Support for migrants to Australia

It can be a big challenge moving to a new country. Here are some of the things that you might find hard:

• Learning the language.
• Finding a job.
• Finding a place to live.
• Making new friends.
• Coping with racism and intolerance.
• You can get support from the government and other organisations.

If you or your family have migrated (moved) to Australia or arrived in Australia as refugees, you can get support through the government. Community organisations also help migrants.

When you migrate to Australia (Opens in new tab), the help you can get will depend on your visa type. Services may include financial support and access to healthcare.

Sometimes there are waiting periods before you can get payments and services from the Australian Government.

Where do I start?

There are Australian government services that can help you understand what support is available and how to get it.

The Australian Government's Department of Home Affairs (Opens in new tab) can help you:

• find what your visa allows you to access
• with links to useful resources and support services

Services Australia (Opens in new tab) offers support for new arrivals to Australia. When you arrive (Opens in new tab) in Australia, you will have an interview with Services Australia. You can also visit the Services Australia website to access:

• free interpreting services
• multicultural service officers

If you're a refugee, you can get help from the Refugee Servicing Network (Opens in new tab). They can help you with:

• Medicare (Opens in new tab)
• financial support
• finding a job
• speaking to someone in your language

Financial support is available through Services Australia (Opens in new tab):

• as a one-off crisis payment (Opens in new tab)
• when looking a job (Opens in new tab)
• if you are a carer (Opens in new tab)
• if you have a disability (Opens in new tab)
• to help pay your rent (Opens in new tab)
• you have a severe financial need (Opens in new tab)

Services Australia and Centrelink (Opens in new tab) have payments and services to help families.

These include:

• payments for families who have just had a baby or adopted a child
• payments like the Family Tax Benefit (Opens in new tab) and Parenting Payment (Opens in new tab) to help you with the cost of raising children
• payments to help with your children's education costs payments for families (Opens in new tab).

You can call the Centrelink multilingual phone service (Opens in new tab) on 131 202 to discuss income support payments.

Services Australia has a range of translated information (Opens in new tab) about payments and services.

The job-hunting page lists tools and services that can help you look for paid work (Opens in new tab).

If you have a health problem, first visit a doctor. The doctor can help you find other services in your area.

The Government provides a range of healthcare support.

Medicare

Australian residents and some visitors can get Medicare services. Medicare provides a range of:

• healthcare services
• subsidised medicines
• free care in public hospitals

You can enrol in Medicare by completing a Medicare enrolment application form (Opens in new tab). Once you have filled in this form you should send it to a service centre. You can also email the form. It's important to do this as soon as you can after arriving in Australia. When sending the form you should also provide:

• proof of identity
• your residency documents

You can call Medicare on 132 011 to find out more.

For help with Medicare in your language, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (Opens in new tab) (TIS) on 131 450.

Concession cards

If you are a refugee, you may be able to get a concession card (Opens in new tab) or a healthcare card. These cards can help lower the costs of getting healthcare.

You don't have to be a refugee to get a concession card for cheaper healthcare and other services. You can also apply for:

• a seniors health card
• a low-income health care card
• a pensioner concession card

Pregnancy support

Medicare will help with your costs during pregnancy and giving birth. Medicare can cover some or all the costs of having a baby.

During pregnancy, Medicare may cover:

• ultrasounds
• counselling
• blood tests and other diagnostic tests
• some immunisations
• care from doctors, midwives or obstetricians

When you go into labour and give birth, Medicare may cover:

• your public hospital stay
• midwife and obstetrician services

After you have your baby, Medicare may cover:

• midwife and obstetrician services
• visits to your doctor
• your baby's immunisations
• child and family support services

You can read more about:

• Medicare during pregnancy
• the differences between public and private care during pregnancy
• private health insurance and pregnancy
• maternity care in Australia, including important appointments during your pregnancy

Find out more about the help Medicare may provide during pregnancy (Opens in new tab) by visiting the Services Australia website.

If you're not an Australian resident, you can read more about pregnancy care on a visa in Australia.

What if I can't get Medicare?

The fees for some healthcare services may be waived for asylum seekers. These might include:

• emergency care or surgery
• pregnancy services

However, this depends on which Australian state or territory you are in. Visit your local state government website too.

For help with Child Support services in your language, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (Opens in new tab) (TIS) on 131 450.

Childcare

The Starting Blocks website (Opens in new tab) explains the different types of childcare and how to get assistance with the costs.

You can also search their database to find childcare centres (Opens in new tab) in your local area.

Family services

A number of national organisations can offer help with relationships and other family problems.

Relationships Australia (Opens in new tab) offers:

• counselling
• education programs
• mediation services
• other help for families and couples

They also have resources for people who speak a language other than English. You can call them on 1300 364 277.

Mental health and counselling

Beyond Blue (Opens in new tab) gives mental health support and advice in different languages (Opens in new tab). You can call them on 1300 22 4636.

Kids Helpline (Opens in new tab) is a free, private and confidential phone counselling service for young people aged between 5 and 25 years. You can call them on 1800 55 1800.

Red Nose (formerly SIDS and Kids) (Opens in new tab) explains how to prevent infant deaths. They can also link you to support services for grief and loss.

MensLine Australia (Opens in new tab) is a national support service for men with family and relationship concerns.

Red Cross (Opens in new tab) provides health and support to people who are vulnerable as a result of migration.

For help with support services in your language, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (Opens in new tab) (TIS) on 131 450.

TIS offers other services for non-English speakers (Opens in new tab).

If you do not speak English, the Government offers free English language training to eligible people. This is known as the Adult Migrant English Program (Opens in new tab).

The government also offers training to improve skills and confidence when looking for work. This is called the Skills for Education and Employment program (Opens in new tab).

Try these pages for more support and information in languages other than English.

The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (Opens in new tab) has a wide range of translated resources (Opens in new tab) on:

• health and mental health
• disability
• nutrition and a healthy lifestyle
• parenting and child development
• bilingual health professionals

The Health Translations (Opens in new tab) site contains a library of multilingual health and wellbeing information.

Visit the Australian Institute of Family Studies for a list of organisations (Opens in new tab) that work with culturally and linguistically diverse families

The National Ethnic Disability Alliance (Opens in new tab) has migration and disability factsheets in 5 languages other than English: Arabic, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese.