costs, first month rent, bond, emergency fund or relocation. Enter your goal and current savings to see your timeline.

Savings Goal Details

Enter your savings goal and current situation

Target Amount ($)

Current Savings ($)

Monthly Contribution ($)

How much you can save each month

Annual Interest Rate (%)

Expected annual return on your savings

Goal Timeline

How long until you reach your goal

Time to Goal

0.8 years

(10 months)

Final Balance

$20,504

Total Contributions

$20,000

Interest Earned

$504

Progress Breakdown

Goal Reached!

Contributions: $20,000

$20,504

+$504 interest

How to Use This Calculator

1Enter your total savings target (visa fees, rent, bond, emergency fund)
2Enter your current savings
3Enter how much you can save each month
4Optionally add your savings account interest rate
5See how long until you reach your goal

What Costs Should I Save For?

Moving to Australia involves several upfront costs: visa application fees, flights, rental bond (usually 4 weeks rent), first month's rent and money to live on while you settle.

Many visa types require proof of funds - savings you can show to demonstrate you can support yourself. Check your specific visa requirements on the Department of Home Affairs website.

Typical Costs to Budget For

Visa application charge: Varies by visa type and changes on 1 July each year. Look yours up on the Home Affairs visa pricing estimator rather than budgeting from a figure you read elsewhere - additional applicant charges for a partner or child are separate, and so is the second-year charge on some visas.
Rental bond: Usually 4 weeks rent, so multiply the weekly rent you are actually seeing in listings for the suburb you want. Bond is held by the state tenancy authority and comes back at the end of the tenancy.
First month rent: Paid upfront when you sign a lease, on top of the bond.
Proof of funds: Some visas make you evidence savings before you arrive. For a student visa (subclass 500) the published 12-month living costs are $29,710 for you, on top of your first 12 months of course fees.
Emergency fund: 1-3 months of expenses recommended while you find work and settle in.

Saving for Your Move

•Check proof of funds requirements for your visa type before setting your target
•Include health insurance costs in your budget - Medicare may not cover you initially
•Factor in bank fees for international transfers when calculating your target
•Start with accommodation in a share house to reduce initial costs

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources

Estimates only. Not financial or tax advice. Full disclaimer for your rights and our limitations of liability.

About this calculator

This calculator exists to show you the arithmetic. It applies published Australian rates, thresholds and formulas to the numbers you enter and shows the working, so you can check it. That is all it does — it produces a number and describes what the number is. It does not recommend anything and it holds no opinion about any financial product.

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Interest rate — 4.5% a year. The site's shared savings account rate — half a point under the best big-four conditional bonus-saver rate in its Consumer Data Right product feed, because bonus conditions are missed in real months. Newly arrived savers often hold basic accounts paying less than this, so check your account's actual rate; a lower real rate means a later date than the projection shows. Source · You can change this input.

This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.

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About this calculator

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Interest rate — 4.5% a year. The site's shared savings account rate — half a point under the best big-four conditional bonus-saver rate in its Consumer Data Right product feed, because bonus conditions are missed in real months. Newly arrived savers often hold basic accounts paying less than this, so check your account's actual rate; a lower real rate means a later date than the projection shows. Source · You can change this input.