Regardless of how you plan on going about your move to Australia, even if you are there on a temporary work visa, a business visa, or a working holiday visa, setting up a bank account is a recommended task. It’s not required by the government, but it can really help in making the transition as seamless as possible.

You can set up an account online through the National Australia Bank, one of Australia’s largest banks, prior to your move to Australia, or you can wait until after you get there. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a week for your application to be processed, but once you are done you will be good to go.

A lot of people wonder why they should have a bank account in Australia when they already have one back home. It just makes things easier to have a local bank to access rather than having to deal with the hassle of time differences and certain functions that your UK bank will be unable to process without an official signature from you, such as wire transfers. Having a local bank in Australia means that you will be able to deal with your income as naturally as you did back home, without any headaches and it will help in the long run if you plan on shutting down your UK accounts entirely by already having an Australian account set up for you to transfer your funds to.

While features such as Paypal and other sources make monetary transactions easier in the 21st century, banks still play an important role in any moving situation, and if you are planning to move to Australia, it would be a good idea to look into a new bank.