Moving to Australia from the UK is a big undertaking. There’s the visa process, the flights, the question of what to do with everything you own, the car, the job, the flat you’re leaving behind. It’s a lot to coordinate across two countries simultaneously, and most of it happens on your phone whether you planned it that way or not.
The UK-to-Australia route is one of the most established migration pathways in the world. Australian Bureau of Statistics data puts UK-born arrivals among the top sources of migrants to Australia year on year, and the numbers have been climbing. More people making this move means more people figuring out the same logistics problems — and more tools built to help with them.
Here’s what’s actually useful, from leaving the UK through to settling in on the other side.
Before You Leave: Sorting the UK End
Vinted / Facebook Marketplace
Whatever you can’t ship and won’t store, sell. Shipping belongings from the UK to Australia is expensive, and the cost per cubic metre means the less you move the better. Vinted handles clothes, shoes, and accessories quickly if priced honestly. Facebook Marketplace takes furniture and electricals on a local collection basis, which is faster and less faff than posting.
Start listing four to six weeks before you leave. Things take time to sell, and doing it under pressure in the final week means dropping prices unnecessarily.
Wise / Revolut
Both apps handle international money transfers considerably more cheaply than a standard UK bank. You’ll need to move money between a UK account and an Australian one at some point — for a rental deposit, for setting up an account, for whatever comes up in the first few weeks. Doing it through Wise or Revolut rather than a high street bank saves a meaningful amount on exchange rates and transfer fees.
Compare My Move
For the UK side of the removal — clearing out, getting belongings into storage, or shipping what you’re taking — Compare My Move is the established UK comparison tool for removal quotes. Get several quotes before committing. International shipping costs vary significantly between operators and the difference between quotes for the same volume can be substantial.
Getting Your Belongings and Vehicle to Australia
Find a Mover
Findamover.com.au is the Australian equivalent of a removal comparison and booking platform — useful once you’re on the ground in Australia and need to move between cities or states, which a lot of UK migrants end up doing within the first year or two as they figure out where they actually want to be. Australia is enormous and moving interstate is a different logistical undertaking from anything most UK people have dealt with before. Getting multiple quotes in one place makes the process considerably less daunting.
VehicleMove
Shipping a car from the UK to Australia is possible but involves quarantine checks, compliance modifications, and cost that often makes it uneconomical. Most people end up buying a car in Australia instead. But for interstate moves once you’re settled, VehicleMove Australia handles car transport between Australian states — which matters when you’re moving from Sydney to Brisbane or Melbourne to Perth and don’t want to drive the car yourself on top of everything else the move involves.
Movingle
For moves to New Zealand with multiple stages — things in storage, items arriving at different times, or the common UK migrant situation of moving somewhere temporarily while you find a permanent base — Movingle NZ keeps the logistics organized in one place. More useful the more complicated the move, which international relocations tend to be.
Landing in Australia: The First Few Weeks
myGov
The Australian government’s central account app. You’ll need it to access Medicare (once you’re eligible), Centrelink if relevant, the ATO for tax, and a range of other government services. Set it up early — some services require identity verification that takes time to process, and you don’t want to be dealing with that when you actually need something.
ServiceNSW / Service Victoria / equivalents
Each Australian state has its own service app for things like driver’s licence transfers, vehicle registration, and local government services. Which one you need depends on where you land. UK licences are valid in Australia for a period after arrival, but you’ll need to transfer to a local licence eventually — the state service app is where that process starts.
Domain / realestate.com.au
The two main property search platforms in Australia. Domain is stronger in Sydney and Melbourne; realestate.com.au has broader national coverage. Both worth having if you’re looking for somewhere to rent or buy after arrival. The rental market in major Australian cities moves quickly and having alerts set up before you land means you’re not starting from scratch when you arrive.
Up Bank / ING Australia
Opening an Australian bank account before you arrive is now possible with several banks, which saves the awkward first few weeks of being unable to pay for anything locally. Up Bank is app-first and straightforward to set up. ING Australia is another solid option. Having a local account from day one removes a significant friction point in the settling-in process.
For Staying Connected Between Both Countries
Obvious, but worth stating. WhatsApp is how most UK-to-Australia communication happens in practice. Free calls and messages over Wi-Fi mean the distance costs nothing beyond the data. Make sure family and friends have it set up before you leave rather than assuming everyone already uses it. However, it’s important to educate yourself on how to use and choose safe and user-friendly chat services on mobile.
Google One / iCloud
Backing up everything before you travel is non-negotiable. Phones get lost, broken, or stolen during international moves more often than in ordinary life. Cloud backup means a new device on the other side picks up exactly where you left off. iCloud for Apple users, Google One for Android — make sure it’s set to back up automatically and that you’ve checked it’s actually running before you fly.
The UK-to-Australia move involves more logistics than most people anticipate when they first decide to do it. The good news is that the tools for managing most of it have got genuinely better in recent years — the bad news is you still have to actually use them, ideally before you need them rather than after.
Sort the UK end first. Research the Australian end properly. And give yourself more time than feels necessary for both.
