Cost of Moving to Australia as a Family: Our Real Numbers (2026)

We are moving to Australia in 8 weeks. Family of four: a chef, an interior architect, two kids. What we were missing most before we started researching: honest numbers. Whoever searches the German web for "cost of moving to Australia" mostly finds estimates from migration agencies that have never emigrated themselves. We're doing it differently. What follows are our real items, what we've paid, what we've estimated with sources, and what we deliberately leave out because our case is too specific. Status: end of April 2026. If you are running your own numbers right now, this should at least give you the rough corridor.

How much does this really cost? Our interim total

We've spent around 6,900 € on preparation in Germany so far – Skill Assessment, English test, passports, school registration, Migration Agent and most of all the family flights. What's still coming: the visa application fees for four people (around 9,825 AUD according to Australian Migration Lawyers, 2026), health checks, the Migration Agent's lodgement fee, travel health insurance and the first weeks on the ground.

Our reserve for the Australian start is 30,000 AUD, roughly 18,000 €. That covers bond, car, insurance, cost of living and a buffer until Christian has found a sponsor. It's not generous. It works if we don't get nervous.

Three phases, three orders of magnitude. What we've paid in Germany, what's waiting at visa and authorities, and what we take into Australia as a reserve, the split looks roughly like this:

What we've paid so far – preparation in Germany

By the end of April 2026 we'd spent around 6,900 € on preparation. Single biggest item: the flights to Brisbane for Lucy and the kids at 3,200 €. Second biggest: Christian's TRA Skill Assessment, which including translations and the technical interview came to around 4,120 AUD (roughly 2,470 € at the current exchange rate). These two items alone account for more than 80 % of what we've spent so far.

Here is the full breakdown, sorted by size. All amounts come from receipts, invoices or booking confirmations. Nothing estimated:

Two things to say about this. Christian's 450 € flight was a bargain, Frankfurt via Shanghai to Brisbane, found on a random price check and booked on the spot. That's not the normal price. Anyone planning realistically should expect 800 to 1,300 € for a one-way adult flight, depending on season and lead time.

The school registration at Steiner School Mullumbimby is paid even though the kids don't yet have a confirmed place. 120 AUD per child is a pure registration fee that gets you onto the waiting list. No guarantee, but without it the process doesn't even start.

The Skill Assessment block we've broken down in detail elsewhere – if the TRA cost as a self-employed chef interests you, see the detail article: Skill Assessment as a Chef in Australia: Our Experience as a Self-Employed Applicant.

What's still coming: visa, authorities, insurance

The biggest chunk is still ahead of us. The 186 visa application fees for four people come to roughly 9,825 AUD according to Australian Migration Lawyers (2026) – 4,910 AUD for Christian as main applicant, 2,455 AUD for Lucy as partner and 1,230 AUD each for Joris and Linnea. On top of that come health checks, police clearances and our Migration Agent's fee for lodging the application.

These figures are not negotiable and change every 1 July with the Australian financial year. Binding numbers are only available directly from the Department of Home Affairs. We'll check the state of play again on the day we lodge – anything else would be irresponsible.

On top of that come further mandatory items we can only roughly estimate so far. We're flagging them honestly:

What's not on this list: apostilles and certified translations outside the Skill Assessment. We didn't pay any, because birth and marriage certificates didn't need to be authenticated for our visa route. Anyone going via Skilled Migration with school or university qualifications should expect several hundred euros here. Optional item, not in our calculation.

The full 186 visa process – streams, requirements, sponsor strategy – we've documented in detail here: 186 Visa Australia: Our Family Route to the Employer Sponsored Visa (2026).

First weeks in Australia: what does arriving cost?

Christian flies out on 23 June 2026 and has the first weeks without the family. In that time he's looking for a sponsor and setting up everything Lucy and the kids will need from late July onwards: SIM cards, bank account, car, a transition place to stay. A lot of that he's planning cheaply, or via housesitting, otherwise the reserve is gone in four weeks.

Here is what concretely lies ahead, in rough corridors:

The strategy for the first weeks is clear: as few fixed housing costs as possible until Christian can work. Housesitting means we stay in other people's homes for free and look after pets or gardens. That saves the most expensive weeks and pushes the big bond payment back. There's a dedicated article coming up on housesitting with a platform comparison, profile setup and our concrete experience.

Linnea won't go into daycare at first. Australian daycare fees are high, and on one income it would be tight on the budget. From early 2027 Linnea starts preschool – the transition before actual school. Joris is on the waiting list at Steiner Mullumbimby. If he gets in, school fees will apply, because we don't qualify for public funding as non-PR. The family context for all of this is here: Moving to Australia With Kids: Our Honest Preparation.

What we'll live on: monthly budget Northern Rivers

Honestly: a reliable monthly budget for the Byron Bay / Northern Rivers region we can't yet deliver. We're not there. What we have are the Australian market corridors from open sources and our own assumptions for a family of four without PR. Once month 1, 2 and 3 on the ground are through, we'll add real numbers, that's the update logic of this article.

For anyone wanting to look at the current market situation, two reliable places: realestate.com.au for rentals with actual weekly rents in the region, and Australian Bureau of Statistics for cost of living and inflation. Estimation tools like Numbeo give pointers but are regionally inaccurate.

What we're roughly budgeting for, deliberately as a corridor, not a fixed price:

• Rent for 2–3 BR: 600–800 AUD/week, that's 2,400–3,200 AUD/month
• Electricity, water, internet: ~250–400 AUD/month (varies regionally)
• Groceries for 4 people: realistically 250–350 AUD/week
• OVHC (family health insurance on bridging visa): mid three-digit AUD/month – privatehealth.gov.au has a provider comparison
• Mobility: petrol, car insurance, maintenance, corridor 300–500 AUD/month

In total that's a low to mid four-figure AUD amount per month, before school, hobbies or anything unexpected. Once we've arrived, we replace these estimates with actual receipts. That's a promise.

Where we deliberately save – and where we don't

Saving only works where it doesn't become expensive. We carried that rule out of seven years of running a restaurant and applied it to the emigration. We've radically optimised some items down. Others we pay in full on purpose, because a mistake there would tip the whole budget.

Where we save:

• No container, no furniture shipping. We're sending everything in numbered cardboard boxes of 10 or 20 kg. 10 kg costs around 110 €, 20 kg around 170 €. The rest we sell or give away, the flat clear-out is actually ending in a small plus rather than costs.
• Banking via Revolut and Wise. When switching between EUR and AUD, a classic high-street bank eats two to three per cent. Our main account is Revolut for daily life and currency exchange. For bigger transfers to Australia (e.g. rental bond, starting capital) we use Wise* – transparent fees, real exchange rate with no mark-up. As soon as we have several months of experience, we'll add concrete numbers.
• Housesitting for the first weeks. Anyone booking an Airbnb in the region for four weeks is easily 4,000 AUD down. Housesitting is free, if profile and timing line up. If you do need paid accommodation for the transition weeks, you can compare options on Booking.com^*.
• No rental car at the start. Christian picks up a car straight after arrival, a rental car for several weeks is more expensive than buying a used car for 8,000 AUD and reselling later.

Where we don't save:

• Migration Agent. The first consultation cost 250 AUD and cleared up more than a month of own research. For a 186 application with a family, we wouldn't do it without one.
• Travel health insurance. We're taking a proper family rate for the tourist phase. The difference between a budget tariff and a decent one is a few hundred euros, a single Australian A&E visit without insurance can run into five figures.
• Passports in time. An express passport costs double. Anyone planning early enough avoids this item completely.

The emotional background behind some of these decisions is in our story article: The Final Weeks Before Moving: Goodbyes, School and Open Questions.

The items most articles forget

Anyone reading the typical German emigration guides will find the obvious chunks: visa fees, flights, containers. What's systematically missing are the buffer items that add up to four-figure totals:

• Passport renewal. Adults have paid 70 € per passport since February 2026, under-24s pay 37.50 € (BMI). For a family of four, that's quickly 215 €.
• German police clearance certificate. 13 € per person, mandatory for the 186 (Bundesamt für Justiz).
• Apostilles and certified translations for birth certificates, marriage certificate, school records, not in our case, but often mandatory on Skilled Migration routes and quickly several hundred euros.
• Visa medicals. Several hundred AUD per person, for a family that's a separate four-figure item.
• Bond for the first Australian rental. Four weeks of rent as a bond has to be paid in the first week. At 700 AUD weekly rent that's 2,800 AUD gone immediately, returned only on move-out.
• Furniture starter set. If you bring nothing, you buy in Australia, bed, mattresses, table, chairs, kitchen kit. Realistically 1,500–3,000 AUD on the budget-conscious approach with Gumtree and op shops.
• Travel insurance extensions or tariff switches if the visa application drags on longer than expected. Buffer item, because months can pass between lodgement and grant.

Adding this list up lands in the low four-figure euro range. Whoever doesn't budget for it gets stressed shortly after arrival, exactly in the phase where you can least afford friction.

Our honest total bill

We are going into the Australian start with around 30,000 AUD. That's our reserve to cover the first weeks: bond, car, furniture starter set, OVHC, groceries, petrol. Everything that can't come from running cashflow until the first Australian salary. In euros that's around 18,000 €.

Plus the around 6,900 € preparation we've already spent. Plus the visa application fees of around 9,825 AUD still to come. Plus Migration Agent fee, health checks and insurance that are still firming up.

In total we'll likely land in the low five-figure euro range for the visa phase plus the 30,000 AUD reserve for the start. That's not generous, that's a clearly calculated corridor with a buffer for the unexpected. In the 186 visa article we estimated exactly that: low five-figure euro range, clearly above 10,000 €. That number is now resolving into actual line items.

What we want to cover with the reserve:

• Visa application fees plus health checks plus agent fee, the biggest single position, roughly a third of the reserve
• Bond + first 8 to 12 weeks of rent + furniture starter set, the housing block, roughly another third
• Car, insurance, OVHC, petrol, groceries, the running block for the phase without an Australian income, the final third

And yes, if it gets tight, we'll have to flex. Christian is actively looking for a sponsor as soon as he's landed. Lucy is finishing her Master's thesis in parallel. The calculation is tight, but it works if the plan develops within the expected range. And if it doesn't: then we'll learn that here in public, with numbers, in real time.

Frequently asked questions

How much money does a family need to move to Australia?

We are going in with around 30,000 AUD of reserve (roughly 18,000 €) for the first weeks on the ground, plus around 6,900 € of preparation costs already paid. The 186 visa application fees for four people come to roughly 9,825 AUD according to Australian Migration Lawyers (2026) – and they trend up every 1 July.

What does the 186 visa cost for a family from Germany?

For a family of four, around 9,825 AUD in application fees are currently due: 4,910 AUD for the main applicant, 2,455 AUD for the partner and 1,230 AUD per child. On top of that come health checks and police clearances. Verify with the Department of Home Affairs on the day you lodge – fees change annually.

Do we really need a Migration Agent?

It's not compulsory. But for a 186 application with a family, we wouldn't try it without one. The first consultation cost us around 250 AUD and cleared up more than a month of own research. Our agent invoices the full lodgement work by time spent. A mistake on stream choice or documentation is considerably more expensive than the fee.

What does housing cost in the Byron Bay / Northern Rivers region?

We are budgeting 600 to 800 AUD per week for a 2- to 3-bedroom house in the region, plus the standard NSW bond of 4 weeks' rent. Christian will be looking into housesitting in the first weeks for cheaper options. Check current market prices on realestate.com.au.

Can we just keep our German health insurance running during the tourist visa phase?

The German statutory health insurance does not cover you in Australia. For the tourist visa phase (eVisitor 651) you need private travel health insurance. Family rates start at around 2.85 €/day according to Finanztip – as soon as we've signed our concrete policy, we'll add it here. One well-known international option with family rates is World Nomads^*.We receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.

Which cost items get forgotten in most emigration articles?

Passport renewal for adults (70 € per person), apostilles and certified translations (in our case only for the Skill Assessment), German police clearance certificate per family member (13 €), visa health checks and the rental bond for the first Australian rental. These buffer items add up to four-figure amounts quickly.

Christian Schippel

Trained chef, 37, lived in Byron Bay from 2016 to 2018. Moving back to the Northern Rivers in summer 2026 with Lucy and two kids. Writes here about visas, costs and everything that happens along the way.More about us