Australia · Oceania
Moving to Perth
Perth quick facts
Australia at a glance
East Asia & Pacific
Economy
World Bank · 2025Religion
% of populationCIA World Factbook / national censuses
Cost of living in Perth
Can you move to Australia?
Pick your passport to see whether you can enter Australia — and what it takes to stay.
Entry rules come from github.com/imorte/passport-index-data, updated 17 February 2026. They change without notice — confirm with the official immigration service before booking.
Getting set up in Australia
Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and WA state nomination
The Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa in December 2024 and remains the standard employer route. Your sponsor nominates you against an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List for up to four years. There is no ID card, no registration and no in-person arrival step — the visa is checked online through VEVO. What makes Perth different is the second track: WA's Graduate and Skilled Migration program nominates for subclass 190 and 491, its occupation list is unusually wide because of the resources shortage, and Perth's regional classification adds points that a Sydney or Melbourne address cannot earn.
Read the full step-by-step guideTransferring your overseas licence to a WA licence
If you are a citizen or permanent resident you may drive on a valid overseas licence for three months from arrival, and must transfer to a WA licence within that window. After three months the overseas licence stops being valid here even if it has not expired. Since 1 November 2025 there are only two categories: recognised countries transfer over the counter with no tests, and everyone else must pass a theory test and then a Practical Driving Assessment. The old middle tier — Experienced Driver Recognition — no longer exists.
Read the full step-by-step guideOpening an Australian bank account
Australian banks verify identity against a '100-point' scale of primary and secondary documents. New arrivals get a real concession: for a short window after landing, a foreign passport alone satisfies the full requirement. All four majors accept pre-arrival applications from overseas, and you finish verification in a branch. In Perth, Bankwest is the local incumbent and the CBD branch network is concentrated on St Georges Terrace and Hay Street Mall.
Read the full step-by-step guideMedicare, ambulance cover and seeing a doctor in WA
Medicare works the same in Perth as anywhere in Australia, and covers no ambulance transport in any state. What differs is who sells the cover: WA's service is run by St John WA and is charged for, and unlike Victoria and South Australia there is no metropolitan membership you can simply buy from the provider — St John's benefit fund is open only to regional and remote residents. Perth residents get ambulance cover through a private health insurance policy instead. WA's tertiary hospitals are Fiona Stanley in the south, Sir Charles Gairdner in Nedlands and Royal Perth in the CBD.
Read the full step-by-step guideGetting an Australian mobile number
Every Australian SIM must be identity-verified before activation — a regulatory requirement, not a carrier preference. A foreign passport plus an Australian address is enough for prepaid. Three networks carry everything: Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom (Vodafone). Across metropolitan Perth all three are fine. Across the two million square kilometres of Western Australia outside it, only one of them is, and the difference between a reseller's price and Telstra's is the price of coverage you may genuinely need.
Read the full step-by-step guideTax file number, superannuation and the WA employment system
Get a Tax File Number in your first week: it is free, takes twenty minutes online, and without it your employer must withhold at the top marginal rate. Superannuation, now 12% of ordinary earnings, is money you own and temporary residents can reclaim on departure. The genuinely WA-specific layer sits alongside tax rather than inside it: if your employer is a sole trader, partnership or other unincorporated business, you are covered by the WA state industrial relations system rather than the federal Fair Work system, with a different minimum wage and different award conditions.
Read the full step-by-step guideEach guide has verified costs, timelines, required documents, and the non-obvious gotchas — sourced from official government pages. Last verified August 2026.
Essential English phrases
Reading a list isn’t learning it. Globe Quest turns these into a trainer — hear each phrase spoken, drill them with spaced repetition, and get scored as you say them out loud.
What to know before you go
Perth is three hours behind the east coast in summer
CriticalWestern Australia stays on AWST (UTC+8) all year while the eastern states move to daylight saving. From October to April, Sydney and Melbourne are three hours ahead and Brisbane two. A 9am Sydney meeting is 6am here, and the eastern trading day is effectively over by your lunchtime. If you work for an east-coast head office, negotiate meeting times in writing before you accept the role.
You need ambulance cover, and you cannot buy it from St John in the metro
CriticalMedicare covers ambulance nowhere in Australia, and in WA the service is run by St John WA and charged for — roughly AUD 1,300 for an emergency metropolitan transport for a WA resident. Unlike Victoria and South Australia there is no metropolitan membership to buy: St John's Country Ambulance Benefit Fund is only open to regional and remote residents. Metropolitan residents get ambulance cover through a private health fund policy instead. Queenslanders and Victorians moving here should sort this in the first week.
Learn your sprinkler roster on day one if you have a garden
ImportantThe Water Corporation allocates every property two watering days a week based on the last digit of the street number, and all garden sprinklers are switched off statewide from 1 June to 31 August. Breaching it attracts a fine. Newcomers with a lawn and an automatic reticulation system are the classic offenders.
One flat fare gets you anywhere on Transperth
ImportantSince 1 January 2026 the Go Anywhere fare replaced the old nine-zone system: one flat fare buys up to three hours of unlimited travel anywhere on the Transperth network — about AUD 2.80 on a SmartRider with autoload, AUD 3.50 by cash or contactless bank card. Fare Free Sundays continue, the CBD Free Transit Zone still applies, and the CAT buses in Perth, Fremantle and Joondalup cost nothing.
Respect the ocean, and check for sharks before you swim
ImportantPerth beaches face the open Indian Ocean with strong rips and genuine great white activity. Swim between the red and yellow flags at patrolled beaches, and check SharkSmart WA — the state runs a tagged-shark detection and alert network, and beach closures are announced on it and on the SLSWA app. This is ordinary local behaviour, not paranoia.
The isolation is real, and it shapes prices and plans
Good to knowPerth is around 2,100km from the nearest capital, Adelaide, and closer to Jakarta than to Sydney. Domestic flights east are long and expensive, freight costs feed into retail prices, and 'popping home for the weekend' is a five-hour flight. Factor two or three east-coast trips a year into your budget rather than assuming they will be cheap.
Top industries & employers
Iron ore & mining
BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue, Mineral Resources, Roy Hill
Perth is the corporate and technical head of Australian iron ore — every major producer runs its Pilbara operations from an office in the Perth CBD, including remote operations centres that drive driverless trains and trucks 1,500km away.
LNG, oil & gas
Woodside Energy, Chevron Australia, Shell Australia, Santos
Woodside's global head office is here, and the North West Shelf and Gorgon projects are run from St Georges Terrace. Subsea and offshore engineering is a deep local specialisation.
Mining equipment, technology & services
Austmine members, Imdex, Orica, Micromine, Newmont technical services
The METS sector is where most of Perth's software and engineering employment actually sits — automation, geoscience, drilling technology and remote operations tooling exported worldwide.
Defence & shipbuilding
Austal, Civmec, BAE Systems, ASC, Henderson Defence Precinct
The Henderson precinct south of Fremantle and the submarine rotational presence at HMAS Stirling on Garden Island are driving a long-run build-up in trades, engineering and security-cleared roles.
Critical minerals & battery materials
IGO, Pilbara Minerals, Albemarle, Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia
WA supplies a large share of the world's lithium, and downstream refining at Kwinana and Kemerton has created a processing and chemical engineering workforce that did not exist a decade ago.
Higher education & research
University of Western Australia, Curtin, Murdoch, Edith Cowan, CSIRO
Curtin and UWA anchor radio astronomy work for the Square Kilometre Array in WA's Murchison region, alongside large mining and health research programs.
Where to go in Perth
Kings Park & Botanic Garden
Nature · West Perth
400 hectares of bushland and botanic garden on an escarpment over the Swan River, larger than Central Park and entirely free.
Local tip: Go in September and October for the wildflower season — WA has more endemic wildflower species than anywhere on earth, and the Botanic Garden displays them without a four-hour drive north.
Fremantle
Neighborhood · Port city, 20km south-west
A working port with the best-preserved 19th-century streetscape in Australia, a convict-era prison on the World Heritage list, and a stubbornly independent culture.
Local tip: The Fishing Boat Harbour is where visitors eat; South Terrace and the Wray Avenue end is where locals do. Come by ferry up the Swan rather than by train at least once.
Cottesloe Beach
Nature · Western suburbs
The classic Perth beach — white sand, Norfolk pines, a pub on the hill and the Indian Ocean sunset the city is built around.
Local tip: Swim at the north end near the groyne where it is calmer, and stay for sunset with a drink from the Beach Club. In March, Sculpture by the Sea takes over the whole stretch and it is free.
Rottnest Island
Landmark · 19km offshore
A car-free island of bays and salt lakes, home to quokkas and reached by ferry from Fremantle, Hillarys or Elizabeth Quay.
Local tip: Take the first ferry and hire a bike rather than the bus. The west end bays — Little Salmon and Parakeet — are empty before 11am while everyone else is still queuing for a quokka photo at the settlement.
Northbridge
Nightlife · North of the CBD
Perth's entertainment quarter — small bars, Chinatown, the State Theatre and the Perth Cultural Centre all inside a few blocks.
Local tip: The small-bar laws changed WA drinking culture entirely. Skip James Street's big venues and look for the unmarked doors on William, Lake and Brisbane Streets — that is where the good ones are.
Swan Valley & Guildford
Hidden gemFood · 25km north-east
Australia's oldest wine region outside the Hunter, plus breweries, distilleries and a colonial river town, all within 30 minutes of the CBD.
Local tip: Margaret River gets the visitors and the three-hour drive; the Swan Valley is on the doorstep and half the price. Go midweek, start at Guildford's antique shops, and use the Ellenbrook rail line rather than driving so you can actually taste anything.
Emergency numbers in Perth
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